It had been a little while since I came back from holiday, and I hadn’t played any poker at all since the games on the cruise ship. I even had a relatively light playing period before going away.
Mentally, I was setting up for a few bursts of really concentrated poker for the rest of the year, with less casual play in between.
I had a good look at the calendar of upcoming events for the remainder of 2009.
It is action-packed to say the least !
I am only focussed on UK events, but there are multiple GUKPTs, an EPT, the WSOP Europe, and several festivals in reachable locations including the 2-week Paradise Series of Poker at The International. Each of the major events also has a full array of side events.
Then, online, there is the WCOOP. The list goes on and on, not to mention a possible forum game in October, the 1-year anniversary bash at The International and perhaps I will host another event myself.
I look at my options.
I am not going to play the GUKPT grand final or the EPT without winning a satellite (or being sponsored, lol !). And the fact is it isn’t easy to satellite in (no double shootouts on Full Tilt, boo...).
So, I put those to one side as well as the GUKPTs that are not in London (where is Thanet, anyway ? I Wikipedia it and find out it is not even a place – it’s more of a geographical concept).
I played the WSOPE £1,500 last year so I do fancy the £1,000 event this year. The other “must play” is the £1,000 at the PSOP. At the EPT, I pencil in the £500 Mixed game event.
Deeve from the forum says he’s playing a £50 satellite at The Empire to the £1,000 WSOPE. For that reason, I decide to give it a try as well.
I drive in because I want to be able to get home the same night. I have worked, lived or played poker in London for over 20 years so I do know my way around a bit but when I drive in town I realise that I don’t necessarily know the best routes, or the proper location of things.
I do have a sat-nav but I almost always leave it at home, along with the A-Z. I must be able to find Leicester Square.
I have my own favourite routes through London. I guess they are really based on my history. I take certain roads, or navigate via certain landmarks based mainly on where I used to work, where I went to a football match, where I went to a party one time, that place where I drove the wrong way up a one-way street and got stopped by the police.
Actually, that has happened twice. Once after I met my mum in Covent Garden for dinner with my then-girlfriend (now wife), and again the first time I tried to find The International on East Road.
Fortunately, both times I got away with a quizzical look, a “drive safely” and a let-off.
So, Leicester Square.
“West End” sounds a good direction to aim for. As I get further into central London, I feel it wouldn’t hurt for there to be an actual sign for the place !
I am surrounded by locations where I had an interview once, or met someone for lunch, or that place where my beaten-up Fiat decided to pack up in rush hour. I know that in London, places are usually surprisingly close to each other, or else the exact opposite.
Finally, when I think I may have to weaken and look under the seat or in the boot to see if I actually do have an A-Z, I recognise the Trocadero (where I last met my old friend Jack from Jordan whom I haven’t now seen for 11 years) and I’m sorted. I was wondering where on Earth I could park, but “Leicester Square Car Park” seems to be the answer.
So, in I go. Deeve is there as well as a couple of other people I recognise. I am “persuaded” to sit down in a £1-2 NLH game for 10 minutes before the off and manage to lose a full buy-in in ridiculous fashion (his call was ridiculous, not my bluff, obv.)
The field for the satellite is soft ! Let me give you an example. Mid-position limps. I limp the hijack with pocket 5s. Button makes a min-raise. We both call.
The flop comes T-T-2. I intend to check-raise here but first the other active player bets 100 into 900.
I decide to just call and the button folds (?!). Turn a 5. Now my opponent bets 500 with 650 behind.
Really, I should push now but I decide for some reason I can get the rest on any river. The river is an Ace, which completes a flush as well. The fella checks so now I have to put him in (terrible river for me really) and he calls with QQ.
So, with this kind of field, it was a bit disappointing that at the end of the rebuy period I had almost the minimum possible number of chips ! I went bust bluffing into the nuts on the last hand so after a rebuy and add-on I needed a solid start to the freezeout.
A few hands in, after picking up a few blinds, I push with AQ. All insta-fold to the big blind who tanks. I’m liking that and when he eventually calls I am hoping that I dominate him, until he shows me AK-suited !
Hey ho. I look around and since my bluff-calling friend has left, I decide to take advantage of my early exit by relocating to The International for the rest of the evening.
