Christmas Cheer & Local Pokers

So, I've been back in Stoke for a number of days, family visits, old flames.. the usual nonsense. So, Boxing Day being as boring as usual it seemed only logical to take a rare opportunity to play some Poker at the Circus. A £20 Freeze-Out seemed conserative enough to tempt me back into action considering how rusty I am at this time, so I popped along with low-expectations and just wanted to have a bit of a time-killer.

I walk in and it felt fantastic to be back, initially there was no one around I knew so I just waltzed around in a bewilderment and a big smile on my face. I head to the desk and to my pleasant surprise I spot a couple of family faces in Shaun 'Shag' & Steve Andreau, Shag in particular being quite receptive which was nice. So I bought in and toodled off to tbe bar, grabbed a coke and sat down to watch some football. Before long I spot Mark 'Rage' Brassington and we enjoyed a handshake and a chin-wag. Mark is one of my favourite characters on the Stoke Poker circuit, ever humble and always a gentleman it was great to see him.

Not far behind was Carlos, again we got to talk about some poker bollocks and life in general and everything seemed back to normal. Sadly I didn't draw any of these faces on my table but did see some other regular characters in Hugh, Ken and eventually Craig Bickerton who registered very late on, always love have Craig on my table as he is good fun and very respectful, although it's probably not so good for your aspirations of winning a tournament! Action is very slow to begin with and as seemingly usual I'm not getting a great number hands, I got AQ on the button on the first level, 3 limpers and I make it 200 to go and get 2 callers, one being a particulary jittery older fellow i've never seen before. I believe the flop was J, 3, 3 so they check and I bet 400 as obligated and the jitter-bug calls, the turn brings a blank for him and he leads out with a large bet and I have no choice but to fold, so I'm 600 down early on.. meh

I get a paultry selection of hands going forward, 4's & 6's were the highlight and I managed to get into the flop cheaply but action forced folds both times and then I find JJ on the button on level 2. One person had limped and I raise to 350 and get a call from the limper and a very conserative small blind, the flop is 8, 8 K which was far from ideal but not the worst flop in the world but with the conversative player in the pot I decided to try and show down cheaply and we all check the flop. The turn brings a low card and SB leads for 400, Hugh who was the limper reluctantly folds and I call. Another low card on the turn and the SB leads again for 600, it's a great bet in fairness to him and I make the crying call and he reveals a conseratively played AK.

At this point I'm down to 2500 and the following hand comes up on level 3, a multiple limp pot, I get 7,7 in late position and normally I might play this harder but don't want to play for all my chips with 7, 7 so just call. The flop comes 4, 5, 6 so I hold an overpair and an OESD, a couple of checks and it goes to Hugh who makes a weak bet of just 300, just 2 x BB and there must be closer to 1200 in the pot... this leaves me stumped.. I can find a case for folding, calling and re-raising here, but with all the action behind I meekly call, this is followed by an all-in and a call and then a reluctant call from Hugh! I decide to fold thinking I can't be in good shape and at least one of these guys has the nuts... wrong! We see one guy with 4, 6 for 2 pair, another with a set of 5's and Hugh who is sitting directly to my right also has 7, 7 and naturally the miracle 8 comes to win him a large pot.

That was the crucial pot for me and I think having played regularly I would have played it differently pre-flop and post-flop and was punished for not following up on my convictions. I went out not too long after when I find a spot for a donk-shove with J2 with several limpers in the pot, it seemed like a good chance to take a largish pot uncontested, but my 2200 was not enough to discourage Ken who held Q10 which held up.

So all around a very pleasant return although my own play was frankly unrecognisable from what I consider my higher standards. I'll be back in Stoke in 2-3 weeks for a gig at the Sugarmill and will certainly be looking to play again.

Ciao Ciao!