Some nice poker plays

So, I've got some stuff that I want to post, but need more time to work on them, and then more time again to write them down. So, in the meantime, let me share this with you:-

For those of you who know anything about poker, you will recognize these as the good hands they are.

Salagatle!

And this is why I love the game! Texas Hold'em poker!

Final table. 5 Players still in the game. Dealer deals and you get KK. You raise preflop, and 3 players call your raise, on folds out. The flop comes KK3!!! This is monster. Dreams are made of this, if the table plays into this hand. You feel your blood pressure rise, the adrenaline rush burn a hole right through your brain! You are convinced that you are now sweating pure blood, and that every player on the table can see you have hit gold!!!!

You check (See my comments on this play further down). Next player ships his stack?!? WTF? All in on the flop? Next player ships, as does player number 4!?!?! There is now a mountain of chips on the table! You have the NUTS (That's poker speak for unbeatable hand) and it's you to call. No brainer. All in - let's see what you puppies called and shipped with!!?!?!?!?!?

You Have KK - next player AA (sorry bud, you limp with that you going to get fucked over 4 out of 5 times!!), next player has QQ, well, with KK on the deck, and an all in  call before you, you should have folded, and finally, player 4 has 33! Shit, he flops a full house, 3's over K's, there is no way he's ever going to fold, so he is doomed in this hand anyway.

So, KK holds up, and 3 players go out of the game. You, with the massive pile of chips are left playing head up against the other player, who has less than 10% of your chips stack. he is oh, so fucked. All in a few hands and it's game over!


This was a real play. GMan was the lucky player pulling KK, and he was playing a small freezout tournament.

OK, so apart from the awesome hand, flop, and win, what else is there?

So, first rule of poker is to read the other player. Learn how they play 99% of the time, and you can get a "read" on them. This should guide the way you play them, or play into them.

OK, so the AA holder should have either re-raised him pre-flop, or shipped pre-flop. You cannot limp / flat call with AA, (depending on your position at the table in relation to the Dealer chip, but that's a different calculation).
Then, pre-flop GMan raised. Post flop he checked..... First mistake and indicator for the other players. 99% of the time if GMan raises pre-flop, no matter what cards come on the flop, he will at the very least place a minimum bet, and get a feel of what the other players would have, based on their reaction, call or fold, or raise. Almost every time. But he checked. This would have told me he had hit, at the worst, a set (3 of a kind), and I would have checked back at him, or min raised to see if he came at me or not. No matter what you have in your hands, on that flop, you probably behind! Checking into him gives me at least one more card to see at no cost.
So, AA thought he had the 2 x top pair.
QQ should have folded against the all in by AA, as he must have known he was now behind.
33 was dead in the water. He flops a full house, he's never going to get out of this hand. Having said that, if he had been watching the other players, he might have folded 33 pre-flop on the basis that there was a pre-flop raise, and 33 are such a low pair, anyone with an Ace / picture card are probably going to be beating him.

Salagatle!

Poker update

This weekend GMan went and played another poker tournament. It's a big game, 10k ZAR freeze-out, and one he has played before, and done quite well, but not finished in the money.

Due to the nature of this blog, and the fact that I want to protect myself, and my family, and not disclose my or their identity, I cannot at this time disclose the name of the game.
The tournament started on Friday night, and they finished today at about 3pm...

Suffice to say, he won it, convincingly, and won ZAR205K!!!

Well done my boy.

Salagatle!

To poker - or not....

Most of you who occasionally read my stuff, will know that I'm crazy about the game. Although I cannot afford to play live games for real money (due to financial constraints) I still play a lot of "free" poker online. There are a few different sites for this, but for now I limit myself to the Zynga poker on Facebook. It's fun, frustrating, but also typical.

What do I mean?

Well, since this game has taken the world by storm, the quality of play has gone to the dogs. (It's officially the fastest growing, and has the most players, sport in the world). There is no sense out there anymore for the value of the game. I mean, the main purpose is to make whatever cards you have, work for you. If you got rubbish, then you fold them and wait for a better hand. If you got good cards, you play them, with the intention of getting as much return on your bet as possible.

