Warwick High Stakes Poker - 3

Warwick High Stakes Poker Episode Three

Ok the Game was set up for the 3rd time, we had 11 players ready to play with Dave Lu acting as a substitute as Jambon was running late. Line up was in seat order Dhruv (I hate seat one!!!) Dave Lu (Jambon) Scott, Guv, James B, Nick, Tryf, Tom, Mitesh and Jack. I bought in for £100 again and half the field went for the max of £150 and others went between £70 and £100. Initial cash on the table was £1050. But always likely to go up with top ups and rebuys but hopefully not from me!

The 1st hand I pick up KKs and Mitesh makes the gay raise (min raise) to £1. He s clearly just messing about as it is the 1st hand, although normally min raise = AAs!! I make it something like £6 more and he calls and check calls a Q high flop. Next hand I pick up a suited Q on the cut off and called. I flopped a flush draw and a gutshot str8 draw, it checked round to me and I bet, with one caller. Turn a blank and it checked to me and I bet and I took the pot down. The game seemed quite slow as expected. The last few cash games we played the 1st 10 –15 hands tend to be quite slow and bets on flops took many pots down. This also happens in other cash games I have played around the country, so I felt to open up my game early on. I think people started to see what I was doing, as I got re raised 3 times in the 1st hour!!! (I’m a ROCK!!!)

I raised up with 10c7c (still a rock honest!) and I get re raised! This was the 2nd time I had been re raised early on and James made the raise. But the raise was not too big, so I thought I can call with position and either flop big hand, try and take it away or atleast show that I will not fold to a re raised all the time and be bullied off pots pre flop. The flop came Ace high with all spades!! Sort of MiSSed the flop! James bets out and I’m about to muck but I see he only bet £8 into a pot of about £28, ok now he has the nuts or close to the nuts AAA or AxKs or something like KK or QQ. Maybe AK no spade, either way I was going to find out. Even if just information that I can use later on. I call and the turn is another spade, he checks to me! Bingo! He is either trapping me or I’m very likely to take this pot away, I make it something like £30 to go and he eventually folds!

I then call Toms raise with a suited K, the flop comes K high with two hearts. He bets and I just call, turn gives me my flush and he checks, I bet and he calls, river a blank and he check, I bet and he calls and mucks. I was doing well in the game taking £40-£50 pots down with no real problem, I had some nice cards but also playing position well especially to pre flop raisers.

I then pick up 44s and limp in early. Another call and Nick raised it up. Me and Scott called. With Nick in position. Flop is Ace high and a big miss for me. However it checks round. The Turn is a lovely 4, although I start to get paranoid, thinking why did Nick check that flop, he was likely to raise with Ax , a PP or broadway cards, but the fact that he did not bet the flop which he properly would of done with JJ QQ KK or any Ace he checked! I think for a moment he might have AAA! Anyway I check and so does Scott. Nick now bets and I think whether to jam it now to find out where I am or to call and keep the pot small. Then I studied his bet, I felt it was slightly weak. I thought ok maybe he does have QQ or KK or he was playing AK weak. I thought I would call and maybe make him think I was drawing, Scott folds and the turn is a K, hmmmmm. Ok now I’m a bit worried but I am not folding. I do not really want to get re raised here, which he would do with KK or AK or AA if I bet out, as I only can beat one of those hands, so I decided to check and let him do the betting. He checked straight behind and I felt like I lost some chips there when he showed AQ. Guess that read was completely wrong!!! ( See I do get it wrong sometimes people)

I’m doing ok and on just over £180 and pick up AdKd. I limp UTG and Guv pops it up to £5. He had only raised once before and everyone folded to me, I did not need to re raise to narrow the field and was willing to take a flop heads up. The flop is very sweet as three diamonds fall! Bingo! Bango! Bongo! I check and Guv bets a standard c/bet amount. I just call. The turn is a blank and Guv bets £40 into a £42 pot, which was very strong. I went into the tank to think what kind of hand he has. He had a hand that he was protecting for sure, which was conveyed by the £40 bet on the turn. So three hands stood out for me. JJ (top set), QQ (with a Qd) and KK (no diamond). I was hoping he did not have the latter as I’m sure he can get away. If he had JJ there are a lot of bad cards on the river any pair of the board is bad for me but also if a diamond falls, yes I do have the nuts but makes it hard for Guv to call me, even if he has the Qd he should not lose anymore money as what did I call the flop and turn with. I raise it up and he shoves and I instant call. He had top set and the river is a nice blank and take down a £210+ pot!

