Live £0.50/1 at the Gala Bristol

Last night Silly Willy (friend known from uni since year 1), BTD (the mentor, master, guru, you name it, and great friend), Raymondo (friend known for years ever since 2002, started poker together with him), his girlfriend and I went out for some proper Chinese food in Bristol at Shanghai Nights. The food was great and we felt like we had to get some action afterwards.

We drifted out way to the Gala Harbourside Casino. Getting there, we found out that the cash poker tables were full and the waiting lists were long and so we decided we give poker a pass. That was a bad idea.

I should never play -EV games cause I just never win. Ever since dropping 300 pounds (a FUCK load of money during my 1st year) in half an hour on Silly Willy's PartyPoker account on blackjack (RIGGED IMO), I vowed never to play -EV games ever again.

Anyway, I donated £80 on the roulette to Gala (ENJOY IT YOU EVIL CORPORATION), and while Silly Willy was playing blackjack, BTD and Raymondo both randomly placed a tenner on numbers on roulette and they both got in on their first go. There ya go, £350 to both of them. How do they do it? I never win. I decided I'd just hang around the poker room in case I was tempted to chase losses. I convinced BTD to put his name down with me on the £0.50/1 game and very soon, we actually got to sit down.

The game was full of donks and it was a challenge just sitting down trying to keep a straight face while listening to the poker theory they discuss. The dealer was so clumsy and slow I don't even want to talk about it. Anyway, the game goes on and I just decided I'd sit tight and play solid. A few rounds passed and nothing really happens. Ah, I had T8hh in the SB and everyone limped so I completed and c/f a Td7d3c flop when a limper overbet pot with QdJc. He got called by BB with Ts8c. Turn was 4d, it got checked through and river was a Kd. BB bets and QdJc calls. LOL at both plays.

I was card dead all along til I picked up AJdd on the button. BTD was in the BB and while I was thinking what I would do if somebody raised in front of me, UTG open shoved for £24.5. Everyone folds to me and I decided to fold and he showed an Ah. I think fold was the right move as I had no reason to believe he'd be doing it with less than AJ.

I pick up AQo in the CO 2 hands later and it gets folded round to me. I open to 4 and get called by SB who was the UTG who open-shoved when I had AJdd and BB who was the player with QdJc in the hand above. Flop comes JsAc7s and SB shoves 21 into 12, BB folds and I snapcall. turn is 7c and river is 6d. He tables A3o and I win my first pot!

Up til now everything is good, friendly table and I'm having fun, albeit quite bored. I pick up AKo in the CO. New player is at the table and has live straddled to 2. Maniac in UTG+2 calls, so does shortstack fish in MP. MP2 folds and MP3 raises to 8. I think for a bit and 3bet to 25. Rock on my left acts as if he has had a heart attack having never seen a preflop 3bet to 25 and snapfolds, which everyone does to initial TAG raise in MP3. He tanks a bit and folds, claiming he had AQ. Pretty standard hand, my image is good and clean he HAS to fold AQ there.

An interesting hand comes up a few rounds later. Maniac has been playing every pot, opening with 84o, barreling with 46o, raising and betting with 59, 83. Oh yes we have also started the 27 game with a 3 pound bounty from each player on it if any player wins a hand with it.

On to the hand, I open utg to 4 with 99 and folds around to maniac who 3bets to 14. Folds to me and I elect to just call. My hand is well ahead of his range but given previous hands observed, he has always folded to 4bets. So I felt no need to 4bet and stop him from bluffing, I'll just outplay him postflop. Flop comes AhQhJc. I felt this was a good flop for me as I felt his range rarely included an A and this flop would allow him to represent a lot of stuff. I checked and he quickly bet 15. I called. Turn comes 8s and I checked again. He quickly bet 25. Now the pot was 83 and I had 90 behind. At this point I felt that my hand was probably good, but there was a chance that he had a Qx, Jx type of hand or some kind of draw which would mean if I called his turn bet and checked river, he could somehow get to showdown and win. So I shoved, as I felt given my clean image, he folds all Qs, Js, and even some As if he was ahead even though I felt I was most probably ahead. He insta folds tabling 47o and I decided to show 99. I don't know why I did it but I hadn't played live poker for so long and it felt really good to outplay him by reading his body language and betting patterns.

Everyone on the table starts discussing how standard the hand was, 'he bluffs all the time you gotta think youre ahead, you can't flat call the turn cos you dont know what to do on the river blahblah'. I just keep to myself thinking lol you guys have no clue as if you guys would really c/c flop and crai on turn. I leave the table 64 pounds richer and ego boosted.

BTD was card dead and nothing much happened to him. Kinda feel bad for him as he detests how little hands and boring live poker gets.

Definitely looking forward to the next time we go again. Hopefully we'll get to stay longer and pwn those fishes for proper cash!