Not literally, you understand, but it was the kind of game where you could imagine anything happening.
I made a trip down to The International to play in the $100k bounty tournament, and it turned out to be a great fun night of poker.
First phase was a quick spin in the £1-1 NLH game. I say “spin”, but there is another word that goes after “spin” that is not “up”.
I didn’t have long before the bounty tournament itself, so I was playing “speed poker”. It worked OK some of the time, but a few of the players realised they could call me pretty light.
One player called my shove on the river (double-paired board) with Queen high. Admittedly I did announce “Queen high is good”. Maybe that was too much of a clue. People should tell me if they’re going to take my speech play at face value, so I can adjust.
After a reload (or two...) I should have known better, perhaps, than to 4-bet all in against Sam “Light Call” Grafton. Four-high no good vs his monster Ace-Ten.
On to phase two. The club had laid on an incredible $100k bounty tournament in the guise of a £25 freezeout. One of the bounty pros, Andy Achillea, was at my table and he seemed to be playing 0% of hands. I made up for this by playing 100%.
Things might have worked out. Raising in early position with 4-2o and receiving 4 callers, I was allowed to see a free turn after the T-3-6 flop and was pleased to hit a five. The small blind led into me. Perhaps I should just call but, with 2 diamonds out there in a 5way pot, I opted for a raise and took down a moderate pot.
I tried to put the modern “light call” into practice after hitting bottom pair of deuces against one opponent who kept betting. When I called the river and tabled J-2, he nodded “Good call”. He flipped over his hand – 54o – which was all very well, except that he had rivered a low straight that he apparently had not noticed !
A thin value raise with KQ vs AQ on a queen high board saw me slip to about 3,000 chips (starting chips 6,500) but it seemed I had my second chance when I picked up my first genuine hand.
Andy raised (for the first time in the comp) from early position and was called on his left. I simply shoved from the small blind with pocket Queens.
After Andy passed, the other player dwelled but cannot be faulted for believing he was likely ahead with TT. I was good till the river, when a third Ten was enough to knock me out.
I was disappointed, but this did not stop me getting on the PLO list. The game was quickly up and running and a whole host of familiar faces were involved, including the fearless Warya.
Early on, I could not get a start in the game and dropped several buy-ins before deciding to fight fire with fire and pull up £2,000 – by no means the largest stack at the table.
Immediately things take a turn for the better. Picking up Aces with Ace-high clubs, I get involved in a 3-way pot. Unusually it is only £10 to call pre-flop (I limp the £10), but I still manage to get £2,000 in on the turn when I make the nuts. Warya had Kings with King-high clubs, and the other player had a set, missing.
AAQQ next hand stands up in a £1k pot and then I flop the world a couple of times and get paid off by second best hands.
I put together a great run and am soon on over £10k. Warya, naturally pulls up to cover me and there are otehr deep stacks as well.
It is often said that Omaha is a game of making the nuts. Well, this one wasn’t ! Vast pots were won with one pair, and two pair.
I became comfortable with lighter and lighter calls: £300 on the river in a multiway pot with a pair of queens, jack kicker, for example. Or £1,000 with 9s and 4s (two pairs made on turn and river). I was particularly pleased with a winning call with Aces up when I was check-raised to £1,300 on the river with a pair on board.
Having said that, I probably did not value bet/raise sufficiently light for the way the game was.
For example, in one pot I started with Aces and check-called the flop. I check-called the turn, having only improved to a gutshot wheel draw and a draw to an Ace-flush bluff.
On the river I hit my wheel draw and check-called £500 with £800 left, winning against a flopped set. This was a clear error. I was worried that my lowest-possible straight could easily be losing, but in this game it was a clear check-raise or bet-shove.
I really enjoyed the game and I did feel that I made a lot of good decisions throughout the night. However, it is generally the mistakes that stay in the mind.
I remember one pot against a smart aggressive player where I allowed him to bluff me with essentially air after I check-called the flop for £300 and then led for £600 on the turn, to face an £1,800 all-in.
The board showed a possible made straight (which I did not believe he had), and 2 spades (I had none). I was playing an overpair of Kings at this point, with a gutshot, but I was miles ahead of his bottom pair, no draw. I should have gone with my first instinct.
Most memorable of all was a big pot with Warya and Trevor, which might have been truly enormous if I play it differently.
I straddle £5, called by Trevor and the small blind. Warya raises in the BB to £25 total. I call with T-9-7-4r, and now Trevor raises the pot (having limped) to £105 total, leaving less than £200 behind.
SB folds. Warya calls £80 and now I have to call £80, not to crack Trevor;s obvious Aces, but to play the £10k behind that both Warya and I have left.
Flop 9c-8c-3h.
I flop top pair/open-ender with no part of the club draw. I will be happy to put it all in against Trevor here, but the flop is checked around.
Turn: 6d. I make the nuts but my hand cannot improve. Warya checks again and I bet £225 for value. Trevor agonises. He seems to recognise he is losing but eventually he puts in his last £185.
Now, Warya check-raises to £1,080 ....
If I raise now, I can make it £3,500ish and I could face another £7,000 re-raise all-in. Do I want to put in £10k potentially being freerolled ? I’m not sure what to do, and in the end I go for the call as a default option, obviously hoping for a brick on the river.
I don’t think I had really comprehended how few bricks there are on the river ! My hand could be vulnerable to any club (for a flush), any 7, T, J or Q (for a higher straight), or any 3, 6, 8 or 9 (board-pairing cards, of which there may be as many as 11 still in the deck).
The river pairs the 9. Immediately, Warya announces “full pot” which is £2,665.
Now I lost my nerve. It was one of those classic poker moments where you “know” your opponent is bluffing but you still don’t call. In the end, I think it was simply the sheer size of the bet that overwhelmed my better judgement and I found a fold.
Warya showed T-J-5-5 (no club draw) for nines up (effectively playing a pair of fives) and raked the considerable side pot. When I say “showed”, I mean “slammed down and fist-pumped!”.
”Noooooooooo.....”.
Trevor, meanwhile, has had an absolute coup. On the turn he is drawing dead with A-A-7-5. His backhand came in but I had him crushed, and now out of nowhere he picks up the main pot of well over £800 !
A brilliant example of missed opportunity, and a major case of self-tilting.
The game continued for hours and my stack fluctuated between £5k and £9k most of the time, with the whole stack potentially in jeopardy at all times. It was a scary game, but great fun. It was played in a really good spirit by all involved and I felt I was definitely learning something about the nature of “big bet poker”.
It went on so long that my transport plans were thrown into a tailspin. I had driven into London, ostensibly so that I could get home after the last train. When the game extended to breakfast time, that reasoning became moot. It went on so long that I had to move my car to the nearby Hoxton Church car park.
When we eventually finished playing at about 3pm (by mutual exhaustion), I was too tired to risk a long motorway drive so I left my car overnight (sending word to the car park via the ever-helpful Jimi).
I had to make a trip into London the following day to collect it (some 48 hours after I first parked it outside the club). As I was there, I popped in and there was an Omaha game just starting off ....
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