So whats happening out there? Well, lets look at the "free" tables first. It costs nothing to play - granted. However, if you think about it, it's probably one of the best places to improve your game. It's where you can learn the value of any pair of cards. Where you can measure what size raise in any position will get you the pot, or callers coming with poor cards, just fishing. But what actually happens?

Well, for one, everyone thinks he's / she's a fucking poker god/ess...

There is no intelligence in their play. And when you chat with them about their call, the standard response is "But it's only a game",  "but it's not real money".

So why am I pissed off - it's not real money. Well, mainly because I tend to play the game the way I would if it was real money. What's the point of playing stupid, then you may as well play solitaire, or some other mindless stupid game where there is no risk or reward involved.

For me it's a skills thing. Learning the value of the cards, the way players react to specific cards and bets. It's all about improving my game.

But, unfortunately for me, unless I get to a place in my life where I can afford to play real money tables, against players who know and respect the game, I'm stuck in this role of frustrated poker player.

Salagatle!

Poker playing

I started playing poker, in one form or another, at the tender age of 14, at school. initially just for fun, then for cigarettes, then for money. Never big stakes though.
Once we got casino's I'd play the poker machines.
And with the advent of Texas Hold'em poker, got into that too. Never won much, probably jhave lost more than I won, but always enjoyed a good game.

The only thing that has eluded me, for all of these years is a Royal Flush. Till now.

I was in for ZAR100, playing ZAR5 a draw. Prize money for the royal is ZAR1250!!!!!

I

And so, I can now even say I've had one of those. Not too sure if I ever got one in an online game, but probably not. Would have remembered it.

Salagatle!

And another....

4 of a kind, with all the raises means a return of ZAR 625 for a ZAR25 bet!

Salagatle!

GMan - update on current status

So, this past weekend there was a major Poker Hold'em tournament at Royal Swazi. ZAR10k buy in / freezeout. Over 110 starters. GMan managed to get a sponsor to put him into the game (4 actually - each for a 20% return) and so he went down with some guys to try his hand at the big time.

To say he did well is an understatement. Of the 7 giys on his "team (guys who went down together, and backed each other one way or another) 5 fell out the first night. in fact, one of them was out in the third hand dealt! First victim of the tournament.
The other one fell out soon after play resumed on day 2 - Saturday morning.

GMan played out of his socks. By Saturday evening he made final 30! At this point he was amongst possible the top 20 players in South Africa!
he put up a good show, and once the first guy fell out, they had a break. He had a chat with one of his sponsors, and based on the size of his chip stack thay agreed that the next good hand he got, he wouldn't just raise, but ship the lot.

A few hands later he pulled pocket 5's, and shipped the lot. He got called by a big stack, who managed to hit the board with a bigger pair and he was knocked out.

I'm not sure I agree with the move, but they made a call, and played it.
Overall he did well. He has gained a lot of respect in the games circles with his play, and has now secured sponsorship for a lot more of the local freezeouts and other tournaments that will be playing in the near future.
So, he had an awesome weekend away with a bunch of high rollers, it cost him nothing at the end of the day, but the learning experience was great.

Hell, I wouldn't mind if someone put me into the game at those stakes!!!
Watch this boy - big things to come!

Salagatle!

A dream hand

In poker there are dream hands. If you don't know what I am talking about, LIU!
Here is a print out of an actual play that went down recently on Piggs. A friend of mine is one of the players, and the eventual winner. Understand that the players named are really good, don't scare off easily, and will "ship" at any time if they have the "nuts". (Oh,please, just LIU!)

Check this hand:
Me
AK
Himself85 QQ
Chrono-Naut
JJ

Dealing Hole Cards (These are the cards the relevant player gets, in this instance my friend)Kd Ac
PokerQ raised for R8
himself85, you have 10 seconds to respond
himself85, you have 5 seconds to respond
himself85 raised for R18
sab050 folded
johnnybij folded
DirtyHarold, you have 10 seconds to respond
DirtyHarold folded
Chrono-Naut called for R26
PokerQ called for R18
Dealing the Flop
Qc Ah Jc
Chrono-Naut bet for R42
PokerQ went all-in for R79.70
himself85, you have 10 seconds to respond
himself85 went all-in for R330.32
Chrono-Naut went all-in for R130
R158.32 returned to himself85
Dealing the Turn(10c )
Dealing the River(Kc )
PokerQ wins R307.40 with a Royal Flush, Clubs
himself85 wins R87.68 with a Straight, Ace high
Chrono-Naut wins R87.69 with a Straight, Ace high

The only down side was the Poker Queen didn't have more money at the table. Had she met the others pots, she would have won the whole pot. If she had more money, and she punted, there is a good chance that she would have won a hell of a lot more.
Well done PQ - It's fantastic. And thanks for sending the printout!!

