Sick in my mouth...

Poker is such a sick game.

Even though there are various odds and possibilities for certain situations, the reality is anything can happen at any given time.

Every action has a reaction; there are so many variables in each hand that interpretation and discussion of a way it was, and could have been played is endless.

I was involved in a hand the other night which not only illustrates this point, but shows how lucky and blessed I am.

I was sat in a £1-£2 game with a dream line up.

There was Victoria and Valentine in the game for starters.

Let me take a minute to profile these two.

Valentine is as far as I can make out a Prince (or some sort of Royalty) from Monaco, over here in London studying. He has a basic understanding of the game, meaning that he knows that he will get two cards, and there will be a flop, a turn, and a river.

Not a “hope-a-tron” simply a “noob” who wants to have fun.

He is a lovely guy, and is rich (not being gay but I would also have to describe him as good looking…).

Victoria is his girlfriend. Simply put she is gorgeous (although I know you are reading this babe, not as gorgeous as you!). But again we have to accept and recognise facts she is very good looking. I must admit though I think she has a crush on me. I must have impressed her with my poker skills and my general poker table charm! I have told her on several occasions that I have a girlfriend, and that Valentine is a nice guy...but well what can I say…

Anyway Victoria is no push over at the poker table. Don’t get me wrong she is a complete fish, but she is very aggressive and simply can’t be bluffed off pots.

These two play every single hand. Victoria will raise most hands, and for some reason Valentine has a game theory of raising up all hands that add up to less than 11.

If they get stacked they re load.

So we are a couple of hours into the session, with the table chipped up. I am winning about £300-£400, and content to simply pick off a pot here and there.

It is also worth mentioning Samir the Egyptian from Luton is in the game, I will have to dedicate a complete post to this lunatic but lets just say he is also a catalyst for some pretty good action.

So onto the action; I look down to pocket Kings under the gun, and decide to limp raise. Pretty much every single pot to this point has been raised and I have no reason to believe this hand would be an exception.

To my horror its a family pot and Victoria in the big blind checks.

I only have £2 invested in the pot, so trust me when I say I am not going broke in this hand.

Flop is 5 5 8 (two spades). The action checks around to Valentine in middle position (I check too), who bets £5. There are several callers before the action gets to me.

Here is the sickness of the game, my action at this juncture of the hand will effect which way the hand ends up getting played. There no standard line here, the outcome is not decided, it’s not a case of whatever is going to happen is going to happen. It’s just sick.

Valentine has about £100 behind, and I not quite ready to fold my Kings to a £5 bet, but I don’t want to give cheap cards for gut shots and flushes. Also as I have mentioned in previous posts I want to avoid playing my hand deceptively as the other stacks are deep, I want to make it known I have a big hand, so I decide to raise it up.

But here is another variable which comes into play; as I reach for my chips to make it £25, one red £5 chip falls across the betting line. Although it is obvious to see my intentions were to make it £25, the rules are pretty clear and I should be more careful. The £5 call should stand.

However in this instance Emily was dealing and she ruled (sensibly) that the £5 chip falling from my stack was an accident, and allowed me to raise. Obviously she has a crush on me too, hence the favourable ruling...what can I say...

At this crucial point in the hand this decision could of gone either way, and as a result could of had massive implications on the hand (and my stack!), as you will see.

To my immediate left is Mus. He is a very competent and successful tournament player, however he has shown nothing tonight to impress me. I have seen him call flop bets with bottom pair, and limp call raises with ace rag hands pre flop. So although I respect his tournament success I wouldn't say he is a solid cash game player (although he may be a winning cash game player, he plays "funky".

He pretty much instant cold calls my check raise. This is obviously very alarming, and indeed there is a huge possibility he has a 5. However equally so he could have a flush draw, or even the gut shot straight draw (or both), or a pair (under or over). His range his huge in this spot. But I am pretty much convinced he would raise with a 5 now it has been check raised.