Naturally I start out by bluffing off a couple of buy ins (by now, you would think I could rely on previous evidence to do my advertising ?) before I am able to turn it into a hole-escaping win.
I rarely play at the weekends, but it seems like the cash games at the club are worth making a trip for!
Monday 24 August 2009
Tuesday 18 August 2009
After my first losing session at the $1/2 NLH game on board, I enjoyed a solid recovery in the subsequent games.
Not all the players were bad. Some of them were clearly quite experienced, in fact. Norman Gold was one of those. I don’t know him, but he apparently plays regularly at The Vic. A couple of other players knew him from there, so they likewise must be assumed to know their way around the game.
Still, I didn’t need to win any money off that section of the table. There was plenty to be had from the other groups: (a) the short-stacked timid players, (b) the predictable players and especially (c) the roulette players.
The roulette guys more or less knew how to play poker (mechanically speaking), but on roulette they were experts. For example, they knew when Red was hot and when Red was favoured one of them had a good plan: bet on every red number. His equivalent strategy in poker was to play every hand for any raise pre-flop.
By the end of the 2nd week, I had amassed a useful 4-figure profit from my starting $200buy-in without ever being down overall. I paid off the room bill (just the extras: sadly not enough to pay for the cruise: if it had been a $5/10 game then maybe ....) and set aside some profit. I left myself just $160 in my wallet “in case” I wanted to have one just go on the last night.
I came into the game at about 11:30pm with a quick spin-up in mind. I pulled up just $60 – the average stack was about $250.
After winning one small pot, I had $71 when I picked up Aces on the button. Alan made it $17 to go from early position. He was a regular all week and had picked up on my very loose play, no doubt. I felt very sure that I could get it all in now, and indeed he fairly quickly called my shove with pocket 5s. First double up accomplished.
I made another good step forward with 43s – flopping two pair vs Alan again, who virtually doubled me up as I bet it all the way to the river vs his top pair.
Finally, with an early start and long drive ahead of us in the morning, I reluctantly announced I would play around to my button.
My button hand duly arrived. Scottish Colin elected to limp and re-evaluate after my assumed raise. I looked down at KTo and decided to just call the straddle and await developments. To my surprise, no one raised.
5-way to the flop: Q-J-3. OK, I have an open-ender but I really do not want to get too busy on the last hand of the night. Someone bets $15, which I called, and now Colin check-raises to $50. I decide I can continue here.
Turn – an offsuit 9. Colin moves in with his pocket Aces and is drawing dead when I call with the nuts !
I decide, for once, to end on a high and I call it a night having turned $60 into nearly $500 in about an hour.
Sunday 16 August 2009
Out of Port, Stars on Board
In the later part of the cruise, the poker took on a pattern. All the regulars now knew there would be a game in the late evening, and more people had heard about the game.
In principle, there was a game whenever the casino was open. This was from about 30mins after we left port, or all-day (say noon – 2am) if we were at sea.
In practice, the game seemed to start around midnight.
However, as the days went by, the start time definitely drifted earlier to the point where I was showing up after dinner and finding a full game already in progress.
The busier games brought in new players. Especially the “casino fish” who would stroll over to the poker table after a good run at the roulette. These players were not timid about putting their chips in.
They were the typical “bad players” that tend to provoke mixed reactions. On the one hand, they were clearly terrible (and drunk) so they were huge value, but on the other hand they were noisy and slowed the game down, and of course they were very dangerous (especially to those with shallow bankrolls).
Personally, I find it baffling when a solid player says something on the lines of “I hate playing against real fish”. I just about understand why they say this, but it completely wrong-headed in my view.
Yes, these players can and will get very lucky. Yes, they can bust you multiple times whilst their luck holds. But if you can keep reloading and don’t run out of time, then those chips are coming right back (with interest).
Perhaps my natural style also has made be comfortable with a very volatile game, so I am willing to fight fire with fire and put all my chips in.
The first night that the roulette crew came by saw my first losing session.
When I sat down, Jonny from Cheshire had already taken chunks out of the rest of the table. The two hands I watched before sitting down saw him river a flush with 73s in one hand, and in another he cold-called a raise and a re-raise pre-flop with J8o. The flop came QT9r. He cleaned up again.
It was clear he had no preflop standards, but actually he did get paid the max on both hands which made me think that possibly he might know what he was doing.
