So I finally make it down to the Vic after going M.I.A for five weeks. Five weeks! Yikes, I’d like to see some of the, ahem, professionals I know go five days, no wait, make that five minutes, without playing poker – OK, I did play online, but for me it’s just not the same. Of course, the feeling of doing your bollocks remains the same, but in terms of this blog, writing, 'I played some six-max PLO for about 25 minutes and then had to sit out for a bit because the plumber came round,” is not exactly page- turning stuff, is it?
It doesn’t take long before I find myself in a tough spot. As usual the game is £2-5 No Limit Hold'em and I’m on the button with about £1,000. Everyone limps in and I opt for the stellar play of also limping with 5-8 off-suit, in the hopes of the ultimate miracle. The small blind completes and the big blind checks and it’s off to the races. The dealer burns and turns Q-5-8 with two hearts. Hmmmm, who was it said, 'Never go broke in an unraised pot?'
Check, check and Rob puts out a bet of £20. Now Rob, who is a decent player by the way, is one of these quiet guys whose every action is always executed deliberately. He always takes his time and you can tell he’s analysing every situation, working through all possible scenarios until he decides to put his 'soldiers' to work.
A loose goose calls and then the action is on me; jeez, I must have the best hand. He’s limped with A-Q or K-Q or J-Q or Q-T, hasn’t he – he can’t have a set of fives or eights, can he? Anyway, there’s a ton of draws out there, so I have to raise just to charge the station in between me and Rob to make his flush or straight, right? If I slow-play this hand a lot of cards can come on the turn that will freeze my action – any J, T, 9, 7, 6 or 4 and let’s not forget those hearts either. I make it £125 to play.
The action got back to Rob and in an instant I knew he was going reraise, probably all in judging by the size of his stack. Marvellous. Now, I know what you’re all thinking: 'Who does this idiot think he is with all this knowing-his-opponent-is-going-to-raise bollocks? Only buffoons like Phil Hellmuth say stuff like that.' Well, you’re right, but I can honestly say that I 'knew' he was going to raise. I don’t know why, I just did.
Slow Motion Shove
Like I said, Rob is one of these players who loves the dwell up so it wasn’t like he was doing anything unusual. But as he contemplated and checked back at his cards I sensed his next move – “I Raise,” he said and then put out the call of £105 with a brief pause whilst rechecking in his mind what he considered the correct amount to raise. A couple of seconds stretched into what felt like a decade as I visualised both the cogs turning over in his brain and the tsunami of chips he was planning to unleash onto the felt before he declared himself all-in.
The player in between folds and it’s up to me again. Wow, maybe I don’t have the best hand? If I was a Scandi or an Internet player I’d surely call in this spot. Rob’s range is just so wide; apart from the aforementioned top pair type hands there are all the drawing type hands. Stuff like A-8 of hearts for a pair and a flush draw, and suited hands like 7-6 or 9-6 or J-T or J-9.
“How much is the raise?” I asked the dealer. I watched her chop out the chips into neat little stacks and idly wondered how many times she had done these manoeuvres. “£450,” was her reply.
Tricky Dicky
I didn’t even mention the fact that Rob can be quite tricky too; a few hands earlier holding A-A he flatted an under-the-gun raise from Marius, one of the young Scandies currently crushing the games at the Vic. In fact, now that I think about it, another player also called Marius’ raise before Rob! Either Rob misread his hand or he was being super-devious; I’m opting for the latter.
Armed with that info Rob’s range got even wider to include aces and kings (of course, pocket queens is a runner too which I am more than happy to fold to on this board). Wow, you have to call here, don’t you?
But... if there’s one thing I have learnt over the many years I have frittered away at the poker table, it’s that you have to trust your first instinct, you gotta go with your gut and my gut was telling me to muck 'em. So I did. I took my time and really thought about it, but eventually I did the ol’ classic throw-your cards-away-whilst-muttering-to-yourself routine. I know, I know, what a terrible fold. If it had been online I would’ve called like a shot, don’t you worry about that.
But in live poker, which is much ridiculed these days, there are many subtle nuances that cannot be explained as easily as working out another player’s hand range. Maybe I was finding a good excuse to fold, but how many times have you made the wrong decision and looked back and realised that your very first thought was the right action? You have to listen to yourself when playing live – in a vacuum, the hand above is very much a call, but the way the game was going, the way Rob was playing and my overall experience of the times I have played with him before led me towards the righteous path of passing.
Because although poker is all about the long run and making the correct decisions regardless of the outcomes, it’s easy to overlook the short run, a.k.a. that very moment in time that you are sitting there playing poker. Plus the fact that if I could have a pound for every time I’ve gone broke with bottom two pair in Hold'em I’d be a frickin’ millionaire.
Incidentally, for those of you interested in results, I passed by Rob in the bar later and asked him what his hand was. He told me he had top two. I’m pretty sure if he had had something like 7-6 suited he would have had no problems revealing that, so I’m happy to believe him.
Blinding Game
One good thing about missing the WSOP is that the games at the Vic were unbelievable. I’m talking sick redic. Too good, in fact. £5/10 games playing like £25/50.
It seems that high stakes stalwarts such as Bambos, Norman, Fred and Shane were the only ones who stayed behind in London, thus the only game they could get going was the £5/10. The opening bet being a tenner didn’t stop them from making it £125 or more to go though. I guess when you and your best customers are sitting with £30,000 or more, making it four time the big blind doesn’t really cut it.
Check out this hand I witnessed – Bambos, in early position, makes it £125 to play. Daniel, a young swashbuckler, calls. Maybe another player calls too, I can’t remember. What I do remember is that I was in the big blind with about two grand in front of me and thinking to myself, 'Gee, what a horrible stack size to have the way this game is playing.' Still, what difference, I looked down at the usual rags and flicked them towards the dealer.
The flop comes down Kh-5d -8d. Bambos bets £350 and only Daniel calls. The turn is the Qh. Bambos bets £750 and Daniel thinks a bit and then calls. The river is the 10d. Bambos now checks. Daniel has a bit of a dwell and then slides £1,500 into the pot.
Now it’s Bambos’ turn to give it the dwell. After not too long he throws in 5 goolies making it £5,000. Daniel calls and duly gets the bad news when Bambos turns over A-K of diamonds for the nuts. Daniel’s hand? Q-J of diamonds for the most expensive hand in poker, the second best, which also happened to be the second nuts in this instance.
Talk about a great flop, followed by a great turn card. At the risk of sounding like a typical poker player, when those situations happen to me my opponent usually hits one of his six outs to make two pair or trips and I’m left sitting imagining what would have happened if a diamond had come. Well I no longer need imagine because Bambos has shown me. I would get in a hefty check-raise and get paid off, sweet.
Daniel later told me that he could’ve found a fold. Maybe, but for a young player with his image (assuming he’s aware of how others at the table perceive him and the way he’s playing), I don’t think so. He also told me that was the biggest pot he had ever been involved in. For Bambos, just another day at the office, of course. And I can safely say that Daniel isn’t afraid to play big pots either – many a time I’ve seen his chip stack go up and down like a whore’s drawers in the £2/5 and £5/10 games. Just goes to show how a couple of different players in the line-up can affect the game.