Anyway, the action comes back around to Valentine. He now min. raises to £50 (leaving about £50 behind). Everyone folds around to me.

After dwelling up for a while, I am pretty sure that he has a 5. Its a pretty marginal spot, and I really didn't know what to do. If Mus wasn't behind me, I probably would flat call (I am not folding no matter what comes on the turn, but just in case he is bluffing, I don't want to push him out -this guy does not have any comprehension of "pot commitment" he will bluff and leave £10 behind).

But in this spot I decide to fold.

Mus now tanks, and I am sick in my mouth because I know he doesn't have a 5, and I beginning to second think my decision.

Reluctantly Mus puts Valentine all in. Valentine snaps, and shows 5 9 off suit.

Turn is a king, and I vomit. At least I was right I suppose.

The river is an ace. Mus tables pocket aces!

There is so many variables in this hand that went my way in order for me not to lose my whole stack.

Pre flop Mus, is thinking along the same line as me, limp raising. The one pot that is not raised, we manage to see a flop for £2. I would easily get the kings in pre flop versus Mus for a £800 pot.

On the flop, if my accidental call stood, and I turned the nuts. I would no doubt slow play (I would bet but not enough to chase Mus out), and Mus would probably see the river -obviously I cant put him on aces and we would get it in.

Truly sick.

Anything can happen in this game. I accept this reality, and am prepared to lose (as equally I am expectant to win in the long run).

Has anyone seen the following poker player around:

Name: Pratik "Hope-a-Tron" Ghatge

Missing since: April

Please bring him back.

One that stung...

I am seeing some pretty sick stuff at The Vic lately, and trying desperately to record a winning month.

I took a pretty bad beat last Sunday, its still kind of stinging now. There are various factors / variables which can be used to measure the severity of a bad beat.

These may include the size of the pot, whether you were winning or losing at the time (I find it always a little bit more easy to cope with a beat if I was winning, as opposed to taking a bad beat when I was already stuck couple a of buy ins), the actual odds against the certain beat to occur etc.

Well let me tell you Sunday's bad beat has to be a least a 8 / 10.

2nd hand into my session, I flop a set versus some awful donk who has KK on a board of 6 3 5.

Heads up against this nit (standard nit who raises £15 with QQ-AA to let you know what he has), I have the nuts. I have £385 which I want to get into the pot.

This moron bets £15, I raise to £50. He re raises to £150. I shove for £380. He calls.

Brick it out? No way not me! King on the river, ship this moron a £800 pot. Weeee.

Now I really don't feel like going through this hand, as only a fucking moron would not fold to my 4 bet shove on the flop. But my point is not to talk about what a fucking prick this guy was, and but just to say some pretty sick shit goes down at The Vic.

And this post was pretty pointless!

Yigit out!

Deep stack poker at The Vic...

Weekends at The Vic, is there anywhere else you would want to be when you are running good, stacking fish, and building towers? I really don't think so.

Cash games plays deep, its not uncommon to have an average stack on a £1-£2 game of 200-300BBs.

These games can be incredibly profitable, as most of the weekend / recreational players do not know how to manage / play with a deep stack.

They often back themselves into awful decisions, and make mistakes (however little mistakes they are you know what they say; if you make less mistakes than your opponents you win and they lose).

How many times have you seen some poor guy sitting there with £500-£600 one minute, only to crumble and lose the lot before the end of the night? I see it happen frequently.

But then again its part of the excitement for them, and they are often content with the outcome of the night (if maybe somewhat disappointed). I play to make money, some play to pay the bills, and some play for the entertainment value.

Understanding, profiling your opponents is crucial, and should be factored into each decision and thought process.

I often watch Peter (Singleton), both observing and talking (often probing), players to analyse them, he is able to label / profile opponents, and has "default" plays versus different players.

When I get "deep", I will firstly make a decision whether to continue to play or not. If I decide I want to play, then I have to completely accept the realities that lie ahead, significantly the fact that I may lose a big pot!