He was prepared to make big raises pre-flop with almost any two cards. Once I realised that he had such a wide range, I decided to let him know I was in the game. I limped for $2 along with a couple of others. Jonny made it $15 from the blinds. Two of the limpers called this as well (these were the tight-weak players), so now I moved in for $150 with A6o.
I figured I will knock out the other players for sure and I am ahead of Jonny’s range even if he calls.
He calls.
The board runs out K-8-2-T-3.
I announce “Ace high”. Jonny verbalises Ace-high as well. I am only beating 2 hands, but lo and behold he shows up with exactly A5o. Sweet.
Still, the session does not go well. Jonny and a couple of his friends who join us, are hitting for fun.
I lose four $200 buy-ins before I get a nice double-up with J9 – I flop trips and turn quads, and manage to get it all in by the river.
So, I have a useful $451 stack to attack Jonny (who has nearly $2k) when I pick up my next hand.
Aces. There is a $4 straddle by Scottish Colin (a decent and aggressive player). Jonny is on the big blind. Steve (one of Cheshire Jonny’s mates) limps in. He is incredibly passive pre-flop, even with monsters.
I limp, hoping Jonny or Colin will raise, but unfortunately we see a limped 5-way flop.
QT8 is the flop. Jonny checks and Steve leads out for $50. Esa from Finland moves all in for $200 or so.
Well. I have to assume a set is unlikely with no pre-flop raises. I think that top pair will bet aggressively here AND that I can get paid off by AQ/KQ and draws, so I move in for my $451.
Jonny calls. Steve folds pocket Tens, he says.
Esa has AQ. Jonny shows J9 for the flopped nuts ! A King on the turn gives me broadway outs, but the river is a blank for me (actually it paired the board).
Aarrgghh !To be honest, I think if I raise pre-flop with the Aces, I still lose my stack.
I have one more buy-in and make $350 back before the night is over. Jonny finished on $2,500 or so.
It was a fun game, despite the losses. The banter was good (albeit a but drunken). Jonny had a habit of calling everyone “cock”. This seemed to be light-hearted and basically friendly term coming from him, but it still felt a bit odd. Since he & I tangled so often, most of the cock-calling was aimed at me.
I bought a round of drinks, and hoped Jonny & Co would return the next day so I could have a crack at repatriating my chips !
In principle, there was a game whenever the casino was open. This was from about 30mins after we left port, or all-day (say noon – 2am) if we were at sea.
In practice, the game seemed to start around midnight.
However, as the days went by, the start time definitely drifted earlier to the point where I was showing up after dinner and finding a full game already in progress.
The busier games brought in new players. Especially the “casino fish” who would stroll over to the poker table after a good run at the roulette. These players were not timid about putting their chips in.
They were the typical “bad players” that tend to provoke mixed reactions. On the one hand, they were clearly terrible (and drunk) so they were huge value, but on the other hand they were noisy and slowed the game down, and of course they were very dangerous (especially to those with shallow bankrolls).
Personally, I find it baffling when a solid player says something on the lines of “I hate playing against real fish”. I just about understand why they say this, but it completely wrong-headed in my view.
Yes, these players can and will get very lucky. Yes, they can bust you multiple times whilst their luck holds. But if you can keep reloading and don’t run out of time, then those chips are coming right back (with interest).
Perhaps my natural style also has made be comfortable with a very volatile game, so I am willing to fight fire with fire and put all my chips in.
The first night that the roulette crew came by saw my first losing session.
When I sat down, Jonny from Cheshire had already taken chunks out of the rest of the table. The two hands I watched before sitting down saw him river a flush with 73s in one hand, and in another he cold-called a raise and a re-raise pre-flop with J8o. The flop came QT9r. He cleaned up again.
It was clear he had no preflop standards, but actually he did get paid the max on both hands which made me think that possibly he might know what he was doing.
He was prepared to make big raises pre-flop with almost any two cards. Once I realised that he had such a wide range, I decided to let him know I was in the game. I limped for $2 along with a couple of others. Jonny made it $15 from the blinds. Two of the limpers called this as well (these were the tight-weak players), so now I moved in for $150 with A6o.
I figured I will knock out the other players for sure and I am ahead of Jonny’s range even if he calls.
