For starters, an inebriated young man is sitting to my immediate right and is proceeding to pour huge amounts of alcohol, in all sorts of forms, down his throat. He's having a merry time, for sure, and can hardly keep his eyes open but is playing super loose and is spewing chips left, right and centre. Soon, another highly drunk and vocal player joins the table three seats to my right and it's more like party-time than poker-time. Some people might think "Bingo!" at this point but for the entire three or four hours that I am sitting there I go entirely card-dead for the duration and am just not able to get involved in a pot with them. Nevertheless, for entertainment value alone, the three fellows sitting next to me (including a self-confessed out and out nit - who is also a very animated and excitable fellow who is sitting between the drunken pair) provide plenty of drama and fun.
To my left we have the complete opposite; a series of serious and relatively reticent fellows who just prefer to play their poker quietly. The drunks constantly berate the other side of the table for their "deadness" and lack of bantering skills. Interestingly, the left-sided group do get a replacement with an angry young man who proceeds to tell the whole table about his girlfriend troubles. Apparently she is a "9" or even a "10" but is also "an idiot" because after spending hundreds of pounds on her this evening, she went off with some other bloke in a night-club. He then tells everyone that he didn't pick a fight cos this guy was apparently a lot bigger than him. He is evidently angry and unhappy and is clearly playing "angry poker" but no one cares about that and everyone just laughs at his misfortune. He then picks out the only other female player, who is playing at the casino on another table, and says that he has played her before, hates her and just wants to take all her chips. (She is a Fox Club dealer by the way but had a reputation, at this table anyway, for being a good player.)
Anyway, after a few dramatic all-ins and plenty of fun and laughter from the spewtards to my right, I get involved in the one hand I decide to commit to - and it's against a fairly good and fearless player to my immediate left who has already shown that he's willing to commit all-in with marginal hands and coinflips against anyone at the table, drunk or sober. (He got very lucky with the two all-in hands, being pot committed with a straight draw on the turn both times - and hitting the straight both times on the river.)
Key Hand #1
I've been hovering around the break-even mark all session and I reckon I should have mucked this hand on the flop when Mr Large Bald Australian guy showed strength. I look down at the A 9 of hearts in the cut-off but cannot remember the pre-flop action. (I think I may have brought it in with a small raise.) Mr LBA guy is on the button and is in the hand as is one other player. The flop comes down A 7 2 with two diamonds and it's checked round to me. Now it's quite late in the evening and my recollection of the hand is a bit fuzzy but Mr LBA guy showed a lot of strength and, as I recall, extracted value from me on all streets and show-downed A 7 for the two-pair, relieving me of about £50.--------------
Now it's interesting sometimes how losing such a fairly small amount of money, in the wide scheme of things, can mess with your head but I did feel a hint of pissed-offness about this hand. I had already told myself that I was there to get money from the drunken spew-merchants on my right but there I was getting involved with a marginal hand against a perfectly sober and competent player on my immediate left! It may well have been due to the fact that A 9s was the best starting hand I had been given for hours but still, on reflection I really should have been more self-disciplined and let the hand go earlier to save money.
Soon after this with a clearly competent player joining the table and replacing one of the three crazy characters on my right, along with the fact that it was around 4:30AM, I thought it best to take my leave and chalk up the evening as a mediocre break-even performance. I did pop into The Empire just to have a look at how things were going but, of course, by this time, with the revelers and fun players out of the way, we were left with a lot of big stacks out there and I think it would have been suicide to sit down with my measly buy-in. I have never seen so many pink chips (£100 chips) in play at The Empire before. One guy, was sitting there with easily way over £3500 for crying out loud!
Anyway, I soon jumped on the night bus to reflect on my break-even night and I hit the sack at just after 6AM. I still think I'm generally playing far too tight though, which is a slight concern considering I was only playing £1/£1. But I was also given a lot of food for thought regarding the subject of attitude towards money. This will definitely be a topic I'll consider in an upcoming post.
Until then, with it being Saturday afternoon and another eating-out session with the missus on the cards tonight. I'll bid you all adieu. Another live session tonight however is still a possibility...
As ever, I'll keep ya posted.
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