Back To Square One

Well my online sessions this weekend have been diabolical and I'm almost back to where I started with as far as bankroll goes. Today, while playing a mixture of $100nl and $200nl, nothing really clicked into place and I think I just ended up getting desperate, spewing chips and playing far too loose. Even though I was up around $80 at one point after a satisfactory $200nl game, I am actually down around $140 today. I really don't think I'm in the mood to play any more tonight. Here's my sorry looking graph from the day's play:

It means that for the year I am up just $60 at online poker. Not altogether good news when you consider I was up $400 just before the weekend started. Still, were it not for yesterday's storming display at the live tables, I think I'd be a lot more disappointed about the whole thing.

Nevertheless, it probably means I should take a short break from the tables to take stock of the situation and clear my head a bit. The irony, of course, was that just five days ago I was writing that I was worried I might blow too much money at the live game and my confidence at the online game was on such a high. The swings and roundabouts of this maddening game can really put your head in a spin. Here's an update of my progress showing how I have got on this week at the online and live game; also how my profits and losses have faired so far this month/year. (Who knows what the coming week will bring?)

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ONLINE: WEEK 2: -$300 (~£185)  /  JANUARY +$60 (~£35)  /  YEAR: +$60 (~£35)

LIVE: WEEK 2: +£625 (~$960)  /  JANUARY +£625 (~$960)  /  YEAR: +£625 (~$960)
TOTAL: WEEK 2: +$660 (~£440)  /  JANUARY +$1020 (~£660)  /  YEAR +$1020 (~£660)

Live Session #1: £35 Freezeout at The Fox.

While on a high after my session at The Empire and tanked up with a few beers, I arrived at The Fox in a very good mood for the £35 freezeout. If anybody reading this was there, I was the one who made an entrance by doing a head-over-heels, roly-poly to my seat. Anyway, this was just one of those where I decided to talk non-stop all night at the table. Luckily for me it was a very friendly table and, once again, nobody seemed to be offended by my constant jabbering. The ratio of the gender mix was 60/40 and it was great entertainment, with lots of banter, for £35!

Results wise, I didn't cash in the MTT but that didn't bother me in the slightest; I was there for about 3 hours or so and had a wonderful time. Out of about 100 runners I rose out of my seat with about 28 players left. After this, I had one more session at a £1/£1 cash game table and left at about midnight while £10 up at that final cash game table. All in all, I had a magnificent evening and made a clear profit of around £625 at the poker tables. Looking at my wad now, it seems I must have spent around £20-£30 on beers. Live poker ftw!

Live Session #1: Idiot Floor Manager (Part 3)

So there I was, in the enviable position of holding £900 worth of chips (many of which were in £5 denominations and falling all over the floor as I tried to hold them all) and not even being able to cash them! Thoughts of how on earth I was going to get them all home without getting mugged whirled through my head. But anyway, I still had the casino cashier route. I walked around to the casino area and, this time, was going to get it right. I counted out £500 in £5 chips (if I did have to take some of these chips home at least they were going to be £25 ones and so less to carry). In my anxiety I kept dropping them on the floor and God knows how I didn't lose half of them.

I finally approached the desk, barely able to hold onto the £500 in £5 chips, and just about managed to place them on the counter. Unfortunately, as I was bumbling away with these chips, the cashier spotted the others that I tried to hide in my haste. Immediately I thought, here we go again - these guys are just not going to let me cashout my winnings without ID - why the hell do they go out of their way to make it so awkward!?

However, far from giving me a hard time, this guy asked if I wanted to cash those as well! When I mentioned the £500 rule he told me it was ok - I only had to show ID if I had won over £1500! All he asked me to do was write my name down on a piece of paper with my date of birth! The relief that this gave to me was immense and the gratitude I showed to this fellow as he counted out my £900 in cash was enormous.

As I put the money in my wallet the absurdity of the situation sunk in. Why would the IFM prevent a poker player from cashing out winnings when you could just take the chips round to the casino and cash them out anyway? What the hell was his problem? Part of me wanted to go back to the poker room and talk through the ridiculousness of the situation to the IFM - but then I just thought that this guy would probably interpret this as gloating. I concluded that he wasn't worth educating and was probably more happy to wallow in his own ignorance anyway.

In my next post I'll do a very quick report on how it went afterwards at the 7PM, £35 freezeout at The Fox.

