Playing poker in London

I want to preface this post by saying that the only highlight of my recent European trip was playing live poker at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London. I love live poker. I wish I had more chances to play it. And the exchange rate at the cardroom is the best on the planet. Seriously. They will even let you buy back your USD if it is during the same day as when you sold them.

Now while I love live poker, I am probably the worst cash game player there is. I play scared at levels that are higher than I am confident in. I play too tight and eventually make a move at the wrong time.

When I was done with my meetings for the day I headed over to The Vic poker room to see what was going on. The room opens at 2pm and by the time I got there about 15 minutes later there were not enough players to start a game. The table they were going to open was a 3/3 PL Hold'em with a minimum 100 buy-in. This is GBP, not USD. So basically a $6/$6, with a $200 min buy-in. So what do I do? I buy in for the minimum. When I see the other guys' stacks I know it was a mistake. I should just get up and leave right now, but I sit there and let everyone know that in the next hour I will either go bust or I will take all their money. Smooth.

I play tight for about half an hour and then try to bluff a loose player who fights back and I fold. I then limp with 54s and double up when I make my flush on the turn and get paid off. I am up above my starting stack and pretty happy. Then the following hand occurs:

I am in MP (at this point we have a full table) and get AKo (my best hand so far, an hour into the game). UTG raises to 10 (normal pre-flop raise) and I re-raise to 25 to take it down or isolate. Everyone folds and UTG raises pot or above 50 more. This is probably the point I should think about folding but I call instead. I only have about 30 left at this point and as the dealer deals the flop from the corner of my eye I see UTG bet in the dark another 50. The flop misses me with something like Q72 and I can't fold. Especially with that bet in the dark I thought I saw. I call and he shows his set of Queens. Adios 100GBP. Thanks for the fun times fellas. I also had to pay my 10 hourly charge for the rake and so I am down 110 so far.

I always play better when in the hole for some reason. But this is not a game I want to sit back into. They have a 30+5 MTT starting in 4 hours so I go and sign up for that. I head back to my hotel to rest as I have been up for about 36 hours with all the flights and meetings and not being able to sleep in my hotel. I make it back in time to see that we are maxed out at 72 players (8 tables) and playing for 2,160GBP.

The tournament area is upstairs and there are no dealers until the final table. So this is like a big home game with small tables and people dealing the game. Fun fact: they actually have 9 sided tables which I originally thought were hexagons. We start with 1500 chips and 25/25 blinds and 20 minute rounds. Blinds go up to 25/50 and then double. Not a lot of room to maneuver.

My starting table is a mixture of super-tight and super-aggro types. There's one grungy skinny chick who is a total LAG and pushes the table around, including yours truly. I decided to wait and trap since she is two to my right but I get no cards. She attacks everyone and shows most of her uncalled hands. Eventually she stacks some old guy when he has KK and she shoves on a JJ7 board while holding 87o. Turn 8, river 8 and old guy is gone. Luckily I am moved to another table, but I don't have a lot of chips left.

At my new table I manage to survive all-in twice with A6o. Once against AQo when I river a 6 and once I chop against AJ when the board is AKQQ2. Sweet. I got moved around a lot and didn't track many hands because I didn't get any. Eventually I get to a wild table with some crazy play. When I sit down I see a QQ vs Q7s all-in pre-flop which hits a runner runner flush. I tell the table that I need their chips because I want to play some more. I have 800 left and they all laugh. A young guy (we'll call him DG from now on) tells me to be patient. But at 100/200 blinds I have to make a move soon. By the time the blinds hit me we are at 200/400 and I am already half in. it gets limped around and I shove with 87s against three opponents. I tell them I need them all to call so I can quadruple up. I make two pair on the turn and while they check it down all they can do is see me drag the 3200 pot. Sweet. Now I have some fighting room.

I take some more chips from DG when I re-raise his steal attempt and he folds. At this point we are down to 19 players from the original 72 and need one more busto to move to two tables. Our table has 6 players and in one hand DG busts three players. After a 4-way limped pot pre-flop we see a flop of 7c3c2c. SB shoves, BB shoves, CO shoves and DG on the button calls (he has them all covered):

SB - Q7 for top pair.
BB - 44 for middle pair.
CO - AcQh for nut flush draw.
DG - 6c5c for a flopped flush and straight flush re-draw.

DG takes it down and we go from 19 to 16 players in one hand. 2 tables left. I still get no cards to work with and my new table is full of big stacks. But since we are close to the money bubble (final table gets paid) I take some risks and steal the blinds when I think my opponents won't call. I actually push A4s UTG and get the BB to fold AQo face up. I then probably make a mistake by showing him my hand and asking how he could fold his hand.

Down to 10 players and the big stack is just steam rolling us. DG loses a big chunk of his chips to a weirdo French guy who calls with Aces against DG's 7s. The Frenchie calls a big stack raise with T5s and flops quads to double up again. Everyone is in total shock. The other table busts the bubble and we move to a "real" poker table with a real dealer.

As soon as we sit down I see that I am in bad shape with a serious short stack. So obviously I offer an even chop. I get a few confused looks and a few chuckles. I then put them all on notice that I have karma on my side and everyone who refuses the chip deal will eventually be knocked out (this is actually true except for the eventual winner). So when they still won't budge I go on to triple up with KQo on a Q high flop. We are down to 8. Next to go is Frenchie who calls with a 52s on a flushing board against my KQo (again) and the big-stack all-in with pocket 10s. I double up and we are down to 7. Now I have a decent stack to work with and when I finally see a primo hand (AQs) I push and get called by A7o. This is the guy I showed the A4s to earlier and he says he called only because of that. I know not to celebrate early and he obviously hits a three outer on the river to take about half my stack. Since I did this to someone earlier I am not going to tilt too hard. I still have some chips. But then the same guy makes a dumb mistake when the short stack is all-in UTG and he pushes over the top from the button with AJ. SB and BB fold (they would have called the original shove) and UTG shows AK which holds up. I ask him why he did this and nobody at the table really thinks I am right, but I still believe 3 players against the short-stack is a much better way to climb the money ladder.

