Monday, February 12, 2007

Wot's up Gov? Limpin wiph Aces, eh?

Playing cards at "the Vic" in London. Got the royal treatment, complete with hostess giving me a tour of the place and buying me a drink. Sat down and had a fine cuban cigar before heading to the tables. I HOPED to play low limit Omaha, but the smallest game running was ANTE PLO with pots getting into the humdreds of pounds. NEVER play PLO with scared money. So, I asked them to start the 1-2 Omaha/HE rotation game list and took my seat at the entry level 1/2 -1 pound NLHE tables.

These guys were easy. RARELY applied pressure, raises were reserved for getting more money in the pot. Mostly loose pre-flop with lots of limp attempts, which would normally be silly. But in this case, since guys were paying off better hands, I played each hand like a lotto ticket.

I did fold my KJ on a Jack high flop as there was a pot size re-raise of my aggression and it was too early to have a read. Smart as we played hours and he only did that one other time when he had a set.

Then, the first of 2 interesting hands.

I have just shy of 60 in front of me.
Utg Limper, I call im MP with Qs9s. LP and blinds call.
Flop is 5s7sQc. UtG comes out betting for 5. I raise to 15. Fold around to our utg limper.

He makes it 40. (Pot is now like 68 and my call makes it 100). I am not quite getting 2-1 but I go into the tank. I see it this way. He limped, so he doesn't have a monster pair. If he has a set or a Q, I still have the flush re-draw. If HE has a draw too, then the Top Pair is a big favorite as I have two of his outs. Flopping TP with a flush draw is a huge weakness for me, I find it impossbile to get away from. Especially when this guy could have AK or Q8.

In the end I call, and he shows AA??? Wow. A UTG ACES LIMPER?! turn is a non-spade, but the river is a 9 making me two pair. At first I thought I lost as it was also a non-spade. But two pair beat the overpair. (I expected he would have raked the pot as he waited to see if I noticed).

Played steady, "take their money patiently" poker for two hours. Was up two full buyins plus when I played my last hand (the rake was due and it was late)

Min raise from "UK opie". 2 callers plus me with in the blind with KQs. I decide not to call and just see as I dont want to play a big hand.

Flop is AKQ. Either I am way ahead or way behind. He bets 5 . So, well I call. Weak.

J on turn. I check, He bets 15. I make a HUGE mistake ad call here. Am I just tired? I think maybe he has A-rag?

River is blank and I check. He bets 25 and I trump my earlier mistake by calling EVEN after thinking about it. Duh. Ak for him. I give back 60 pounds of my 180 profit and go home on a low note after playing well for 2 hours.

Got to me Henry and Zog the night before, but it was an off week for their poker night, so its was Curry and politics instead. Maybe next time.

Visited the Mahiki bar. Nice set-up. Too night-clubby for me, and the staff was less than exciting...

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