He calls.
The board runs out K-8-2-T-3.
I announce “Ace high”. Jonny verbalises Ace-high as well. I am only beating 2 hands, but lo and behold he shows up with exactly A5o. Sweet.
Still, the session does not go well. Jonny and a couple of his friends who join us, are hitting for fun.
I lose four $200 buy-ins before I get a nice double-up with J9 – I flop trips and turn quads, and manage to get it all in by the river.
So, I have a useful $451 stack to attack Jonny (who has nearly $2k) when I pick up my next hand.
Aces. There is a $4 straddle by Scottish Colin (a decent and aggressive player). Jonny is on the big blind. Steve (one of Cheshire Jonny’s mates) limps in. He is incredibly passive pre-flop, even with monsters.
I limp, hoping Jonny or Colin will raise, but unfortunately we see a limped 5-way flop.
QT8 is the flop. Jonny checks and Steve leads out for $50. Esa from Finland moves all in for $200 or so.
Well. I have to assume a set is unlikely with no pre-flop raises. I think that top pair will bet aggressively here AND that I can get paid off by AQ/KQ and draws, so I move in for my $451.
Jonny calls. Steve folds pocket Tens, he says.
Esa has AQ. Jonny shows J9 for the flopped nuts ! A King on the turn gives me broadway outs, but the river is a blank for me (actually it paired the board).
Aarrgghh !To be honest, I think if I raise pre-flop with the Aces, I still lose my stack.
I have one more buy-in and make $350 back before the night is over. Jonny finished on $2,500 or so.
It was a fun game, despite the losses. The banter was good (albeit a but drunken). Jonny had a habit of calling everyone “cock”. This seemed to be light-hearted and basically friendly term coming from him, but it still felt a bit odd. Since he & I tangled so often, most of the cock-calling was aimed at me.
I bought a round of drinks, and hoped Jonny & Co would return the next day so I could have a crack at repatriating my chips !
Thursday 13 August 2009
Strike Two
Having discovered that “Lightning Poker” was real Texas Hold’em played on an electronic table, I heard that cash games would also be spread. The game was to be $1/2 NLH. Good news indeed after the horror of $5/10 Limit on last year’s cruise.
However, the players didn’t really like the machine and whenever I popped in at the casino in the next few days, it lay silent and empty. I started to doubt I would get my cash game.
Then I bumped into the poker manager (well, the floorman who seemed to deal with poker) and asked about the Sit-n-Go scheduled for the next sea day. “Might not go ahead” he told me. The machine was broken and needed specialist repair. But possibly they would revert to playing with a real dealer.
Next day, not only was the dealer-dealt tournament a “go” but the players were playing cash before the tourney. Apparently these games had been going on for days but since they were running on a blackjack table in the corner of the room, I had not noticed !
Bad beat ? Maybe, although it did mean that my wife was not a poker widow until the latter part of the cruise.
As soon as I sat in this game, I experienced a bit of epiphany. I was genuinely better than most of the other players!
I was running OK, which helped, but the fact was that it seemed I couldn’t lose.
I knew some of the players from the SnGs. None of the payers seemed to be really strong, but there were definitely two groups. The more experienced players played OK, but rather predictably and without sufficient aggression in my opinion.
The others were of a type that I rarely come across at The International. Those were the weak-tight players. They were totally incapable of any moves, it seemed, and completely oblivious to tournament strategy (especially short stacked).
For example, one of these players playing an 8BB stack raised the button for more than half his chips with KQs then genuinely agonised over the call when the BB put him all in for about 3BB more.
This player actually went on to chop the tournament with one equally clueless individual and one of the experienced players. This tells you how soft it was. Mind you, I finished 11th of 12 in this SnG so maybe I shouldn’t comment !
Both types were playing in the cash games along with the occasional passer-by. Those poker newbies mainly played an extreme weak-passive game that was absolutely guaranteed to be a losing proposition.
I am not a strong cash player. Although I do think I am above average in the universe of all cash players, I am not far enough ahead to overcome the rake and poor discipline and come out a consistent winner.
In this game, however, I felt like a pro !
I was still playing my very loose style but instead of just leaking chips, I found I was able to play a lot of flops and generally get paid later in the hands. I found that I could read the players easily.
