45minute lesson on why online>live poker

Well that was silly. I mean it started off decent, I woke up at 1030am feeling refreshed knowing that I normally would’ve been awake for 4 and a half hours already. Relaxed for an hour or so before heading off to Star City to check in to my room and take my seat at the $2200 6max event. This is the point where the day took a turn for the worse and continued in a 45minute downward spiral, a whirlwind of bad flops, bad spots, bad beats.

Monsterdong (4th ranked in Aus on P5’s) was at my table along with 4 other young-middle aged men who I didn’t recognise. I took down a couple of pots in the first 5minutes and the standard at the table didn’t seem particularly good with a couple of the guys limping in preflop (Generally speaking if a player limps first in to a pot in a 6max game I think is fair to assume they’re not very good). One guy in particular who seemed particularly weak was a mid twenty year old guy wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. All you see nowadays in a live poker room is youngish guys wearing hooded jumpers, listening to their ipod, lounging back in their chair and shuffling chips like they’re the best poker player on the planet.  You would think that if you’re gonna dress like a poker player you can at least play like a poker player but this is rarely the case. In my opinion there should be some sort of minimum standard of play before a player is allowed to wear a hoodie, sunglasses or listen to an ipod!

Bitterness aside, 2 players limped to me on the bb and I looked down at QQ and made it 250 at 25/50. Hooded player calls and the flop came down A64 rainbow. I continuation bet to 425 and he called. Turn came another A which seemed like good card for me. I checked and he checked behind. River came a 9 and i checked again and he fired out 750 and i called. He rolled over A8off. Solid.

A few hands later i raised the CO with 57h and was called by the player on the button and monsterdong on the blinds. Flop came Ah Q 2h. Not bad. Check to me and I raised to 300 and was quickly re-raised to 700 by player on the button. Action on monsterdong and he flat called the 700. Strange. I called 400 more and was loving the 6h on the turn completing my flush. Monsterdong leads out for 1300. It seemed strange to me that he cold called a re-raise on the flop with just a flush draw. Surely he would fold it. At this point it seemed that his most likely hand was 2’s for bottom set. I flat called the 1300 and action was on the button who thought for a long time and re-raised to 3300 leaving himself with about 1500 behind. Action back to monsterdong who thinks for a bit and then calls. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON-HERE? Time to break down the hand. The button re-raised me on the flop so seems unlikely that he would do this with a flush draw especially with me betting and an A on the flop. Seems like he might be the type of player to go crazy with AQ here or A2 or maybe even 2s himself. Whilst I was surprised that Dong would call on the flop with just a flush draw it seems more possible now that he has a hand like K10h KJh QJh Q10h. One possible other hand I do beat of his is 43h. I took as long as I ever do live (bout 2minutes) and folded. The river blanked and monsterdong shoved and was called by the player on the button. Dong turned over K9h beating the other players two pair. Nice fold but that doesn’t really help me as my stack falls to 3.2k.

The very next hand I raise A10cl. I didn’t realise that the blinds had gone up so I was stuck min raising to 200. Folds to hooded player on bb who defends. Flop comes A K 7 rainbow. He checks and I bet 450 and he calls. ‘Do you ever fold?’ I ask him. He doesn’t respond. Turn comes J which seems to hammer KJ which is hugely in his range. He checks and I check behind. River comes a 4 and he bets out 550. I call and he turns over A4 and takes the pot. So much for getting rewarded for a good fold.

My bustout hand came 2 hands later when hooded player raised to 300 on the cutoff and I made a bad spite call with Ad10cl on sb. Flop came As 4cl 2cl. I check raised him all in for about 1600 and he made the call with AQ. The turn obviously brought the Qcl and I was drawing dead, or so I thought. I had actually picked up a flush draw with one card to come. FLUSH ONE TIME I call as the river card is being dealt. BANG! CLUB ON THE RIVER! Unfortunately it is the Acl giving the hooded player a full house (one of many for the day I’m sure) and sending me out in time for lunch at 1:15pm.

So another failure for me but I’m keeping my chin up for tomorrow’s Main Event. The structure is good with 20,000 starting chips and 75minute levels so hopefully I can do something. I’m looking forward to it!

Kochan