Salagatle!

Final on the poker news

So, last night at 19h00 I sat down for the continuation of the ZAR2 million game I was playing the night before.
I wasn't in too bad a position, but could have been better. I was very low stacked though, and was seated at a table with some of the top stacks in tournament. In fact on either side of me the guys had 50k and more chips.
I lasted 48 minutes, which is a lot longer than some of the guys who had more chips than I did, but eventually the blinds eroded my stack to 20k, and I picked a hand for all in, K hearts Q hearts, and shipped. The big blind next to me called with A J, and hit an Ace, and that was the end of my game.
To that point I hadn't got one descent hand with which to play, and in fact had folded every single Big and Small blind due to crap cards and raises on my blinds.
However, I did manage to finish 128th, beating at least 75% of the players who started this tournament, no mean feat by any means!!
Would have been nice to have stayed in longer, and nicer to have finished in the money, but that's poker.
My position - 128. Tsvina - highlighted in the R/H screen was the player who folded his big blind to me so that I could stay in the satellite game, and win this seat.

Salagatle!

Update on Some poker news

So, as per previous post, I won a seat into the ZAR2million game. It kicked off last night at 7pm, and I wasn't even home to start! However, I asked GMan to keep an eye on it, and when I got home the chips were still intact.

Had a bit of a rough game, one or two good hands, but either got called by a donkey, or had to fold to a bully bet (when someone with more money than brains raises the pot to an amount I am not comfortable to call, so have to fold and lose my chips already in the pot).
One player in particular, who is from Cape Town, (where else, most ofd the donks come from CT) kept raising my blinds, and so stealing my chips little by little. I eventually started to chirp him in the chat, and he got seriously pissed off with me, and made a point odf taking eveyone of my blinds.

Starting stack was 15000. I got down to 4000. Then I hit. Doubled up. Hit again, doubled up. 16000 chips and I was back in the game. The guys around me were playing really moggy poker. I folded peasily 36 hands in a row (thats 3 Big blinds and 3 small blinds included) before I would get hands I could play with.

Anyway, I made the break after 3 hours. ANd then the freeze came, at this point I had not rebought (not that I could even if I wanted to), and the top up / Add on came, and went. No rebuy for me there either.
However, I won a few good one's, and got my stack up to 107000!! At this time, the wreckless play stops, and all those financially stable, but mentally retartded players, have to start to play tight. MY KIND OF GAME.

The clown who had been stealing my chips was now weary of me, as I had him stacked (more chips than him).
The crowning glory came when I raised HIS Big Blind, with QQ, and he shipped (all in) and I gad to call another 1500 chips to see him.
And I knocked him out of the game!!!! Beautiful!!!
Then it was back to serious stuff.
Another CT player, who had the night before knocked me out of the ZAR50k game 2 players before the money, Stewart, fell out in 184th place. Bye loser.

Then it was "hold on to the Break. I made it. 12pm, idnight, on the dot, the game stopped. I had made it to day two!!!
Stats:-
Total number of players who entered / started this tournament - 420
Prize pool (guaranteed ZAR2 million) - ZAR2,160,000
Players left at end of day 1 - 174
My position at end of day 1 - 111 (hope that's a good omen)
Chip count at end of day 1 - 71,811

So, I'm still in - with a bit of luck I can stay in, and last till final 15 - then I'm in the money.
Update again tommorrow.

Salagatle!

Some poker news

Ok, some background for all of you uninitiated, non-poker playing readers out there:-

Online Poker is the biggest, and fastest growing "sport" in the world today! The amount of money involved per annum is more than the National budgets of most mid sized countries.
Games played vary from 50c cash tables to over $1000 a hand cash tables, Sit 'n go tournaments, from as little as ZAR10 buy in, 4 players, to USD 1000 buy in (and more) multiple players (upto 3000).
For big tournaments, because the buy in is so big, satellite games are held, where for a lot less layout, a player can win a seat into a bigger game, and so get a chance to play the big stake games cheaply.
Also, on most sites where this game is played, players earn "points" which can then be used to play "freerolls". These are games where no money is involved, you pay by sacrificing points, and can win some money. Most use this for fun / passtime / whilst waiting for month end so they can reload real money and play real games.....
Four of a Kind Kings. Great hand - a few of these in the big game will welcome.