I did not make the very most of this good situation, but I was making FAR fewer errors than the other players and as we know, poker is a game of the fewest mistakes. Never have I made so many easy and winning calls with Ace-high.
I turned $200 into $650 and then in the 2nd session, $650 into $1,300. Unfortunately the casino threw us out at 2:30am. I would have loved to play all night ! Mind you, the “last few hands” did provoke some crazy plays so I was able to take advantage.
For example, Alan was one of the experienced but predictable players. He was pretty tight pre-flop, but very easy to play on the flop. If he missed, he check-folded or folded to c-bets essentially 100% of the time. Meanwhile if he hit, he would put a lot of money in with a modest made hand like TPGK.
In my opinion he played too passively and somewhat weakly, but his tight hand selection was still enough to make him a generally winning player in this game.
Occasionally, however, he would go mad with a hand. He would put in huge bets preflop with semi-premium hands but not AA/KK. Very exploitable.
And here was another example of his occasional mad plays. I over-limped with Kc9c, and Alan raised to $13 from the button. He announced that he was going all in on the flop no matter what (for about $200 more).
I believed him, so it made it an easy pre-flop call to fit-or-fold. He dispelled any doubt that he would go through with the flop push, by putting it in blind.
When the flop came King high I gladly called the push. Unfortunately he hit running 2pair with his AJ-suited, but I was happy with the decision.
The only problem with the game was that it started late (not till about midnight) and finished early (by about 2:30am). I would have liked to play this game 24/7 !
However, the players didn’t really like the machine and whenever I popped in at the casino in the next few days, it lay silent and empty. I started to doubt I would get my cash game.
Then I bumped into the poker manager (well, the floorman who seemed to deal with poker) and asked about the Sit-n-Go scheduled for the next sea day. “Might not go ahead” he told me. The machine was broken and needed specialist repair. But possibly they would revert to playing with a real dealer.
Next day, not only was the dealer-dealt tournament a “go” but the players were playing cash before the tourney. Apparently these games had been going on for days but since they were running on a blackjack table in the corner of the room, I had not noticed !
Bad beat ? Maybe, although it did mean that my wife was not a poker widow until the latter part of the cruise.
As soon as I sat in this game, I experienced a bit of epiphany. I was genuinely better than most of the other players!
I was running OK, which helped, but the fact was that it seemed I couldn’t lose.
I knew some of the players from the SnGs. None of the payers seemed to be really strong, but there were definitely two groups. The more experienced players played OK, but rather predictably and without sufficient aggression in my opinion.
The others were of a type that I rarely come across at The International. Those were the weak-tight players. They were totally incapable of any moves, it seemed, and completely oblivious to tournament strategy (especially short stacked).
For example, one of these players playing an 8BB stack raised the button for more than half his chips with KQs then genuinely agonised over the call when the BB put him all in for about 3BB more.
This player actually went on to chop the tournament with one equally clueless individual and one of the experienced players. This tells you how soft it was. Mind you, I finished 11th of 12 in this SnG so maybe I shouldn’t comment !
Both types were playing in the cash games along with the occasional passer-by. Those poker newbies mainly played an extreme weak-passive game that was absolutely guaranteed to be a losing proposition.
I am not a strong cash player. Although I do think I am above average in the universe of all cash players, I am not far enough ahead to overcome the rake and poor discipline and come out a consistent winner.
In this game, however, I felt like a pro !
I was still playing my very loose style but instead of just leaking chips, I found I was able to play a lot of flops and generally get paid later in the hands. I found that I could read the players easily.
I did not make the very most of this good situation, but I was making FAR fewer errors than the other players and as we know, poker is a game of the fewest mistakes. Never have I made so many easy and winning calls with Ace-high.
I turned $200 into $650 and then in the 2nd session, $650 into $1,300. Unfortunately the casino threw us out at 2:30am. I would have loved to play all night ! Mind you, the “last few hands” did provoke some crazy plays so I was able to take advantage.
For example, Alan was one of the experienced but predictable players. He was pretty tight pre-flop, but very easy to play on the flop. If he missed, he check-folded or folded to c-bets essentially 100% of the time. Meanwhile if he hit, he would put a lot of money in with a modest made hand like TPGK.
In my opinion he played too passively and somewhat weakly, but his tight hand selection was still enough to make him a generally winning player in this game.