Live Session #1: Idiot Floor Manager (Part 2)

The Empire Casino in Leicester Square has a loosely adhered to rule which states that in order to cashout over £500 in chips you need to either be a member or show ID. Now I have never got round to being a member and I often leave my debit card at home when I leave for the poker room, which means I often just don't take ID with me. In the past, when I've been in the happy place of approaching the cashier to cashout over £500 I've always been asked for ID but have always had the proverbial nod and the wink from the floor manager and cashed out anyway. I've always assumed that this was because they see me as a fairly regular player and a generous tipper and just chose not to give me a hard time - and this is true, ever since I started playing at The Empire, I have made it a principle of tipping the dealers virtually every single winning hand that goes beyond the flop.

Anyway, the duty of floor manager falls on the responsibilty of three members of staff; unfortunately, yesterday evening, the two reasonable ones weren't present so the duty was left to the Idiot Floor Manager (hereafter referred to as the IFM). I approached the cash desk of the poker room with a mountain of chips and asked the IFM if I could cash the chips right there and he said yes. To make it clear I told him that I had around £900 in chips but got the reply I didn't want to hear - that I couldn't cash anything over £500 without a membership card or ID. I mentioned that it hadn't been a problem in the past but this "jobs-worth" wasn't having any of it. No problem, I thought, I'd simply cashout £500 right there and then go round to the cashier at the casino section and cashout the rest there.

So with my pockets bulging, I counted out the chips. Unfortunately I made the genuine mistake of accidently placing £600 on the counter instead of £500. (The cashier, incidentally, counted this out and looked perfectly happy to cash this as she uttered £600 and was about to count out the cash - just as had occured in the past.) However, the IFM for some reason got impatient and annoyed with me and pointed out that this was not allowed. I accepted my error and went to retrieve a £100 stack so I could cash £500 BUT (get this) he then said that I wasn't allowed to cash out ANYTHING without ID!!

Now the last thing I want is a ban from The Empire and my reaction was mild in comparison to how I really felt. I started to explain that it had always been ok in the past to cashout over £500 but even so it was 100% unreasonable not to allow a player to cash £500 just because he had won more than that. I even told him how I was a regular tipper - but all this seemed to mean diddly-squat! This guy had zero awareness of customer relations, showed absolutely no sign of goodwill or reconsidering his position and, as such, now means absolutely nothing to me.

In my next post I'll explain what happened next as I struggled to cope with holding all these chips.

Live Session #1: Idiot Floor Manager (Part 1)

As I explained in my previous post, today I set forth to play my first live poker session of the year. All told, it was a successful evening but my story comes with a warning to anyone who wants to cashout £500+ from The Empire Casino without being a member or without taking ID.

As planned, I took out £250 from the cash machine and left my debit card at home. It was early afternoon and I made my way into town and had my £7 haircut at Mr Toppers along Tottenham Court Road - and very nice it was too. I trudged past all the Oxford Street shoppers and then entered The Empire Casino and was pleased to see that a new table was just about to start. This, by the way, is always the best way to start a cash game as everyone is starting from scratch. You see how much players are buying in for, suss out who seems confident and who seems "noobish", and everyone starts on a level playing field.

Anyway, I took out my £250 in cash, got my chips and settled down to play. The play, far from being loose/aggressive, was more like loose/insane! By the second orbit it was clear that at least two players just loved to throw their chips into the pot and two more players just hated to fold!! Anyway, I didn't have to wait long for my jackpot hand; I looked down at A7 of spades and saw a flop of three spades! Not only did a player raise to £21 in early position but another player raised it to ~£45 before it even got to me. I considered my options, for what must have seemed like a long time, and decided to flat call when the next player to my left raised all in for £150!! (He must have read me for the flush draw.) Mr Lunatic called, another player folded so I raised all-in and Mr Lunatic called for the extra £70 or so. With me pleading that the board did NOT pair I was happy to see brick, brick and I showed the nut flush. The villain who raised the £150 had a smaller flush and God knows what Mr Lunatic had. Anyway, I must have scooped a pot of over £600 right there!

The very next hand I got dealt AK and saw a flop of A J x. The loosie goosie villain put in a big bet and I just raised all-in hoping not to see him hold AJ. He called and showed AQ. The turn was another king and I scooped another big pot of ~£300! I played maybe for another hour or for about three or four more orbits before deciding to leave to cash my £900 worth of chips. This was when the real fun started. In my next post I'll tell you about the fun I had with the floor manager when I went to cashout my chips...