Now, I regularly play the freerolls. I use it to pass the time, but it's also a way to test new game plays, learn new players plays.
I recently won one of these. No mean feat as there were 804 entrants, so coming first is an achievement. Prize was ZAR 350, AND (and this is why I play) a seat into a satellite for the ZAR2 million game! (Worth ZAR660). Now, you have to play in the satellite, and try and win a seat into the main game. Once again, it's a rebuy tournament, lot's of players (in this case we were 84) and many of them rebuying.
Buy in (if you didn't win a seat like me) is ZAR 660, rebuys are about ZAR250, and a top up, before the rebuy period ends is ZAR250.

Last night I played the satellite. There were 13 seats to the ZAR2m guaranteed.!! With all the rebuys, and then the top ups taken (all this money accrues to more seats), there was eventually 27 seats guaranteed.
I played a demon game, and only took the top up (Spent ZAR250). When we were 29 players left I was begging the guys just to fold their blinds out so that I could at least limp into 27th place and get a seat. 28 players left, I am the smallest stack, and I am small blind. (If you don't know what small / big stack is, LIU). The blind is half of what I have left. I beg the big blind, who does not have too many chips himself, to fold to me, just to keep me in the game. I select "extended time", and watch what is going on on the other table before I make a call. 3 all in's. Suspense, this could be it. Flop, turn, river.....2 players OUT!!! I made it. And my blind ids folded to me anyway!! I thank the player. Now everyone just goes all in. No matter what. They all have a seat, nothing left to play for. During this madness, I manage to get to 17th place. But it's irrelevant.Straight flush - oh, boy, you have to love this hand. It's such a game breaker.

I have won a seat to the ZAR2 million game.

Tournament is on 2 August 2009.
Start time is 19hoo.
Buy in is ZAR2500 + ZAR250 (thats for the house)
Rebuys are ZAR 1500 + ZAR150 - for 240 minutes (4 hours)
Top up / Add on is ZAR 1500 + ZAR 150.
Tournament stops at 00H00 nightly, and restarts at 19h00 the next night, till the final hand is dealt to the winner.
Then the game is on as no one can rebuy, so they play tighter poker.

Currently there are 169 entrants registered. Late registration is open for 3 hours!

Prizes are as follows:-
1st Place - ZAR 1,000,000
15th place - ZAR 25,000
Royal Flush - the best hand in Poker. You get this and you probably knocking out a couple of opponents!

Ok, the problem here is I have to play this as a freeze out, ie. no rebuys, try and win every time I play (only play when I can win) and steal against the strength of the other players. A saving grace could be if I get on a table with other players like me, who can't afford the rebuys.
I need to make sure that I have the Top Up / Add on available in my balance, because if I am in the top 30% by the time the freeze out period starts, I want to have those extra chips in my stack. It's worth it.

So that's the story. For most of you, you probably wont read this. For those of you who do, I hope it makes sense. In any event, wish me luck. A game like this can be life changing, literally!!

Salagatle!

For those of you who might be interested

I have added a link to another blog of mine where I post all the screen prints of good hands I have got playing poker - or good hands that have beaten mine. Obviously of no interest to anyone who doesn't appreciate the game, or understand it.
Let me know what you think.

Salagatle!

This past weekend

So, this past weekend, a couple of my friends entered the above Poker tournament. It was held at Monte Casino (LIU), and this was the program:-

Dates: 24 March 2009 - 29 March 2009
Venue: Ballroom at Montecasino, Johannesburg
Rake: Ten (10) percent will be taken from the total prize pool to cover the costs of the tournament.
Payouts: Prize money will be awarded to the top ten (10) percent of players. Nature of events: There will be two (2) scheduled multi table poker tournaments and one (1) multi table satellite as well as various single table satellites.

