The Brasso was kind enough to extend me an invitation to a little boxing day game down at the Jade Rooms in Stone to break the boredom and whilst I was feeling a little ill from the previous day's antics I thought it beats staying in on my bill for Boxing Day so decided to go along with a gent named Mark who i'd not met before and Andy D, always fun and frolics to be had with Mr Durose so I was looking forward to this.
For anyone who hasn't been to the Jade Rooms, they have a £10+£2 fairly deepstacked 2-3 table tournament strucutre with a long clock, it's a very good and friendly game with lots of faces you'd recognise from the local Stoke scene and a few you probably won't. Certainly worth checking out if you want a cheap, friendly night out with a bit O'Poker to cap it off.
So sit down and at my table with Brasso, Andy D, Sleazy Chris, Jayne Clegg and Mark who I arrived with, fairly soft table on the whole, people seeing lots of flops for the minimum on the early levels as you'd expect, so I decide to be patient and wait for something. So it goes around the table for an orbit until I get a hand with 4 limpers to my SB and I have K10 and complete and the BB checks. I flop broadway and naturally check it and wait for some action, sadly everyone checks and I'm thinking this is going to be a dead end hand, the turn brings about 2 possible flush draws now (2 spades/2clubs) so I'm hoping this will give someone something to draw to so I make a half pot bet off around 200, someone smooth calls but a young girl who i'd never played with before min-reraises! Now this is seriously golden, when you get reraised by a female player they have to be massive, so I'm hoping they've got a flush/straight draw , 2 pair or even the lower end of the straight i believe was a possibility too so I decide to not mess around with this one and put in another raise, I jam it up another 1000, the fella folds and she calls. The river brings a red low card and I put in another bet of 1500 and i'm quickly called by AKo so way way below what I had expected in terms of strength and was lucky to get paid off, just top pair and a gutter, but this girl was clearly new to it and over-valued it but it's all good and a good start.
I then proceed to get some very good cards in reasonably quick succession, I get AA twice in 3 orbits, make some large preflop raises that get some calls and I take down some chunky pots on the flop, I had a nice hand with Brasso where he has raise 3.5BB early and I call with 98s and we see a flop with one other, flop is 10,10, 6 and i'm not assigning that to either player's range, Brasso makes a C-Bet for 3/4 pot and I reraise him about 1.5 times his bet, it's so cheese but such a hard call if you've got litterally air and they both fold, all this and not having to show down at any point, so things are going really well.
Then comes the big hand that stacks me up, a couple of limpers at 75/150 and I have 10,10 and bump it up to 800, i get one call from behind and the 2 limpers come in too, never nice for such a marginal pair but the flop comes Q,10, X a lovely coordinated board for the limpers so I'm fairly sure i'll get action if I play it fast, so I lead out for 1200. The old guy who called me from behind has a good long think and then calls for about 1/2 his stack, fair enough, the rest fold. The turn comes an A, I don't really like this as KJ is such a strong possibility for a donk oldie, but he has far too few chips for me to be realistically concerned, I put him in for his last 1500 and he calls with JJ..... easy money and I'm up to around 13.5k from the 5k starting stack and looking very good. I accumulate a few more chips but then get into a hand with Jayne....
The blinds are 100/200 and the play is tightening as all the limps are slowly bleeding the donks down, Jayne limps early and I get 66, I make a sizeable raise to 1200 thinking if I can take this pot now it's absolutely fine, to my surprise I get a call from behind and Jayne calls also.... nice!
4, 6, 8 on the flop with 3 clubs, Jayne checks and I bet something like 1800, Jayne then shoves for a bit more, something like 3200, so it's an insta call even with the nasty board and she shows Jc7c for a gutter and a flush draw, flush comes on the end and i take my 1st hit of the game and down to around 12,000. I make a few chips back with some steal action and back up to around 14k for the final table.
I find myself sitting with Geoff Price 2 to my left with a monster stack, has 25k easily and I'm rubbing my hands with glee. I've come across Jeff a few times at either Stoke casino and never fails to let me know just how terrible a player he is, consistently shows he knows nothing about the game and is normally easy money, also don't happen to like the guy very much after previous a previous run-in at Grosvenor led to me nearly twatting him for his drunken and rude behaviour, a proper barrel-scraper to be honest (oooooh catty!). Amazingly the 1st hand brings mega action....
