I'm sure anyone that's read this blog (including a tweet favourited by @Daleroxxu, a PokerStars online Pro) or anyone that knows me personally recognises that I've put a lot of hours into poker both live and online. My experience ranges from playing in pubs at 18 for £5 with guys all new to the game; fresh fish in a pretty big pond to £50 tournaments at Nottingham's infamous Dusk Til Dawn cardroom; undoubtedly the biggest and best in the UK; not to mention visiting some of the biggest venues in Las Vegas from small scale hotels to the homes of the high rollers in the Bellagio, Venetian, Aria and everything between. In terms of cash poker I've spent many a night in friend's back rooms playing 5p/10p with tins of Fosters, £1/1 in the Fox on Shaftesbury Avenue (likely my preferred venue) and £1/2 in The Empire Casino in the heart of Leicester Square.
It's pretty safe to say that poker, paintball and partying have been the three biggest aspects of my life in the past 18 months; ironically, about the same time that I split with my last missus. Funny how you find the time for things without a woman to nag you all the time ;) (and just in case she's reading this, for anyone that hasn't met her, she's actually borderline amazing; just some things happen at the wrong time.. my bad!)
So what's this blog about, really?
I saw a tweet about a friend learning to play poker for pennies, ironically, not so different to how I first started playing the game (although I think it was for pounds.. how naive of me) and in jest, suggested that it's probably a bad idea to start. I'm actually at the very beginning (as in, I'm a whole day in) of a 10 week poker 'hiatus'. It's predominately down to varying internal / external factors, but as is the nature of poker, I very much consider myself to be on what's known as a 'downswing'. The nature of the game is such that sometimes even when you're playing well; there's nothing you can do about the cards that fall. I've been thinking about taking a break for a few weeks given my lacklustre performance last season at the Nag's Head in Welling. If anyone wants to play recreational poker on a Tuesday night for a mere £5, I recommend it. Once you settle in after a couple of weeks and everyone realises that you're not a melodramatic, egotistical arsehole (in my case, I've been accepted as such; so you've got a pretty high tolerance threshold when I'm in there), it's a great atmosphere with a mix of playing styles, abilities, ages and sometimes genders; although it is (as is the nature of the game) always going to be a predominantly male environment. However, my decision was confirmed after a ridiculously bad night at The Empire.
I had last Saturday off work and nothing planned for Friday night (very unlike me), so thanks to Nathan's generosity and faith in my game, I headed up to meet him in Central London for what would eventually turn out to be an 8 hour session, having planned for only half of that. The night started pretty 'meh' on all accounts and I'd topped up after an hour or so of being in there, switched on my game and started picking spots with a solid read on most of my opponents on the table. Coming up for about 1.30am I'd spun up something like a £450 profit and was contemplating cashing out, naturally sitting in for another round or two to avoid the indecency of taking a huge percentage of someone's stack and then leaving the table; effectively devoiding them the opportunity of winning anything back and reducing the amount of cash on the table. This will be the only hand I explain on this blog (I'd hope) to demonstrate the variance in poker and the brutal reality of the game sometimes. If anyone that plays far more than I do wants to comment on the hand; please do (@freddie_baxter on Twitter).
I'm on the button with 99 (suits are irrelevant), with 3-4 limpers before me so there's ~£12 in the pot. I raise pre-flop to £21 (generally acceptable in the Empire given that a lot of the players on a Friday night have been out for work drinks and are looking to throw lots of money your way.. that and I'm £450 up). The big blind (BB) is the only caller as the rest of the table folds round.
The flop is an absolute dream; 3 9 J rainbow.
I've just flopped the second nuts with the only hand beating me being JJ, very unlikely that the BB doesn't 3-bet this pre, even out of position (OOP) against my button range. Being the tender age of 23 I'm considered to be 'one of those internet kids', so we have a pretty loose, aggressive reputation. So be it.
The BB check / calls my bet of £38; he doesn't have much in this spot other than JX, 33 or QT. I bet big to price his draws and extract max value from a very solid holding; against JX (his most likely), I'm a huge 96% favourite to win the hand. That's just about as good as it gets.
The turn is a pretty bad card if I consider QT a part of his range.. Kd, also bringing a diamond flush draw. Again, the BB check / calls my bet of £84. I think if he's just turned the straight, two pair or any hand that beats an overpair / AK, he's raising here for value considering he's out of position on the river. I actually improve; I'm 100% against any Jx that's not J9, J3 or JK; and I'm a 96% favourite against any of those hands.
The river falls another K. The BB checks to me again and I fire a value bet of £180; the one thing he does is what I'm not expecting. He attempts to shove his entire stack in, but manages to mess up and the dealer calls it a min-raise. I've still got more behind, but suddenly his call / call / shove line makes no sense, except for one hand. I call off the extra £180 and I see the one hand I really don't want to see; KJ.
The guy goes from a mere 10% chance of winning, down to 4%, to 100%. That is the nature of poker, and left a steaming £503 hole in my stack. So much for that four hour profit.
Ironically, just as I wrote this part, Nathan text me the following;
"You'll like this one. I've got AA utg in a straddle. I make it 27, one caller (massive fish, bad player) from the SB, flop Q72, he checks, I bet 35, he raises to 70, I raise to 160, he shoves for 750, I snap. He has JJ. He hits runner runner quads. 1.5k pot... :/"
Horrible game; isn't it?
Most poker players will always stress over their bad runs as opposed to their positive ones. I blogged before about the Nottingham trip in which I was over £1k in profit from the Friday night; so obviously the potential highs speak for themselves.
So, back to that tweet..
On my original point; I advised the world of twitter not to get involved in poker which is actually a really negative outlook. The game can be brutal, but it can also be beautiful. I won't enter the debate about gambling / skill / luck as convincing anyone from outside the poker spectrum will either fail to understand, or choose not to. I don't participate in sports betting and I'm generally pretty effective at avoiding the lure of roulette wheels and blackjack tables.
Poker however is very much a thinking man (or woman)'s game; there's so many levels upon levels which new players can't even begin to appreciate until they experience the game in depth. I still consider myself very much an amateur as a break-even player over the past few years; although I wouldn't trade the experiences I've had, nor the people I've met through poker for anything. Besides that, I'm sure there will come a time I'll pull off a miraculous tournament win to put a deposit on a flat at least. It's all in the grand plan.
On a more serious note; poker is a fantastic hobby if you can exercise the powers of self-control and set yourself limits. On a social level, having anything between 4-10 people around a table with a few drinks and just a few quid between friends is the recipe for a fun and fantastic night. On a professional level? You get the benefits of avoiding tax and choosing the hours you want to work; but I'd suggest working up a huge sample before you even think about that option.
I've now got ten weeks to fill with doing awesome stuff that doesn't involve cards; suggestions welcome!
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