Order of events

1) Tuesday 24 March: R3,500 - NL Hold'em (event 1)
2) Wednesday 25 March: Continuance and completion of event 1
3) Thursday 26 March: R2,400 - NL Hold'em, Super Satellite (event 2)
4) Friday 27 March: R22,000 SA Poker Open, NL Hold'em (event 3)
5) Saturday 28 March: Continuance of SA Poker Open
6) Sunday 29 March: Completion of SA Poker Open

All events are strictly freeze-out tournaments.


Anyway, whilst playing online on SilverSands last night, I was chatting to one of my mates who fell out sometime Saturday, and commented that Bozo, a mutual friend / poker player was still in the game, one of 34 finalists.

He won it! Yup, he's officially SA poker Champ, and pocketed a cool ZAR500k!!!!!!!!
Well done Bozo!!!

Salagatle!

My poker night

Most of you regulars will know that I have a passion for poker, and have seen some of my posts on the subject. Well, I'm also registered with about 40 poker sites on Facebook, as well as at most of the casino's, and small private games around town. Don't really play any of the private games, as the stakes are usually high, and my cash flow is suspect at best. Also, with the advent of Hold 'Em Poker, and the massive growth in players, there are a lot of donkeys out there with more money than brains, making it more difficult to play / find a descent game.

Anyway, for some time the local casino has been hosting tournaments, and cheaper satellite games in which you can win a seat to the big take tourneys. I get all the sms invites, but don't bother to go. Last night I decided I wanted to go.
Go to acehighpoker to see details if you care to.

ZAR 550 buy in, ZAR300 rebuys for 90 minutes (that's a long time to have to put up with donkeys) and then a ZAR500 top up, and the game goes into freeze out, i.e. no more rebuys. when u r out, u r out! Now that's my game. At this point all the "all in " rebuy, donkey players either play a conservative game, or they go out!

SO, I buy in. Game starts after 8 (late, so I'm not too impressed), but the upside is there are only 27 players. Guaranteed first place an entry into the ZAR10,000 buy in freeze out!

I pulled a difficult table, and had a hard time staying in. Lots of bully betting, pot stealing, all in calls. I folded some seriously good hands, which normally I would play, and some winning hands as it turned out after seeing the flop cards. Anyway, I had to do one rebuy to stay in the game. I wasn't out, but low stacked. I soon learned who played how, and made some calls which gave me the pot (can do this when u are in position).
Eventually, at 15 to 9 the tables are closed. 15 Minute smoke break, leg stretch, then we all in for the final freeze out. At ths point I'm probably the lowest stack, but now we're playing my game. I'm also in for ZAR850, and I don't want to have wasted my money.

Interesting to see some players maintain their same stupid betting game into the freeeze out. They are soon out and on their way. By 11 pm, I'm still there, some players have moved on, some moved tables (they do this to balance the load so to speak). Some of the big mouth players at my table are gone, some are there, but taking strain. I take one or two on, with good hands, and they run. SOME LOOK AND PAY THE PRICE.

By 1pm it's final tabe! And I'm on it. last 10. The prize structure is announced.
Due to the high take of rebuys and top ups at 9 pm (single purchase of chips for ZAR500) there are now 4 guaranteed seats in the ZAR10k game, and 2 seats into a ZAR1650 freeze out next week Thursday. First prize there - a seat into the ZAR10k game!
SO, I don't have to win this thing out right, but have to stay in till at least 6th. One by one the guys start to take some risk, and fall. I fold A/J, A/8 suited, Q/9 suited, man this is killer, as these are good hands to play. But I'm not here to feed into the greed of those desperado's, so I fold and wait. I have to get cards sometime when I'm in position.
I make final 6! At this point I know worst case I'm back here next week for the ZAR1650 freeze out, and I have a second chance at the big ticket. Time to pick a hand and go all in.
I pull pocket 10's, and I'm first caller post Big blind. All in. Everyone folds to me. By now they know I'm not a donkey, only play good hands, and don't take risks. So I scoop that pot. Show my hand.
A few more hands, and I'm big blind again. A/4 - suited. One of the other guys, drunk as a skunk, and who was chip leader for a long time, but is now down to 110 000 chips, same as me, goes all in.

