A fistful of dollars. 2000 of them to be precise.
Kicking off in an hour or so.
The hour or so passed with me in the tub, and here we are right by the stage, with a bunch of unsmiling robots all glued to their electronic devices.
He says typing into his device. Don't worry, I get the irony. Do you want updates or not?
I've won a small pot and the guy on my left seems to appreciate the comedy patter. The dealer is called Apple and it's her second day as a poker dealer. Most people would be impatient and complain about this which isn't the best way to make someone feel at ease in an industry where the players often talk to you like dirt, and jump onto the smallest mistake like you've just killed their grandparents. In actual fact she's doing a fine job, and seems to appreciate someone speaking to her like a real person.
We were seven handed and an Austrian kid just joined the table just on my right. Nice guy from playing with him at the Venetian, and not scared to get his chips in. He quickly wins his first hand to go straight up to 13k. What a life.
Seats 1-4 on my table appear to have the personality of a lump of driftwood. Of course you pays your money you can play however you like and interact how you like. No one has to jump around and be the clown, but even the basics like answering questions or acknowledging the existence of others appears to be absent. Oh well.
9500 as we near level two. Nothing of note so far.
Know your players!
I still say and always have that this is the most important thing at a poker table by a country mile. My prediction about the Viennese kid? He just got most of his stack in on the flop with just the nut flush draw which then bricked. The opponent called him on the flop with J8s for second pair, so I guess he sensed it too. These guys are dangerous, but you just have to try to play a pot on your own terms with them and have the best of it. Vienna is now on 4500.
I'm on around 9k.
Another kid just joined the table, was late as he was at a yoga class. Chatty and friendly and not scared to play a pot and have some friendlydialogue. I like him immediately, he's a rarity in poker lately from what I see and more people should have this attitude.
I'm on 8800 as we near the first break. Just raised with KQ suited and got raised in two spots. They both had aces so we all had a good laugh about how I could have shredded my whole stack.
Vienna is now down to 2k. He won't be grinding the short stack I guarantee it.
Break in 5 mins and I'll leave early and return late to avoid the 10 mins of the bracelet ceremony and catch some extra sun. I'm on 8500 which is fine. We return at 25/75/150.
Everyone's now back and we're at 25/75/150. Everyone seems to be sizing their bets rather big on here so I'm just winding my neck in and letting it happen. Just called 300 with QQ rather than repop as no one seems to be in preflop folding mode. It comes AK3 and two guys get 3000 in the centre, I get away with losing just the preflop 300.
Around 6k now, just from calling or raising and missing flops with pairs. Not ideal but not concerned either. I haven't put a foot wrong technically today so far so I'll just wait it out. Other people's stacks going up and down like mad.
We're on level 4 and it's 25/100/200. I've played very few hands of late, and every pot has been the horrid online-esque min-raise bullshit that is now so commonplace. It's easy to play against but much better when you have a working stack so I'm sitting back with a tight solid image, that means if I stick it in with a bag of nails at some point they should at least think before snap calling the bet. That's the idea anyway.
Nice yoga kid is out, he did nothing wrong just saw flops and blinded down as I am now. He went to 4k and decided AQ might beat AK. He was wrong.
I decided I'd finally had enough of this crap and it was about time to make a stand.
I called a raise with As9s in a three way pot that flopped 10s7s7h. Original bettor fires and gets called. I decide it's the perfect time to stick it up them and get them both to fold. I stick about 4k in the middle.
The original raiser decides to give me a spin with his A10 and the other guy folds.
I have to wait until the river to make my flush. Much merriment ensues and they are all clearly chuffed the chatty English guy is still in.
11,500. Boom. Second break.
My friend the Viennese kid comes back from the break and jams his 5k in preflop with A4s. A10 made a good call and got nicely violated for his trouble by flioping a ten and still losing to a diamond flush. Kid's blessed I tells ya! At least I waited to flop a flush draw first when I did it!
I'm on 11k. My aged iPad is on 28% battery and fading so I'll make the updates a bit scarcer for the moment. Those of you who don't appreciate my prose and wit should be mentally high-fiving Steve Jobs wherever he is for building a product with such questionable battery life as a nine year old second generation Apple tablet..
Short stack madness.
Been building nicely until I find two red queens and a guy shoves 5200 in with that no limit powerhouse AJ off suit. I duly give him action and he flops the ace. Well played Sir.
8500 and biting down through the pain.
9500 as we go into the level before dinner break. We're at 50/200/400.