Occasionally, however, he would go mad with a hand. He would put in huge bets preflop with semi-premium hands but not AA/KK. Very exploitable.
And here was another example of his occasional mad plays. I over-limped with Kc9c, and Alan raised to $13 from the button. He announced that he was going all in on the flop no matter what (for about $200 more).
I believed him, so it made it an easy pre-flop call to fit-or-fold. He dispelled any doubt that he would go through with the flop push, by putting it in blind.
When the flop came King high I gladly called the push. Unfortunately he hit running 2pair with his AJ-suited, but I was happy with the decision.
The only problem with the game was that it started late (not till about midnight) and finished early (by about 2:30am). I would have liked to play this game 24/7 !
Sunday 9 August 2009
Lightning Strikes Once
Last year I wrote about my painful cruise-ship introduction to limit poker. I played on the “only game in town” principle until I could no longer bear it and resorted to playing blackjack (a game that I barely understand – as several gutshotters can attest to).
Based on last year’s disappointment, my expectations for meaningful poker on this year’s cruise were close to zero. I didn’t even look into it before we set off for Southampton.
My wife (knowing that I would want to play if possible) did check it out, and her web search revealed that “Lightning Poker” would be played aboard ship.
This news barely raised my hopes as my experience is that “poker” games with names that differ from standard nomenclature always turn out to be, in fact, various forms of house games.
They are as close to “proper poker” as video poker, or poker slots. Best case, I thought, Lightning Poker could be an abbreviated form of the game: maybe betting pre-flop followed by dealing all three streets at once (say). I tried to imagine what game I would come up with if I was told it was to be sensibly called “Lightning Poker”.
Still, once at sea, I was pleased to see a Texas Hold’em Sit-n-Go announced and I turned up for that with reasonable expectation that it would actually be poker.
And so it was, and the mystery was solved. “Lightning Poker” turned out to be one of those electronic tables for live-play with no dealer. I have never played such a game before but apparently they were using it for these SnGs and also for a $1/2 No Limit cash game.
Good news!
After a considerable software glitch caused a delayed start, the machine finally powered up and I was quite impressed with the nice solid feel of it all. A big screen in the centre of the felt displayed all the action and the software for betting etc was easy and sensible. The only minor gripe I had was the lack of a slider for bets but I’d easily give it a 9/10 for the interface.
On to the game – it was a 9-man $50 SnG playing 2 places 70/30 after the hefty $10 rake. 3,000 chips starting at 25/50 on a 12-minute clock. With this live/electronic hybrid game it was fairly turbo clock but nothing to complain about really.
What of the other players ? Well the fact is you don’t get novices turning up to these things – you might think that out of 3,600 passengers you would find plenty of poker players but in fact they did not fill the 9 seats and we went off 8-handed.
All the participants were clearly somewhat regular players to seek out the game but after a while it became clear they pretty much all played that very passive game that you often see among less experienced players. I am never completely sure how to counter this but I really like to play aggressively so I decided to really focus on position. I was very tight in early position but on the button I was raising pretty aggressively with any playable holding and then post-flop was able to benefit from the passive and rather predictable play.
This worked out rather well when I re-raised a min-raise from middle position with 86o. The original raiser called the re-raise and the other cold-callers let go. The flop was Q75 rainbow.
The pre-flop “aggressor” bet 250 into 2,250. I called and the turn brought the helpful 4. I raised the next 250 bet (I didn’t dare raise to more than 750). The Queen on the river was helpful as I was not remotely afraid of a house and I was able to get all my money in against his QJ.
By now I was clear that none of the other players was a big threat but of course the 12minute levels go fairly quickly without the rapid play you see online (I am not sure if there was a time limit on players’ actions, but it wasn’t uncommon for a player to not realise it was their go).
The game was very friendly and no one was taking it too seriously (I wasn’t either, except that I was determined to win, especially against this field !). One player who needed to make a trip to the toilet actually asked another eliminated player to take over his cards on the bubble!
Definitely not allowed, but it didn’t seem worth pointing it out. I just put the substitute all-in every hand, confident he couldn’t call under the circumstances.The bubble broke and I found myself in-the-money with a 5-3 chip disadvantage. I immediately squashed talk of a chop (although some of you may say that an even chop in that spot is a +EV proposition). It didn’t last long. First hand, I raised and called his shove with AT. He had a small pair and I hit, to take the lead.
