Weekend Poker

I played quite a bit this weekend.

On Saturday I played 45 heads up games. Yes I know, a lot of them. The fiancee's sister and friend were over this weekend so they were off shopping, talking about our upcoming wedding and the details that are endless (dress, food, hymns in the church, who is/isnt going) all of which is important, but I personally could not care less about. I would get married in a barn wearing a garbage bag while some dog barks in the distance, but it makes the fiancee happy so its cool with me. So of the 45 I won 27, which is a 60% success rate. The rake hurts over that many games, but I did ok.

On Sunday I went over to the 'house of poker' where a few guys a know live. I had beent here before but with scheduling and my laziness I had not been back. Anyways, I walk in and I see three guys all playing poker in various positions in the room on reclining leather couches wacthing the Villa Chelsea game on a massive tv. So after some careful planning and thought, I am moving in there tomorrow. Kidding. Anyways, I lug out my laptop and open some games. I played a 5$ Stars tourney where QQ ran into KK and I also played a £12 sat to the 40K on Will Hill. The sat went well. I had my hands hold and I didnt do anything stupid. From 120 people with 12 getting a seat, I coasted in with no real drama. So now I had a seat into a tourney that costs £110, while in my account I had $105. Yes, this tourney was over twice what I had in my account. So I tried to unregister for the 40K but for some reason Will Hill does not allow sat winners to unregister. I called Will Hill customer service and they said that poker support was not in and that I should call back Monday morning when they are in. I then informed her that the tournament started in 15 minutes and by that time a refund would be impossible. Her response? 'Yes that is correct sir'. Ok then, thanks for nothing.

So I end up playing the 40K and as tournaments go, this one was highly uneventful. The best hand I played was the first of the tourney. AdQd on the button, it was raised with three callers. I call. Flop comes T high with 2 diamonds. Raiser bets same amount as his preflop raise. Two callers. I pump it up 3/4 of the pot, all fold. Yes, it was downhill from there. TT raised, called on a Q high board. Check raised I fold. AQ raised, KJ3 flop. Raise and a reraise in front of me, I fold. Then I go card dead for two levels before I get AK. With 1400 behind and 600 in the pot I push and lose a race to TT. Ho hum, as I said, uneneventful. Mark and George were still alive though and George had a nice stack. I had to leave at 10:30 as I needed to be up for work in the morning and I didnt want to bother with a cab at midnight so I called the fiancee and she came and picked me up.

I got home and fired up Will Hill to see how George and Mark were getting on and then debated over what to play. I didnt want to play a HU game as I was kind of tired and I wasnt in the mood to be involved in a long drawn out game. So based on Mark's and George's success on cash I decided to play some myself. My history in cash games is not exactly a merry one. I have consistently played in games above my head (sometimes way above my head) and I always get my fingers burnt. I know I am capable of playing a solid cash game, but because the figures involved usually represent a high % of my roll, I can never remove emotion from my thinking. AKA I feel terrible about losses and inevitably end up chasing lost money. It is a bad habit and one I have never removed from my cash game play. So I decided to swallow my pride and begin at the bottom rung of the ladder. I started playing 5cent 10 cent tables. I promised myself I would play tight and not get fancy with plays people at that level would never fold to. And because I intended on playing tight, I knew I would be playing few hands, so I sat down at 6 tables. Yes, 6. It was actually a lot of fun. I ended up only winning $25, but that is 250 BB in 1.5 hours so I was ok with that. (It would have been a lot more but I had to fold two sets when the flush came and two people were betting and raising into a sizeable pot for those stakes. I also lost a $20 pot when I flopped two pair with 73o in the BB. The money went in after genuis slow played his aces preflop only to hit his set on the river.) If either board pairs when the flush came, or that A does not come on the river, my profit would have been around $40-$60 which would have been pretty good.

I must say that I enjoyed playing cash quite a bit, and knowing the amount of money I had on the table was a small % of my roll, bad beats and bad cards rolled off me. (except that 73 hand, that pissed me off). I am going to continue playing cash and attempt to slowly move up the ladder. After thinking a lot of where my game is and where I would like it to go, I think cash is the logical area. Though my past is quite jaded in cash games, I think if I build from the ground levels up, I can do well.

PS I was watching Mark and George play until there was about 15 left or so in the 40K. George I think finished 14th or so but Mark had a big stack and was definitely in a good position to do some damage. Hope you took it down Mark.

PPS Mark, you are going to have to show me how to use Poker Tracker. I tried this morning and it confused the hell out of me.