First up was The Vic but there were no £1/£1 tables running and there was only one £1/£2 table running which I didn't like the look of so after a couple of pints I visited the morgue that is The Fox Poker Club. I mean, after Vegas, this place has the atmosphere of a dead library and I've just about had it up to here with over-serious poker players who sit down to a £30 freezeout as if it's the World Series of Poker with their life-time savings invested. The impassive dealer didn't help much either.
Maybe as a result of the oppressive atmosphere I decide to commit fully to the pocket tens that I get dealt just two hands in. I raise it 350 UTG, get an all-in by a 2000 chip short-stack and then get another 4000 chip raise by a mid-position player who has a nearly full-sized stack. I shove all-in and the mid-position player calls, leaving me about 400 chips left. Here we go.....the shortstack flips over the monster that is JQ and mid-position boy flips over the giant that is QK! The flop comes J x x (not so bad), the turn brings a brick (fine), and the river rewards mid-position boy by bringing him the queen. I'm effectively out but I'm so indifferent about the result that I'm almost pleased to get out of the place when I bust a few hands later.
After this I decide to give a £1/£2 cash table a whirl at The Empire but, as it's the afternoon, I sense trouble and I only bring £200 to the table. It turns out to be a shark-pit! With merciless preflop raises aplenty and 3-betting a common ocurrence, it's one of the most aggressive tables I've had the misfortune to sit at - and the players are dangerous! I stay for about 30 minutes and actually win a £24 pot with AQ but then get card dead and leave swiftly with a £195 stack and relatively unscathed at just £5 down.
With £33 down from the freezeout and £5 down from the cash game I decide to give The Fox one more try and sit down to one of their £1/£1 cash games at about 4PM. I hit a few hands here and there but fail to extract any significant amount of chips from the two table fish who throw chips into the pot like confetti. Practically card-dead for the entire two and a half hour session (I think AJ was my strongest hand and I had a few baby pocket pairs about 3 or 4 times), I end the session with this frustrating hand:
Key Hand
I have a £157 stack after buying in for £150 about two and a half hours ago. I've been card-dead for that time, feeling a little stuck and a few of the other players have been rewarded much monies from the two fish at the table. I look down at 10 7 in the cut-off and limp in hoping to see a cheap flop. Mr Average (with a large £250 stack in front of him), on the button, hoikes it up to £6 and this is called by the old fella in the SB (with about £80 in front of him) and action-kid (who holds about £100) in the BB. I do my horrible habit of noting I'll be ahead £1 on the session if I just call. So I call to see a flop which I can easily get away from if I miss and leave with a £1 win! (Christ, I've gotta stop doing this.)
The flop comes 7 10 J, with two diamonds, which means the board has given me the best hand I've seen all day and I feel good about it. The old fella fires in £10 but then action-kid thinks for a short time and makes it £20 - and now I have a decision to make. Weighing everything up and thinking about how the action has gone, along with my read on the players, I'm not so keen on my hand anymore. Implied odds say it's worth the call but for some reason (maybe to protect my break-even state) I decide I'm beat and let the hand go. I'm then kind of relieved to see Mr Average, on the button, zonk it up to £60 and for the old fella to then go all in for the rest of his chips and for action-kid to call and for Mr Average to call.
With around £250 in the pot, the turn is an agonizing 10 and my eyes roll up to the heavens. I forget what the river action is (whether action-kid put in the rest of his £20) but after the river, the old fella shows 8 9 for the straight, as does action-kid, and Mr Average shows A 6 of diamonds for the busted flush draw. (Yep, I woulda gone all-in on the turn and the pot woulda been around £400 - facepalm!) So they both flopped the straight, meaning I was right about being behind on the flop, but in retrospect a call of that £20 was probably correct - and, I think I may have been forced to have called Mr Average's $60 4-bet on the turn as well. Bugger.
Let's just have a quick look at poker stove:
Hmm, may have been worth a punt. Result? £38 down for the session instead of £300 up if only I had the balls!!
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