In the next pot, he limped and I checked with the mighty 4-3o. Flop T32 with two clubs. He dwelled a bit then shoved. I called feeling my pair was probably ahead now. So it was, but with 7c5c his play was pretty automatic.
However, a 3 on the turn reduced his outs, and a few moments later my record for electronic tournaments became P1, W1. Hurrah !
Based on last year’s disappointment, my expectations for meaningful poker on this year’s cruise were close to zero. I didn’t even look into it before we set off for Southampton.
My wife (knowing that I would want to play if possible) did check it out, and her web search revealed that “Lightning Poker” would be played aboard ship.
This news barely raised my hopes as my experience is that “poker” games with names that differ from standard nomenclature always turn out to be, in fact, various forms of house games.
They are as close to “proper poker” as video poker, or poker slots. Best case, I thought, Lightning Poker could be an abbreviated form of the game: maybe betting pre-flop followed by dealing all three streets at once (say). I tried to imagine what game I would come up with if I was told it was to be sensibly called “Lightning Poker”.
Still, once at sea, I was pleased to see a Texas Hold’em Sit-n-Go announced and I turned up for that with reasonable expectation that it would actually be poker.
And so it was, and the mystery was solved. “Lightning Poker” turned out to be one of those electronic tables for live-play with no dealer. I have never played such a game before but apparently they were using it for these SnGs and also for a $1/2 No Limit cash game.
Good news!
After a considerable software glitch caused a delayed start, the machine finally powered up and I was quite impressed with the nice solid feel of it all. A big screen in the centre of the felt displayed all the action and the software for betting etc was easy and sensible. The only minor gripe I had was the lack of a slider for bets but I’d easily give it a 9/10 for the interface.
On to the game – it was a 9-man $50 SnG playing 2 places 70/30 after the hefty $10 rake. 3,000 chips starting at 25/50 on a 12-minute clock. With this live/electronic hybrid game it was fairly turbo clock but nothing to complain about really.
What of the other players ? Well the fact is you don’t get novices turning up to these things – you might think that out of 3,600 passengers you would find plenty of poker players but in fact they did not fill the 9 seats and we went off 8-handed.
All the participants were clearly somewhat regular players to seek out the game but after a while it became clear they pretty much all played that very passive game that you often see among less experienced players. I am never completely sure how to counter this but I really like to play aggressively so I decided to really focus on position. I was very tight in early position but on the button I was raising pretty aggressively with any playable holding and then post-flop was able to benefit from the passive and rather predictable play.
This worked out rather well when I re-raised a min-raise from middle position with 86o. The original raiser called the re-raise and the other cold-callers let go. The flop was Q75 rainbow.
The pre-flop “aggressor” bet 250 into 2,250. I called and the turn brought the helpful 4. I raised the next 250 bet (I didn’t dare raise to more than 750). The Queen on the river was helpful as I was not remotely afraid of a house and I was able to get all my money in against his QJ.
By now I was clear that none of the other players was a big threat but of course the 12minute levels go fairly quickly without the rapid play you see online (I am not sure if there was a time limit on players’ actions, but it wasn’t uncommon for a player to not realise it was their go).
The game was very friendly and no one was taking it too seriously (I wasn’t either, except that I was determined to win, especially against this field !). One player who needed to make a trip to the toilet actually asked another eliminated player to take over his cards on the bubble!
Definitely not allowed, but it didn’t seem worth pointing it out. I just put the substitute all-in every hand, confident he couldn’t call under the circumstances.The bubble broke and I found myself in-the-money with a 5-3 chip disadvantage. I immediately squashed talk of a chop (although some of you may say that an even chop in that spot is a +EV proposition). It didn’t last long. First hand, I raised and called his shove with AT. He had a small pair and I hit, to take the lead.
In the next pot, he limped and I checked with the mighty 4-3o. Flop T32 with two clubs. He dwelled a bit then shoved. I called feeling my pair was probably ahead now. So it was, but with 7c5c his play was pretty automatic.
However, a 3 on the turn reduced his outs, and a few moments later my record for electronic tournaments became P1, W1. Hurrah !
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