It's 2.45 am. The blinds are killer now - 20k/10k, I'm really tired, need to get up for work in the morning, and have a ticket, so I look.
Damned if he didn't draw pocket K's!!! Anyway, my A is still good, but doesn't hold up, so that's me out! 5 Left, and they decide to negotiate with the game manager. he need to get in a further ZAR8800 to give away another ZAR10k seat, so between them they raise this (about ZAR1700 each) pay it in, and the game is over. 5 x 10k tickets and 1 x 1650 F/O ticket, 3.50 am.
Damn it was a long night. And next week will be worse. A field of about 60 players is expected for the ZAR1650 freeze out.

Salagatle!

More poker hands - cause I can

Four of a kind - K's












Straight flush - Hearts 2 - 6












Straight Flush - Spades 5-9












Straight Flush - Hearts 2-6 (look at the comments box bottom left - was asking for the 5!)











Bad Beat 1 - Straight flush - Spades 7-J, beats Flush K high! (As would have given the loser the ROYAL FLUSH)










Four of a kind - 4's












Four of a kind - 8's












Four of a kind - 9's












Bad Beat 2:- Pocket J's, with 2 x 4's and a J on the table - great full house! - Donkey at the top draws the 4th four! and wins it!










I previously posted a similar picture of four Jacks, in a similar dealt position. I said then, that it's probably so rare, I will never see this again. And now I have.
888 on the flop, and 8 on the turn - damn but this is a strange game!







Salagatle!

More Stunning poker hands

Some of these are mine, some GMan has pulled out of the bag. Overall, it's good stuff, and makes for interesting play, especially if someone on the table has a full house. (LIU)
4x 10's - the guy with the A's in hand really thought he had this one.












4x 4's - nice hand to get, although risky to play post flop.











4x7's - after the flop, with the 2xK's to back you up - a doddle!











4x Q's - very strong play here - 3 on the flop made it a nice play, J/9 were a threat for a straight, especially once the K landed on the table. But no big raises saw me look at the river, and claim the prize.








4xJ's on the table - 3 flopped, 1 more on the turn. This must be a first ever. I would have given any odds against this possibility. Needless to say, one guy raised, and everyone else folded. An A high in hand would win it. Before the turn, my Full house was good, in fact, if the 4th J didn't come around!







Salagatle!

Poker plays

Identical hands - seperate tables!








Similar hands - seperate tables








And again....








STRAIGHT FLUSH - A beauty!!!













Four of a kind - Aces












Four of a kind - Eights













Four of a kind - Nines












Four of a kind - Jacks












Four of a kind - Queens













Salagatle!

