June home game match report

We could only arrange 4 players for last night's home game but decided to go ahead and combine a match with watching European cup football in the background. The home game line up has gone through a lot of changes of late and a recent injection of youth has made our tournaments well attended and increasingly tough to beat. Given the low turn out and the fact that we would all have half an eye on the football, we decided to play a microstakes cash game which would remove time pressure on the blinds.

The Conge and King_Tubby mixed it up early on as KT was in Conge's big blind and not in a mood to roll over. Tubby played like Rooney on the comeback trail: loads of energy at the start, taking an early lead and mixing it up in a lot of plays. The Conge took on the role of Joe Hart: he was playing a cocky game, making dramatic moves when it was called for and bossing the rest of us around. King Tubby took down a fairly large early pot holding KK vs Pokerhontasz' AQ on a Qxxxx board and another highlight was me folding TP (with no kicker) on an AKXX board to Conge's huge turn bet and then tilting afterwards because I was likely bluffed off the winner.

On the whole I thought I played like Steve Gerrard: getting involved in the action when called for and staying predictably solid on set pieces, but also looking a bit old and tired. I snuck through a few standard raises and c-bets from the button but as luck would have it when I hit they folded and when I missed they called it down. King_Tubby's run of good cards ended after a while but that did not stop him from trying to force the action and at one stage it looked like he would run out of steam and not make the full 90 minutes. Pokerhontasz took on the role of James Milner, playing a defensive game but occasionally moving forward only to make a few near misses. In one hand Pokerhontasz rivered trip Queens holding KQ on a xxxQQ board only to lose to Conge's rivered flush which she managed to shrug off fairly swiftly, remaining composed for the TV cameras.

By the end of the match we were all dog tired and with stacks roughly back to where they started we decided to call it a night. King Tubby was the overall winner with about 20 big blinds and I made about 15bb, which demonstrates how close the game was. Our seating arrangement and reduced player pool meant that the money ultimately passed around the table full circle: from Conge to KingTubby in a series of small bluffs which got called down; from KingTubby to Pokerhontasz in a series of big hand match ups; from Pokerhontasz back to The Conge in an assortment of coolers and tight folds and, then from Conge to me because I called down a couple of Conge's big bluffs after he stung me the first time! In a cash game I think you need fresh injections of players from time to time to boost the game and also a few more than 4 players means more good hands turn up more often to create interesting pots. We did the best with what we had and it was nice to have a change of pace, but at the end of the day it's the team with the most goals big blinds that is the winner so well done King Tubby.

Away game report

Our most recent home game took place at King Tubby's house and he kindly laid on a smorgasbord of excellent snacks and dips. Jennoi and her beau, 'TheHunter' descended on the fantastic buffet like 'a hobo on a ham and cheese' (Jesse May) after an afternoon in the pub. The Conge forgoed daytime drinking and turned up recharged and ready to rock.  Pokerhontasz and I were both properly knackered but still glad to be out the house for a change. Once we had finished admiring King Tubby's beautiful poker chip set a deep stack tournament 20min blind structure with flat payout was agreed. This would reward loose play in the early game and an aggressive shove strategy later on: something which would determine the fate of and eventually separate our two most active players: TheConge and TheHunter.

The first hand of the night produced quad tens when TheHunter turned a set and rivered the nuts on an Axx1010 board and this set the tone for his becoming table captain early game. His nemesis Conge made a set of 5s twice and they sparred frequently as TheHunter refused to be bluffed off his hands. It was interesting to see a range of post flop bet sizes from TheConge, whose game has evolved from pot betting any untouched flop and I think TheHunter read too deeply into some of Conge's bets, and felt he had to pay off these suspicious-looking amounts. KingTubby took a dent to his chip stack when he was unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a tricky situation holding A2 Vs Conge's A6. On an AxK76 board King Tubby paid off 3 streets of value, convincing himself that the 3rd bet must be a bluff and he was therefore way ahead.  TheHunter continued to play 80% of hands, stabbing and taking down a lot of uncontested pots but ran into Pokerhontasz's underfull on an 5566x board, although I can't remember what he paid off her river bet with.

As the blinds began to increase each hand became more pivotal in determining who would make the gravy. Jennoi received a healthy boost to her stack on a Jc6d10h3cboard having flopped the nut flush draw and turned a pair of tens holding ATd. Pokerhontasz raised preflop out of position, but shut down from betting after her continuation bet was called. Jennoi continued to run good but nearly mucked the nuts on a KK2JQ board when TheHunter proudly showed K9 for top set. We had to point out to Jennoi that her pocket jacks were good and she bemusedly raked in all the chips! King Tubby went all in with Q8 on a KcQcAs10s board, only to be called in two spots: TheHunter chipped up significantly in this hand holding AJc which flopped top pair and rivered a straight to beat Tubby' Q8 and Jennoi's AK even though she flopped top two -pair. TheHunter quickly acquired the rest of my chips limp-calling JJ to my 10bb shove holding 55. Pokerhotasz was next out and Jennoi almost crippled TheConge sucking out with J9s to his KK all in as we went 3 handed.

TheConge affected a series of double ups with a series of all in bets that were called by The Hunter and held up to knock him out in 3rd place.  Jennoi gradually blinded out in a short space of time and Conge got it in with 8h2s vs Jennoi's QdTc and the 8h2s runner-runnered an improbable spade flush  on a 4s10s6cAs5s board to lock up the win. This completes a hat trick of wins for TheConge and deservedly so: he is not afraid to mix it up and play a range of hands early doors, and seems to make very thin value bets that still get paid off by worse. He knows when to put the pedal down and shove a wide range of hands, which helps to mitigate the effects of luck in the face of rising blinds. He has also had unspeakably bad luck in all-in pots in our home games so it is nice to see variance turn around and reward solid play.