If I am willing to lose, I am willing to play. However there is no shame in calling it a day, and booking a nice win. That doesn't make you any less of a man, or that you cant play deep.

When I get deep I make a number of adjustments, most fundamental one being bet sizing (both pre flop and during post flop play), inexperienced players will not make these adjustment and will often either offer exploitable odds / value, or fail to build pots with big hand. Bet sizes should be dictated by the stacks in play, not the strength of your hand.

I also avoid putting myself into marginal spots when I am playing deep. This does not necessary mean I tighten my range (as obviously the implied odds when playing equally deep stacked opponents allow you to play a much wider range profitably), but what I will do is simplify the line that I take,I will avoid being deceptive.

This takes out the "leveling" process, with so much to worry about (non more so important than manoeuvring a +200BB stack) I find it essential not to appear overly deceptive.

I don't think I am articulating this very well, but imagine you get yourself in a spot, where your opponent has check raised you on the turn, and you are pretty much faced with a decision where you are going to be playing for a big chunk of your stack (if not all of it).

If you played your hand deceptively on previous streets, you have got to figure out the following things based on his interpretation of your line:

How deep thinking is your opponent? What does he think I have? What does he think I think he has? What does he think I think that he thinks I have? So on...

If I had taken a standard line, raised pre flop, bet the flop so on. It is simple, you don't have to over think, if you are raised, he has a strong hand (as I have shown strength myself), or is outright bluffing (which does not happen as often as you would think). Either way the decision is a lot more clearer.

Ammm, I still don't think I have managed to explain this (probably for the best as so some of you fish who are reading this wont be able to exploit me!).

That's all for now, time for some Call of Duty! Weeee....

Fighting hard to stay on track...

Quite a bit to get through, I really need to post more often rather than let it all build up and rush the quality content.

Well let me start off by telling you about a hand from last night (seeing as its fresh on my mind!).

I pick up AsKs on the button in the £1-£1 rake game.

I started my session around 10pm, its around 1am now, I am winning about £300-£350 (not that it should matter or be relative to the hand in question...but we all know that shit matters! Although it shouldn't!).

The pot is opened in early position to £5 by a big whale who I have already stacked for one buy in (£100). He has around £150 in play (I have him covered).

There is one caller (by some weird nit who I think has one leg and insists on putting his walking stick under the table -restricting my fucking leg room).

Now the big whale in question is and has been opening semi light (semi light = any two picture cards pretty much top of his range!).

So I want to extract value from my hand. I want action. I don't want to raise £20-£25 and fold out hands which this cheeky fish is ready to give me his stack with (please refer to Retard Equity Theory from previous post).

I make it £15 total, and see a flop of Qs2s5c heads up.

2 overs plus flush draw = ammmm get the fucking money in.

The whale leads out £25, leaving behind about £120 or so.

I value shove. Even with a +100bb raise I don't have fold equity with this guy, he is calling and I want a call with just under 55% equity vs any non 2 pair or better hands.

He snaps me off with QJ, and I brick turn and river. You got to win these hands -I call them session breakers. Meh, I still ended the night about £150 up even after that pot.

Losing month...can't win to save a penguin...

I am really trying, trying to keep positive, trying to stay in the game, trying to play through it.

I pretty much gave up in March after a couple of weeks of posting some bad results. I don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Indeed I was playing bad and I suppose I shouldn't play when I am playing bad, but to just give up like that was weak.

Thinking back now I was in the midst of a good run, planning a trip to play some GUKPT tournaments, and had just cashed in the £100 rebuy.

The next thing I know, I come in to The Vic, have to give the winnings back from the £100 rebuy, and drop £700 in the £1-£3 (which I only played because the £1-£2 hadn't started let).

From there things turned ugly....

My bad form seems to have continued through to April, and I am already stuck just under £800 for the month.

I hate losing in anything, and I love money. So losing money is like killing a penguin and eating it.

Anyhow, so that is we I am at, cant all be good. Hoping to stay strong.

Yigit