Ugh. Kindly pass the sick bag.
Raised with 10 10 and get one caller. Flop 10 8 5 all spades. Fine. He checks, I bet 1900, he calls. Turn Ac. He checks again, I bet 1900, he calls.
River the 7 of spades. What a shitty card. He again checks and I can't bet it. I check behind and say "show me a shitty flush."
He duly turns over 8s9h and wins a big pot. Sigh.
Interesting interlude.
I decided to spice things up a bit after all my decent hands got smashed by raising on the steal with 32s. The big blind customarily defends by reraising heads up and I call. Flop 54K. I don't dislike it heads up, it has a few possibilities to win or bluff.
I throw out a bet and he calls. I don't give him a king for a second so I decide I'm going to try to win it with psychology. I move all in for another 4500 before the turn is dealt. The turn ends up being a three pairing me and still giving me a straight draw. He goes into the tank as its a good part of his stack. Finally he calls and shows 10 10. Help....
Ace on the river. Barry Greenstein would be proud.
There's a little merriment and I make a remark as the pot is being pushed to me about how I learnt it from the Viennese kid (since I've seen him show down a fair percentage of scabby hands in the last few events). It was a good natured remark but now he decides to take offence at it. He retorts "I don't know what you said but you have been pointing at me and saying things all day, so stop."
I point out I wasn't being insulting but he continues " if you are going to play 23 then you shouldn't be saying anything."
I then politely tell him that:
A) I've seen him turn over dogshit plenty of times so he probably shouldn't be judgemental, and
B) I wasn't saying anything bad about him. In fact the other day I was telling someone what a good attitude he had. Maybe I was wrong. And if he was going to get pissy every time someone said something he didn't understand or like them maybe poker wasn't the game for him.
At this point (we'd gone onto the next hand by now), another guy pipes up at me
"Hey, why are you talking to him while he's in a hand?" (The Viennese kid is playing the next hand as the discussion had continued).
I reply "because he was talking to me when the hand started. Do you have a problem?"
"Yeah" he replies.
"Well" I said, "then it's your problem".
And that was that.
Screw it. Maybe online will be fully legalised and they can go back to where there's just a chat box you can turn off. Maybe a moment of madness but I never get people who get precious over talking at the table, especially if it's within the rules.
Dinner break. 14,500, back in 90 minutes.
Back from dinner and I'm ready for action after the unpleasantness earlier. I'm pretty near impossible to upset or get to at a poker table, intentionally or otherwise. However when people have an attitude or basically act like a dick when it's unwarranted it does create a cloud. I can get embroiled in a big argument over nothing, or rise above it and carry on. I decide on the latter, and am listening to a bit of music and just playing abc for now as we have hit 75/250/500.
The screen shows a total of 1,419 entrants, but no other info. Hail Caesars.
As if by magic the Gods hear me whilst I'm typing and the screens flare into life.
Ok, nothing so dramatic, but they at least show we have a spooky 666 players remaining from the starting field.
Lots of aggressive stuff going on since the return, and we've seen a few bustouts already. Seats are filled with fresh meat and on we crack. The pace is pretty lively and my 14,500 is now 12k.
They just announced 213 will get paid from the starters. I don't get too mixed up in the numbers as there's a long way still to go. However that number is useful to know later on, assuming there is a later on.
4 minutes until the end of this level and by virtue of a rivered flush with the 42 of diamonds I'm back up to 15k. 567 players remain as we go to 75/300/600.
Almost at the next break, an Irish guy with a HUGE stack just sat to my right, and I'm bobbing and weaving and we're back to 15k. Now 459 players left. The atmosphere is a bit better on the table now. Vienna shoves with a bag of spanners and gets busted. Normally at this point if there's friction it's customary for the other party to make some caustic remark to the vanquished foe. I can never bring myself to do it, it's not a classy thing to do so I said nothing and let him exit with his attitude problem.
iPad battery now on life support so I may go very quiet. It'll be either good news or bad news. It'll be a surprise anyway.
20 min break and I'm on fumes.
My iPad battery that is. I'm on 17.5k :o)
I'll do a proper update in the morning, maybe a video, and maybe entitled "grinding like a bastard".
Good news is I'm still in for day 2.
Bad news is I have 5300, and we start at 100/600/1200....
283 players are left and 213 get paid. Pretty sure I can't limp into the money!
Card dead last two levels, but I'm alive. Watch this space. im totally knackered. Tx for the messages xx
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