As I say, unfortunately I've not hit the heights of a professional and am only too aware of my limitations. The live game has now become much more aggressive than it was even two years ago and I know that my game is dangerously close to lagging behind. On the plus side, although I freely admit that in the last 12 months I have just about scraped break-even, I know that I can still sit at a live poker table and play with confidence and enjoy the game for what it is, without it costing me money that I can't really afford to lose. That's not such a bad thing.
My "experiment" then, hereafter referred to as "The Experiment" is not coming at you from a consistent, winning professional poker player who can show you graphs that indicate profits of thousands of dollars every month (I wish) but just a bloke who has an enthusiasm for the game, thinks he might be half-decent (but is a little in doubt about that at the moment) and who just loves to sit down and play. It will actually be about the whole process, enjoyment and buzz of playing live poker that I will be writing about. Before all that, though, I'll be giving an outline of some strategies that work well for me. Most of these lessons are already known by many but are not always adhered to so they're worth jotting down, just for the record.
Lesson #1 - Walk away from a tough table.
When I think back to a lot of my winning evenings at the poker table, I invariably realise that money won has come from the poor, inexperienced player (or "fish" for short). It has rarely, if ever, come after playing at a table of good solid players. The conclusion from this should be obvious: walk away from a tricky table and get on a table with as many fish as possible. It's not rocket science.
For this lesson, I'll draw on last nights' experience..
I arrived at The Empire at 9PM and managed to get seated at a table straight away. It consisted of mainly unknown players but there was zero talk and the atmosphere was generally serious. I sat down with the maximum (£400) and made a few late position stabs but was played back at both times. I then played a hand badly in early position by failing to raise the turn when I had two-pair, allowing both my opponents to improve to a better two-pair and their flush on the river, which I bet at from early position. My real mistake though, was to briefly reveal my hand as if to say, "look at how unlucky I am" but it just revealed the passive way I had played.
The good players to my left then proceeded to strongly raise my bets almost relentlessly whenever I decided to open the betting! This was enough to tell me that I would be up against it but I stupidly played on regardless. The guy two seats to the left of me continued playing his very loose/aggressive game. I slowed down while my stack slowly but surely dwindled. A few more hours in I looked down at AK and raised it up preflop only for Mr Loose/Aggressive to raise it up again to about £40! He had about £180 in front of him so I announced "all of it" and chucked in my £300 stack whereupon I was insta-called and shown the AA!
I topped up another £200 and played on but every hand ended up being against the aggressive players to my left where they had position on me. In one hand I remember betting £7 with 56s preflop and that being raised up to £25 which I then stupidly called. I checked the K K x flop and the inevitable raise had me fold. The final straw came when I raised KJ pre and got two calls by the usual suspects on my left. With an A J 10 flop Mr Loose/Aggressive two seats to my left just wouldn't go away and when he raised the river (when I hadn't improved) I mucked my cards and he showed me the A 10. It was nice of him to show but this was NOT going to be my night. £300 worse off I upped and left.
The upshot? If you're getting beaten up bad, it aint no shame to walk away from a tough table. Do it sooner rather than later.
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Happily for me, the postscript to this story is a fortunate one but which also re-emphasises the message of the lesson. One club sandwich, one pint and one ponder later, I decided to try my luck at The Hippodrome. With £400 laid out in front of me I played at a table with a fairly average bunch of players. My stack stayed fairly stable but then at around 2AM the drunks entered the fray.
Under-the gun and looking down at 85o I completed the betting in the small blind. The flop came down 6 7 x. Mr Drunk #1 raised a little which was called by Mr Completely Clueless Drunk #2 so I decided to call and hope to finally hit a hand. Joy of joys the 9 came on the turn and (joy of joys) Mr Drunk #1 plopped in £25 while Mr Completely Clueless Drunk #2 elected to call the £25. With two spades and two clubs out there, along with two drunks out to have a good time (and a pot of about £100), I decided to go for the all-in approach. Drunk #2 then went into the tank.
Now here is a little tip when you want a call from a terrible player. Talk to them! With my customer umm-ing and arr-ing, I looked over and asked him what he might have and then went through possible hands that he might have. In addition, I told him I had the flush!! I know, a flush isn't possible but it was my intention just to look stupid in front of him to make him think that I was a clueless player. (If you look stupid in front of a bad player, or often a very drunk player, they will often call you just to "teach you a lesson". You just need to give them a nudge.) I know there was another player in the hand and I shouldn't have said anything but I just pretended I didn't realise.
Anyway, after a while, I was happy to see his £250 stack cross over the line to signal a call. Mr Clueless Drunk #2 mucked, a club hit the river but it didn't help him and my stack grew to £700! After a few more hours of play and a few more of my hands finally seeing some decent flops I was able to rustle up a few more chips and I cashed out at about 5AM for the princely sum of £833 and a tidy profit of £133 for the evening.
The Upshot? Stay on a soft table. Do not get up and walk away but just wait for a good hand and you are likely to get paid off for it.
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