I then call Flashs raise on the button with AhTs. The flop is all SPADES again! There is also an Ace on the board. Flash bets outs, I think he has something like AK, AQ and hope he does not have a spade with it. I thought also I could play off the previous hand mentioned against Guv when I flopped the flush. I flat call, Turn is a blank and he bets out £30ish and I make is £80ish to go thinking he can only call with AxKs. He thinks for a while and mucks AJ (told me later).

I was up to about £400 ish and that was as high as it got, the moves I started to make were not working and the cards dried up. I was trying to take a pot away from Mitesh to his pre flop raise when the flop came T 6 6, where I was not convinced about his c/bet, the turn was then a K and he bets out and I called. The river card absolutely sucked! The 6 hits which would give him a house if he had the K and makes it impossible for him to give me credit for a 6 in the hole. If I moved in I’m show he would call, saying something like, if you got it you got it but I cannot fold. So I decide to lay the hand down.

I then bluffed into AA and AAA! Not the smartest thing to do! My stack slowly died out to about £250ish, losts some more small pots when I had the suck str8 vs the higher str8.

Then found QQs and made it £5 to go. Got 4 callers before Flash re raised it. I went into the tank and made it £95 more. He thought for a while and shoved and I called thinking he shoves instantly with AA and KKs. He had AK when I show my QQs, I offer to play for £50 each rather than our whole stacks. He agrees and when the King hits he scoops the pot.

Not much really happened in the game overall, Jambon gave a sick beat to Trfy with his top two vs str8 in a £250 pot and the river paired his top pair for the house. Guv took some nice pots as well helping him recovering from the set vs flush. James B was the big winner with everyone else up or down £50 to £100. I was up £67!

Oh almost forgot one big pot, that really confused me. I open up with AJ and Jambon, James and Trfy call and Flash re raise (again I got re raised!!) I muck and so does Jambon. James call and Trfy fold. Flop is all clubs! Flashes bets out £45 and James moves in for £70 more. Flash thinks for a while but James seemed really confident about his hand after Flash did not call instantly, which gave the impression he had a K high flush and might have been worried about top set. But once Tom thinks for a while and does not call, he knows he is in good shape. Tom eventually calls and James shows AcQc for the nuts and Flash mucks! No pair no draw, he claims AQ high which I believe but cannot get my hand around it. He mentioned if james had KcJx (J high flop) he still has 6 outs and there was a lot in the middle but I think you had to play the player there, no offensive to James but I do not think he was going to bluff off his stack on a big draw early in the game, I definitely felt james had JJ or maybe flopped flush with AK, as those are two hand I can see him calling an Early Position raise with and also calling a re raise with. I think QQs is also in his range there with the Qc which means Flash would only have two outs! Tom if you care to explain you logic I would like to hear it (post a comment). For those of you that do not know Tom he is not a donkey, he is a great player who has cashed over $50,000 in tournaments on poker stars alone and his maths skills are awesome. Im sure he has a legimate reasons but I cannot work it out!!!

Poker Soc

One hand I was very annoyed about. Pav and Me and have all the chips on the table with 3 tables to go. He opens up for 3k, he gets a caller and someone then shoves for 13k, I then see JJs, ok I do not want to take a coin flip but im confident that with the action so far, people have AK AQ AJ KQ QJ, I feel if I make a move and don’t walk into AA or KK or QQ I’m good and not in a 50/50 situation. I shove for 30k and Pav calls quickly. He shows AK, ok in my view this is a very bad call. At best he is splitting the pot, (I have AK), likely to have QQs up wards which means 2/3 he is locked up against, but a factor which I feel people forget to do is use all available information on the table. The factor that someone called him, it is likely he had broadway cards, if he had a K that out is gone. The guy who shoves if he has AQ or AK , more outs gone, now you have invested 3k and now calling for 30k more and leaving yourself with about 7xBB when you are the chip leader on the table, I know most people call here especially at poker soc but in my opinion you have to use all the information given to you to make a call especially if you think it is 50/50 at best!