The weekend is over

And a hectic one it was too.
Friday night we had our "last" fund raising parents get together. it was held at the local sports club. Every one was to bring their own meat / eats, and drinks could be bought at the bar. The Princess and I decided we didn't feel like burning meat, so we just got pizza's from the local take away around the corner.
LuckyL had gone to Sun City for the weekend with a friend, leaving earlier in the day, and GMan was doing the sound at his schools drama evening.
Saturday saw me up at 5.30 am again! as GMan had to be at school by 6am to get the bus to the school sports day at another school in JHB. Back home I waited for 7.30, picked up Witness and got him going in the garden. The rest of the day was spent doing odds and sods. I did some work on the bar counter (yup, this project is still on the go), and some clearing in the garage.
Saturday late afternoon the Princess and I went to dinner at some friends. Was a good evening, and enjoyed the company. GMan went to a party, and was staying over at a friends place for the night.
Sunday, although I would have liked to sleep late, it wasn't to be. So, I went out to get the paper, and the bread rolls for the day, and by 9.30 am was at Cedar Lodge, where we were hosting a Poker tournament. Registration was slow, but we eventually got 28/29 people registered. At 12 midday the game started. Buy in's were the name of the game, and much money was spent by all in attendance! At 3pm, the last buy in was allowed, along with a "top up". Then everyone broke for lunch. The freeze out would begin at 3.30, and the game would continue to the last man standing.
I watched with interest the various power plays taking place. How stupidly people play when they have some alcohol in them, how really stupidly some react to losing, albeit to a good hand. One guy came so close to getting bitch slapped by me, and I wasn't even playing.
Slowly the players fell out, and the usual suspects were moved onto firstly 3, then 2, then one table. 10 players left - it was 6.15pm.
By now, a definite stack leader was evident. Consensus was he could only lose if he really tried to! These 10 were playing for a pr agreed 4 prizes. 1st R25000, 2nd R13000, 3rd R7000, and 4th R5000.
As I watched, the "Stack leader" (we shall cal him MC)seemed to have a lapse in concentration. An unknown outsider, (we'll call him DDB), who had made the final table was set to challenge him. For some unknown reason MC raised preflop, with A7 suited. DDB raised him, and MC looked. On the flop, which gave MC nothing, he again raised. These guys were raising big stakes, and this would prove to be the biggest, second only to the final pot, of the day. The next card wasn't much better, but it seems that MC though he was onto a possible straight (I don't recall the cards) but I would have folded out long before. He wasn't about to bow to the pressure from DDB, and when challenged with a raise, he countered with a bigger one.
The river (final) card fell, and he had nothing. The two players looked at each other, and agreed that was enough. They flipped their cards, and MC had A high, DDb had a pair (queens was it?)
MC was not in last place, with 56 players still at the table. At this point I went and stood next to him, and strated to advise / guide him. Each time a shooter was delivered to him, I took it and drank it! Yup, there seemed to be a concerted effort to make him drunk (drunker) and I know how this affects his game, so I told him his current brandy and coke would have to last at least another hour, and no more shooters.
I'm not sure why, but he seemed to appreciate where I was coming from, and played the game. I stood where I could see his cards when he looked, and based on the other guys betting style, would advise him to fold or play. Quietly, and always leaving him open to choose. Sometimes he listened, some not, but either way, we managed to start to rebuild his stack. When there were 5 left, he was only slightly bigger stack than one other player, so I told him to wait for one more to fall, and he'd be in the money.
He played it well, and made the final 4. Then he outplayed another player, took his stack. 3rd! A big bet from the big stacker (at this stage the only remaining lady) caught him by surprise. He assessed the situation, decided it was all or nothing, and went all in. No problem, he at least had 3rd place if he fell out. And she looked!
He pulled the winning K on the river, and won with the straight! it was close, but a win is a win! 2 hands later she was out and joined her husband (whom she had knocked out in 5th place earlier!) in the spectator ranks.
Now it was MC and DDB - head on. Probably the hardest players in the house on the day, and a good match - MC was stacked though, and could play it any way he wanted and still be safe. He probably had 4 or 5 times the stack that DDB held. One or two hands were played, no movement, both players looking for a winning hand.
Then both drew what they believed to be winners. MC called all in - DBB, realising he had a chance to get closer to a bigger slice of the pie, weighed his odds, and called him.
MC held an A/Q, DBB held K/J. Formidable hands, and both riding for a win, except that DBB had the edge with the A.
The flop gave him a Q, the turn nothing, at this point we were literally calling for his cards to hold up. The river came - and MC won it. Man, it was great. I had "nursed" him back from a precarious position to a win - R25000!
It was a great evening! Will definitely be there again, and maybe next time I'll play!
Sunday night, 9.30 pm I got back home. Tired but elated. LuckyL was home, exhausted, and GMan who had spent the day with me more the wiser now as he firmly believed he could one day make a living playing poker - but was now much more wiser having seen the real thing at play. In fact, a lesson well learned, on I tried to tell him for some time is that pocket Aces does not constitute a win! In fact, we together saw one guy lose twice - big pots, with pocket aces!

Salagatle!

Poker players

Poker Touranment - Texas Hold 'em
Sunday 16 March 2008
Starts at 11am. Be there by 10am latest to register.
Buy in R750.00. Rebuys for the first hour.
Guaranteed first place prize R25000.00
Venue - Cedar Lodge, Krugersdorp (on the R28).
Breakfast available - reasonable prices.
Lunch available - reasonably priced menu.
Bar facilities available.

Please confirm your attendance, as numbers will be limited.
Confirmations to be sent to me@yahoo.com.
See you there, and Good luck!

Salagatle!

Online poker

Played another free game, and won $10!
So now I have $30 waiting for me to collect it. Nice. But, it takes about 2 hours out of your life.... Not a problem when I'm at home watching cricket on the telly though.
So, soon I'll be heading for my first million - what am I talking about? I've already started!!

Salagatle!