the weekly whinge

So with Chris playing in the $1500 no-limit WSOP tonight and the local Gala casino having a £10 freezeout starting at exactly the same time, I thought I’d play and hope the coincidence brought me luck.

Now the Leicester Gala is a bit strange – the card room is quite small but friendly and the tables are only 7-strong when full. I’ve played there a few times and done ok – made one final table and got down to the last 20 or so a couple of times.

This time, I sat down at the table with a mix of players who seemed alternately friendly and quiet. The guy to my right told us he’d been playing til 3 the night before, clearly meant to intimidate. Bah.

I start off in the BB, never particularly happy about that, but it’s only 50/100 and the stacks are 3000, so I can afford to be a bit conservative at the start. 3 callers and I’ve got 7-2 offsuit. Flop goes nowhere, there’s a 2x raise and everyone folds.

Next hand is equally useless and it’s folded around to the blinds – I call the 100 and completely miss the flop. This early I’m not going to go stealing (it’s a £10 game so people tend to call with one overcard) so the hand’s checked down.

I spend the next 5 hands following Harrington’s (which was recommended to me) “conservative” hand set and watched as the first bet stole each pot. OK, thinks I, this table is worth the odd steal.

Next hand, the guy to my right makes a small raise post-flop (2xBB) and I go over the top with 5x. He calls. Arse. I’m set to do the same thing again but he raises all in when the third spade comes on the turn. I can’t possibly call – I think I have 10 high or something – so I’m now down to 1900 after one round.

The next steal attempt is a bit more complex – a nothing flop comes and is checked around, then a jack comes on the turn and I go for my chips, then check – a clear trapping tell, or so I thought. Everyone checks. River is a nothing so I bet 300, get called by the guy to my left who hasn’t said a word. He shows ace-jack – so much for my fake tell – he didn’t care.

So now I have like 1600 left so I play nothing until I’m in the BB again. I get T4 and hit nothing and simply can’t do anything, so fold.

Then the call comes “lowest stack on this table” and I jump up, happy to get away from this insane table where an AJ doesn’t mean a raise in middle position against tight opponents, only to find I’ve been moved straight into the big blind position on my new table. I’m not happy.

Next hand I try to make something and get called down – and the dealer shows my complete bluff after I muck it, which as far as I’m concerned is just bad form.

Next hand I pick up A9c and figure I need to get going – I only have 1200 or so left. Raise preflop gets four callers (???), the flop comes 8TJ with two clubs. I now have a nut flush draw and an up-and-down straight draw, so I bet 200. Not enough, everyone calls.

Flop is ace of spades – as far as I’m concerned that’s my perfect card – I now have a nut flush draw, up and down straight draw and top pair. I throw in my final 800 and finally get some folds – but the one who calls has QK and has just hit the nut straight. I don’t hit my miracle club on the river and that’s me, out in 22 minutes and not quite knowing what happened.

Analysing afterwards I know I should not have tried to raise the guy to my right in the first place – what was working for everyone else was a single bet, with a reraise I needed to have something (to risk 1/6 of my chips, at least!). After that I was on the back foot, behind someone with a lot of chips (thanks to my idiocy) and who was happy and good enough to bully me (the small stack) and in front of a guy who won’t raise AJ. I don’t feel too unhappy about the last hand – while I should definitely have gone all-in after the flop, I did get more money in the pot and chances are I might have got a call anyway from the girl who did win with her higher up-and-down draw.

Bah. I just hope Chris is having more luck than I.

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