27/01/09 - Ladbrokes Casino, Paddington - London - £10 Rebuy

Hey douchebags,

As promised, here is the follow up to the Casino review with the actual event report. So... I'm bored after a long day at work and I had home but I'm feeling the twinge to play some Poker... I ponder depositing into Full Tilt but resist temptation to do so and decide to hit FIFA 09 on Xbox Live instead...

After getting my arse handed to me by complete luck-boxes I'm into the semi-tilt (Joypad biting rather than smashing at this point) and decide I need to go out. I'd considered playing at Ladbrokes Casino the night before but gave it a miss as I have to be up early for work but tonight "fuck it".

So I hop onto the #7 busy and thanks to the miracle that is the Oyster Card it only costs £1, that somehow makes London travel cheaper than Stoke! (zOMG!) and within 20mins I am at the Casino. I pop down the stairs and head to the card room to register. Now one thing I failed to mention in my casino review was that this casino feels every so slightly like Broad Street Stanley's to me (for those who can remember). It's underground with a low ceiling and a little dark (although much more plush) but it has that slightly seedy but safe feel to it rather than tacky neon that you get in you're typical modern casino, so it kinda felt familar.

So I'm watching the rest of the folks register as I think I'm one of the 1st, eyeing up the competition, you can quickly tell who is going to be of concern and who is going to be feeding your stack alot of the time, just listening to how they talk and their mannerisms. There was a handful of older guys, you know the types who wear the same 'uniform' to go gambling every night, a few middle aged chaps with too much dosh and a minor interest in Poker and then the wannabe young superstars who are giving it 'the bigg'un'. There was this one guy who really made me laugh, he much of been late 30's and was wearing this quite incredible black hoodie with a large Ace of Spades on the back made from sequins (mind my spelling) but you just know that was his special poker 'comforter' lol.

I get an interesting table draw, there are 4 tables and I have good mix on my table, old guy to my left who was playing most hands, a group of 3 younger guys who talked a good game and clearly knew each other and 1 seemingly Arab older gambler who was pretty nuts. So I'm folding a few hands as I want to get a feel for what everyone is playing. Doesn't take me long to see that the hand selection is far from extraordinary, as you might expect for a rebuy tourny. So it gets to 2nd orbit and the blinds are 50/100 and I haven't played a hand, folds aroudn to mid-late who calls, button calls also, I complete with A3 of clubs and the BB checks.

FLOP - Kc, 9c, Jx

I check it, BB checks, Mid-late checks and the button opens it up for 100, I call, BB folds and mid-late calls. The Turn brings a low-club and I have the nuts. I check again, mid-late checks and the button bets big this time around 300. I just call, mid-late calls also. River is a red deuce. I find the reserve to check it one last time, mid-late checks and thankfully the button bets 500 again, I shove for the extra grand, mid-late folds and the button quickly calls so I gathered he may have had a small flush, but flips Q10 for a flopped straight. Unlucky him but made it too cheap for me so I collect around 5K for that hand.

I get another couple of hands in JJ and TT that I'm fortunate enough to be able to make small raises with 1st preflop and get out on the flop to some multi-way heat without losing too many chips, I then get in a hand with the Button guy from the previous hand where he makes a minimum raise against my BB and an UTG limper calls, i come in for the ride with A9.

Flop is A, A, 3

I check, utg checks and the our aggressor bets again 400. I call, the limper goes out.

Turn is an 8 - this time he bets 1000. I'm slightly concerned now that I could be outkicked here, I'm content to show this one down if possible so do not get overly aggressive with it. I just smooth call. The River brings a rag, I check it and so does he. He shows KK and I take another pot, slightly disappointed I missed a bet there but I was content with the pot. So I''m up to around 7000 chips, I lose a hand again with JJ where I call a short stacked 1500 chips all-in who found aces but replish them where I find an interesting spot.