A few hands later DG in the SB shoves against the BB who calls with J7o. DG shows pocket Queens and we are down to 6. J7o is a great calling hand when you are going to be eliminated, right? Why did he call? He says he thought DG was bluffing. Whaaaaaaaa? Even if he was bluffing you call with J7o? J7o???

Anyway, down to 6 I offer the following deal: We each get 300 and winner takes the extra 100. This would be a good deal for 4 of the 6 remaining players as 1st is 760 and second is 390. But nobody wants the deal, so I put them on notice again. There's an old Cypriot at my table who I can't understand at all except that his name is Michael and he is so annoyed that the chick to his right always shoves on his BB. Two orbits later when he's in the BB she shoves on him again and he says he calls blind (I saw him check his cards as they were dealt, though). She has Tens and he has Aces and we are down to 5.

Blinds are so big I have to make a move again and I shove with KQ in the CO. DG in the SB calls and shows A8o and takes me out in 5th place for a 170 payout. So I am now up 170 win - 35 buy-in - 100 cash game - 10 rake = 25GBP. Awesome. DG goes on to take it down against the old Cypriot with the following awesome hand:

All in the flop of 976 rainbow, old guy has Q9 for TPGK and DG has 86 for bottom pair and a million outs (any 5, 6, 8 or 10). 6 on the river and DG takes it down.

You might be asking yourselves if I have gone totally ghey here with my mention of DG. The answer is no. I just thought that he was the best player I ran into at this tournament and he played very well except for a small mistake here and there. I also got to talk to him during one of the breaks and learned he works for a small but pretty awesome poker site as a player, errrr... support person. He just got back from the Irish Open where he was entertaining a few qualifying players from his site. While at the Irish open he took down one of the smaller preliminary 100 events for a nice cash of 7500. He then went on to party all day and night and lost a 1000 buy-in on another pre-event. I think this kid has potential. I'll let you all know if he pops up anywhere in the future.

So with my 25 earnings what am I going to do? At this point it's pretty late, I have an early flight and the entire cardroom downstairs as well as two tables upstairs are full. I buy-in again with the minimum 25 at a NLHE .5/1 with 100 max buy-in. This is going to be a total donkfest as everyone is limping and making huge re-raises. So I sit back and wait. Eventually I get a big hand with KTs after I limp and see a flop of AcJc5h. Some guy, that tried to bluff me earlier and folded to my push, bets into me again and I shove. He thinks for a bit and calls with KTh? Whaaaa? He called with only four queens for a chop? Anyway, I miss my draw and we chop. Bummer. I then go on to run my TPTK into an overpair of Queens. So Queens got me twice in the cash games.

I was very happy with my play in the tourney though. I had a great time. I guess I don't have the patience for the cash game to be profitable. I would have ended the night dead even, but I had to pay 4 rake charge so I was actually down 4.

Just to show you what an idiot I am, before this whole European escapade I decided to go and play some NLHE on FTP, just because I have a huge bankroll (not) and I am a terrific cash game player (not). But I decided to do it in style. I played 4 tables at once and bought in for $20 in each:



I got stacked in two but made it all back when I doubled up twice in one of the other tables. I really suck. I vow not to play cash games (of the NL/PL type) until I know what I'm doing.

And just to finish off my fun trip report with some more ranting about how crappy Europe is I have a couple more nuggets for you:

1) When I headed to my hotel earlier in the day after losing 100 in the PL game the cashier in the underground station told me I am better off buying a daily pass for 6.70 than buying a return ticket for 8. I asked him how later I can use this daily pass and he said 4:30am the following day. Now this to me means that the train actually runs until 4:30am, right? No! They shut down right around midnight. So after I leave The Vic to go get some sleep before my 6am wake-up call to head to the airport I find the station locked up. Some drunk guy says I can take the bus. I stop a cab and head to my hotel. Cab ride - 35GBP. Wooooot?

2) I get to the airport in the morning and all I have is my computer bag and a small carry on. Not even the rolly type, just a small over night hand bag. But apparently in UK airports you can only go through security with a single item, no matter how big or small it is. The chick who checks me in actually tells me I can put one bag inside the other and then take it back out after I pass security. This has got to be the most retarded security requirement I have run into. Even worse than making me take off KajaBaby's tiny sneakers in order to pass them through the x-ray at JFK. Since my bags are too small to fit one in the other I check my bag with a bit of a huff. I bet they UK TSA union got some deal where they are only required to scan one bag per customer. There is no other logical reason for this.
So right before we land back in the good 'ole US of A, the flight attendant comes over and asks me if I would like a bottle of Champagne to take home with me. This has never happened to me before and I am not sure if she is puttling my leg or if this is some sort of security trick to arrest me later. But I decide to take the bottle anyway. Worst comes to worst I say that it was already on the plane so it had passed security. The real problem is when you land in ATL after an international flight you have to check your bags in again and go through security one more time. So I put the bottle in the bag praying that it will not break or pop between terminal E and baggage claim. It doesn't. It just takes a freaking hour to get there. Fun times.