It's 4 limpers to my SB (one of them being Geoff) and I have AQ... blinds are something like 200/400 by this point so i'm realistically considering an all-in but it's just too obvious what I'm doing, my trademark shove to steal a dead-pot so I decide to try and show more strength and make a very large raise, I think I make it 2800, to my surprise and horror Jeff and someone else call from behind. I'm not liking this but we see the flop and of J,10, x and Jeff bets 2000. What a tight spot, I don't think he's strong at all, it's too fast a bet like he's decided what he is doing before the flop has even come down and i'm sure he's only doing it because it's me.... for some reason I'm only pondering fold or call here, if I shove into him and he finds a call I'm through when I'm in 2nd position in chips and very strong.... I decide to call with the intention of making a play at the turn. The turn now brings a 9 which is a welcome card for me, it gives me an open-ender to fall back on if my intended play doesn't work.... amazingly Jeff leads again this time for 3000..... it's such an inticing bet now, I have to give him reasonable credit for a hand at this point as he isn't sophisticated enough to make double/triple barrell bluffs with complete air, the action has me down to around 8k at this point and I cannot make a play at this pot as intended as he has taken the action away, so I am now priced into making a call with an open-ender also intent on stacking off if I hit an A or Q. The river is a 9, he quickly puts me all-in and i have to give it up with my remaining 5k. To my disbelief he flips over AQ and quickly gathers the pot into his filthy beer swilling hands LOL. I went very quiet for a good 30mins after that, I wasn't quite sure what happened but amazingly i have to admit that in that 1 hand I was out-played by the worst player in the game..... FUCK!
I go card dead for an couple of orbits, get as low as 4k, make a steal or 2 back up to 5.5k and then find KK in the BB after a couple of limpers, I find the resolve to not shove and make a raise to around 2200 leaving about 3.5k behind, Jayne calls but she only have 1.5k left i believe, the flop is raggy with 2 diamonds i set her in, she calls.... with a diamond draw.... oh my just what I didn't want to see, the board pairs 4's on the turn and the river brings a DIAMOND.............. but it's a 3rd 4 and I fill-up, woohoo!
I then proceed to really get into the game, I'm making steals everytime i'm in position and eventually work my stack back up to 16k, then comes the hand. Jeff limps in UTG and folds around the SB who calls, I have A9... there is a reasonable case here to raise and take it down, it's almost certainly the best hand, but Jeff is so chipped up he'll play a flop with me regardless and I really can't just shove here, there isn't enough money in the pot to justify the risk, I decide to just check and deceive the strength of the hand, if an A flops i'm not going to get credit for it..... naturally the obligitory Ace does flop, it's A, K, x. I check and Jeff makes a decent bet of around 2500 (i think the blinds are 400/800, the SB folds and I just flat call, turn is a rag and I now decide to shove, my raise is about a 1/3 bigger than the pot so it looks dodgy.... Jeff says "I'll call ya, I gotta King".... he flips K9 to my A9 and I'm absolutely fucking huge here.... he is drawing to 2 outs (that makes me a 20/1 favourite going to the river folks) and the whole table utters the immortal words " you can only win with a King"...... gasp as the river is slowly turned over and it's a big, fat, fucking black King. Somehow, I just smile, I shake Jeff's hand and look to the watchers who are proper gob-smacked and take it fairly well. 2 years ago I'd of been hurling abuse, flipping tables, bemoaning his attrocious play.... but thank fuck I know this all just part and parcel of the great game we play now and I was in an amazingly fortunate spot to take the chip-lead there but it was crueling snatched away from me LOL.
In short, Boydy then goes to chop Jeff in half but somehow manages to give it back to him and Jeff won the game..... utterly bloody terrible. Poker at Christmas? I'll have a Pot Noodle and a wank next time, kthxbye!
That may well be my last local game for sometime as I make the daunting move to London to begin my new job with PokerStars in the New Year, a memorable one indeed to go out on.
Happy New Year folks.
Love, Matt!x