I'm the SB and it's 5 limps around to me and I find 7, 7 and decide this is too good a spot to not steal the dead money, blinds are 100/200 and I jack it up to 1800 total, BB comes in for a fresh rebuy of 2000 and the rest go out, I make up the small change and I'm delighted to see 3, 3 in his pocket, 7's hold and I take his 2k plus around 1k in dead money and back up to 8.5k. That gets to the end of rebuys and I top up for £10 more and i'm sitting on around 10.5k.

First hand back and I'm the button, one of the young guys from the group who i'd say was the trickiest on the table and well stacked around 18k min raises.... I have 5, 5 and I call, the blinds go out. I know this guy will C-Bet any flop so I'm prepared to play alot of flops here unless it's all paint. K, K, 3 and it doesn't get much better for my hand than that, he bets out 1000 (blinds are 200/400) and I call. the turn is a 3, I fucking love this card, as it now makes Ace-High seem very good indeed and he may feel if he can't win that he might be on a split at least. He bets 1800 on the turn and I call. River is an 8, he checks and I check behind happy to show it down and he shouts "I got Ace-High Baby" expecting it to be good, I think he was surprised at my hand, congrats me on a nicely played hand but I wasn't sure if he was being sarky to be honest, but I always like being able to use someone's aggression. against them and a 6k pot with a marginal hand, nice!

That gets me to around 15k or so and I find another couple of spots to steal dead money from the pot to build an extra few K. I'm sitting on 18k when we hit the final table. This wasn't as much as I'd like but 9-handed I was top 4 in chips so that's just fine. I have the young aggressive guy to my right on the final which I didn't like but there you go, the rest of the table was somewhat open to examination. I'm BB for the first hand at 600/1200 and it folds around to a lady on the button, shes the obligatory lady-gambler at the casino (every casino has one.... no Jules not you!) sitting in a big parker coat and jeans as if she's never had central heating or something lol, but she was ultra serious and she jacks up my BB just as I expect her to. I'm really leaning towards re-popping her here, she definately doesn't have to have a hand here to make the play.... so i stare down at 2, 4 off suit..... my aggressive tendencies desert me and I don't have the heart to make a move, if it was something barely connecting further up the chart I may have repopped her or played a stop and go but the hand just isn't worth the trouble considering I've never seen her play and I dump it...... but I don't like it.

A couple of hands later and the action folds to a gentleman in mid-late who I can only describe as Errol Brown's twin, it made me giggle everytime I looked at him, but his poker left something to be desired. I listened to him talk in the break and knew he was a fish. You know when you hear a person talk about hands like KJ, A10 with massive over excitement..... and therefore know he is easy money, well that's Errol Brown. So anyways, he limps and so does our aggro-lady. I look down at KQs on the button so there is 2 x 1200 here plus 1800 blinds, I simply have to make a play here. I jack it up 4800 on top. I thought this would get through, the young guy in the blinds makes a painful call... as does Errol, so we have a big pot now.

FLOP - K, 10, 7 with 2 hearts (i have spades sadly) but I waste no time jacking in my last 10K. Young guy slowly mucks, mentions a tight fold so I'm guessing he has Jacks here and wanted a safe board to shove into, Errol starts playing with his chips... takes ages and then does that sudden chip slam (like they've just had a devine epithany) and he shows me J10! I'm loving it and flip my hand and he says "I knew you had it, yep"..... i never tire of hearing that. So, Mr Brown has a J of hearts in his hand, naturally.... you know what's coming. 8h on the turn giving him a gutter and flush and Ah on the river to crash me out...... I was flabberghasted. I sat in shock for a few seconds and then left the table saying goodluck to everyone, not going back to my old routine of getting pissed at the table or berating his play as his play was perfect for me, I want his call all day but yet again I'm beaten upside the head by the deck.

It's very disappointing as I was enjoying the game, playing confidently and somewhat impeccably and yet again get the money in as a massive favourite only to get punished by lady-luck, been the story of all my live-games of recent months at jade-Rooms and Coachman's so it has to change soon...... right?

Oh well, it was an enjoyable venture and I shall no doubt play their again but I'd be lying if I said that one isn't stinging even the morning after.

Ciao Ciao guys.

M