Born 30 something years ago into a card-playing clan in the North of England: the low-roller's poker odyssey has taken him from the school common-room via down-trodden Midlands' casinos, smoky Cotswolds pubs, celebrity Soho drinking spots and of course the ubiquitous world of cyberspace to the home of poker itself, Las Vegas. Join his search for juicy take-downs, great pot odds and the occasional back-door straight as he goes for glory.
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Saturday, September 02, 2006
BACK ON THE VIRTUAL HORSE AGAIN
ONLINE MADNESS
The online madness is over - As part of my package for the WSOP I won $11,000 - $10,000 of which was my entry, $1,000 was my spending money (credited to my account), with free accomodation at the MGM thrown in on top. Anyway the $1,000 never made it. I blew just over half of it through a combination of bad luck and bad play, before deciding it was a good idea to put my last $400 or so in the $5-$10 PLO game - this does not mean gambling with freedom fighters - not recommended, but rather Pot-Limit Omaha, where you get four cards rather than two, of which you must choose from your hand and three from the board. It is an action game, requiring a considerable bank-roll - my friend who plays high-level internet poker, usually No-Limit-Holdem, blew virtually all of his six-figure bank-roll without making any bad calls, before finally turning it around. He has now returned to the safer waters of No-Limit Hold'em.
So I doubled up my stack to just under $1,000 in the space of ten minutes, and yes you can guess the rest. Ten minutes later PartyPoker and I were saying fond farewells. A similar pattern was repeated when I returned from Vegas: this time the PokerStars account - a little over $400 - went to some grateful Yankees. They are now searching in vain for The Jollyconeman - my online identity - as an easy mark, but I have moved onwards and upwards. I have discovered FullTiltPoker, which is Mac compatible. I cashed in $600, which over time - a lot of time, mind you, nets me a further 'free' $600 - so far I have received $250 of my bonus, having notched up around 50 hours of play. I have reincarnated as No-Limit-Shiva, and as befits the Low-Roller, I have yet to progress beyond the $1-$2 games. PLO has been a good source, and the MTTs - multi-table-tournaments. Regularly these attract 150-200 people, and typically last four hours or ten minutes depending on how attached you get to your pocket 10s. I have played four - first time out I ended up third. I raised a large amount with K-J suited to get called by K-10. The flop came K-10-2 and I was history. Still $750 for four hours of enjoyment means the kids might be getting those Christmas presents after all. My first instinct, at that stage in the tournament, holding $100,000 in chips was to push all-in from the small blind as there was over $12,000 in the pot from blinds and antes. This probably would have taken down the pot uncontested - K-10 should probably fold.
Second time was not successful. Holding $4,500 in chips, having just doubled up, I pick up 10-10 and limp for $100 from under the gun, which is called twice and then raised to $600 by seat 6. Knowing that the safe option is to fold, I decide to see a flop which comes three small cards - 8-7-4 rainbow. I opt to go for the check-raise and he calls with pocket Jacks. Another tale of bad poker, you might say. Limping with medium pairs is clearly correct in my opinion, as you can not really stand a re-raise. Calling the raise is not great, although I have just about got my pot odds if I hit a set. If I don't I must walk. However it is possible for me to win this pot but only against a good player: instead of flat calling the raise, I might reraise, representing a very big pair. This would have been the only way to prevail.
The third attempt saw me make my way to the final table of 9 with a small stack, and busted out 8th after pushing all-in with A-6 of Diamonds. In fact pushing with a small ace is often less than optimal, as you regularly find yourself getting called by A-K or A-Q, which leaves you with very few ways to win. On reflection I should have waited either for a better hand or better position (I had fired the A-6 of Diamonds from under the gun - first to act) or for another player(s) to be eliminated - there were two potential candidates with similarly small stacks. Eighth place was worth just over $300, with each place paying at least $100 more.
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