Live Session #52: Just Go Home!

Shortly, London is going to be plunged into that horrible time of the year we call "The Great British Winter" which means cold, wet and dark weather for about 3 or 4 very long months. As someone who usually walks the 2 miles to work, I hate winter with a passion - it means waking up to the cold and dark and trudging along in said weather in the fairly early hours of the morning while half asleep or (if the weather is particularly bad) hopping on the bus and sharing a confined space, while standing, with a bus-load of hormonally imbalanced and brain-dead schoolkids.

What's worse though is that when I get to work I have to try to teach these type of kids, day in day out, the beauty of the English Language and such things as why Shakespeare was such a great bloke and why his plays are so fascinating. If I'm down in the dumps and not "with it" my negative vibe could change their perception of Shakespeare for the rest of their lives. It really is quite a responsibility; maintaining an interest in the subject, through thick and thin, and trying to impart that enthusiasm onto the kids - who always behave badly in bad weather!!

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Anyway, all this leads to the point that I'm about to make - and that is that there are only a few more weekends left before this winter-weather sweeps in. It means, it'll be harder to drum up the motivation to go out into it to play some live poker. Presently, it's a little bit windy but it is mild and the sun is shining and The Fox Poker Club is calling and tempting me with its £50 + (£8) deepstack freezeout that starts this afternoon at 3PM.

I have plenty of time to get ready and to get out there so, buoyed by my success on Friday, I'm heading on out there this afternoon to try my luck. Yes, it's a bleedin' MTT and, yes, it's at The Fox - but surely it's not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

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I'll let you know how I get on...

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...Monday morning and I'm back to the grind of the work routine. The freezeout was a 5 hour affair and one of those tournies where I seemed to spend the majority of the time just hanging on with a fairly short stack. Getting AA once, 10 10 on the exit hand, 9 9 (which I had to fold), and 8 8 which I won an all-in with was the best the dealer could do for me in the entire time. But I eventually went out in about 23rd in a field of about 70 runners after going all-in with 10 10 and getting 2 callers who showed a variety of overcards. I don't really mind losing the £60 cos that was standard but it was my next move that was my main regret...

Yep, my worst move, after drinking quite a few beers and feeling a bit groggy after 5 hours of poker was to take £170 to The Empire afterwards. Almost as soon as I sat down a wave of tiredness came over me - not helped by the alcohol - and I really should have got up and left after half an hour when I was down to £120 after getting involved in too many hands and chasing too many straights and flushes.

The final donkey move came when I just decided to make a move in mid-position with K 7. I was first into the pot and made it £15 and got one caller. The flop came 7 5 2 so I just chucked the rest of my chips in. I got the call and we flipped over our cards and I saw the villain turn over 10 10. I got no help - deservedly so - and left to get on the bus with a very depleted wallet.

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Looking at the Sunday session there is good news and bad. The bad news is that I really did just throw away £170 in a session that I was far too tired and groggy to play in - and when I really should have listened to the voice in my head after I got busted in the tourney that said; "Just go home!" The good news is that I've finally learnt my lesson and from now on will definitely only play when I'm alert, free of drink and ready to play my A-game.

Tired Poker = Lazy Poker = Stupid Poker = Losing Poker!
And that's it.