20-in on Sunday...

DeVore

A crackin' night of cards! After being narrowly beaten out of a ticket in the freeroll (again!!) I was in good form and playing well. We'd started the freeroll on a table consisting almost completely of Boards people. No offence guys but I have come to *hate* playing against ye... I dunno why but my game just falls apart, theres too much laughing and fun and prickin' around heheh...
Once our table broke I did better and got to the final table but struggled all the way and got knocked out by AQ over 88

Sat down for the main event and felt happy about things... First two levels I made out like a bandit. Before the blues were taken in I was already at 4000 and even when I was moved I still motored to about 16000 nice and steadily. When everything is rolling and the cards are going your way, this seems like the easiest game on earth.

Whats that Captain? Turbulence ahead? Well, buckle up boys, we've gotta get our gamble on!

16,000 down to 4,000 in a few hands. Ow that f*ckin' stung! I'm on tilt and I just about pull out of the nose dive with a well timed double through to about 10K. Norman is on my table and you know what that means... now I'm playing against him as well as the cards but I'm well used to it now!

I look down and see Kings and decide I really fancy busting someones head open and bet just double the blinds. Sure enough one bloke who has been playing Rock/Bully all night sees weakness in my bet and goes right over the top and all in...
Norman cant contain his glee because he knows I usually bet my hands for value and that such a big move will scare me right off... he's in my face and cackling about it (and they arent even his chips!)

I took no pleasure in cackling back while I simply said "Call"

So I took 20k to the final table and theres a MOUND of chips that people keep referring to as Chris.... sure enough I can hear the voice of our moderator from somewhere behind it and the occasional bet is flung out over the top.

Careca (I think?) was also at the final table and was playing well, up until two fairly horrific beats took him out.

Norman went out 4th (roarin' as usual, but at least he's fun to play with!). Now that left me, Hyzepher (still chip leader) and a lady named Chris who is a rock. I have a lot more then she does but less then half what Chris has.

I look down and see A3 suited and decide that I should bet aggressively and if I'm called I can play A3h and see where it goes. With the blinds at 3/6K I bet 20K out of my 50K stack... ok, thats aggressive! Hyzepher goes over the top all-in.
Now, I should have put it down. I know I should have but its 2:30am and I've been playing since 6:30 so thats 8 solid hours and the stupid fairy gives me a clip round the ears. To be fair I also thought Hyzepher could well have been making a move on me as we have discussed before the psychology of heads up or shorthand play. I consider it a lottery personally and he loves it! So I call, a woeful call on reflection and he has two tens. No aces to be found and I'm out third.

Despite winning 340 notes all I can think about is that I've just dropped the best part of 500 on that hand. Coulda shoulda woulda. It didnt take Hyzepher long to win it outright and take the 1200 home so from a prize pool of 2500 Boards took 1500! Not bad at all. Hyzepher certainly looked pleased, baby really DOES need new shoes I guess!!

DeV.

Lafortezza

Fair play lads. I was sitting beside muso at the early table in the 20 game. I had 10's and JJ cracked, folded a pair of eights after lots of betting on the flop, was moaning to Brian, said "there'll probably be an eight on the river now", dealer turns the river cards and you can guess what it was.

low on chips, I bluffed a Jack high flop with A5 suited, got called, turned over slightly embarrassed showing everyone my bluff. The lady who called is drawing to a straight! My Ace was ahead but as luck would have it she hit a pair of eights on the turn.... story of my night.
Was all in on pair of 6's at the end, pair of Kings on the flop though I had a chance, but someone made a pair or eights or tens or something along the way and I was out the door.

The freeroll was fun though, the 20 game stank.

whiteshadow

well done lads,

Dev, you playing that hand blind in an effort to go to the pub
was one of the best hands ive seen... brilliant...!!!
(maybe your new style of play beckons you?)

DeVore

Oh yeah, that hahaha....

For those who werent there, I was down to the felt after a nasty hand and had 800 chips left three from the gun. I had to find a decent hand before the blinds (300/600) took the lot from me regardless!

Now in this situation you cant wait until BB forces you in. For one, you dont have any choice then about the hand you make your stand on. You get a random hand basically. Secondly if you are about to go all in, its quite possible noone will call before you and you and the SB will end up in it and if you win you'll just win his money and be not much better off when you pass the SB.

What you want to do is play the hand you get UTG if its half way decent, even if its just an average hand. The reason being that you want to win you're own money, the BB *and* SB if its just the three of you.

So, I have three hands to choose from and the first looks tempting but LaFortezza went all in ahead of me and so I'm fairly ruled out of this hand. Luke loses and heads out towards the pub. Since he was one of the three hands I was expecting to get, all of a sudden I'm under the gun!

Well, now I have only one thing to do and any decent player knows it. I declare prior to the deal that I'll be going all in and further more that I wont be looking at the cards until the river card is over.
True to my word I didnt peek and I bet all my chips (800). Well, theres a rush to be in for this one.... 5-6 callers! Flop, turn and river come AK8xx and everyone dutifully checks (led by Norman who was checked before the flop even came trying to remind everyone to check me down and out...

One guy has A8 for two pair and I turn over my first card for an Ace and my second one for a King! *boing* I bounced from 800 to over 5000 in one hand! Norman was convinced I had peeked a look and was calling me all sorts of names!

DeV.

biteme

You really didn't look at that AK? wow. Nice hand to go all in blind on. I was the guy across from you that went all in on 99 and flopped a 9 and hit the other 9 on the river. Went from 400 to about 5000 in the space of 4 hands or so.

Twas me that put you out on AQ on the final table. Was really hoping you weren't going to go all in, even though you were pot committed (as joe said). I won a ticket in the end though

TwoShedsJackson

Everything I read about Norman on this board makes him sound like a tosser - good mate of yours though eh Tom?

Lafortezza

Originally posted by TwoShedsJackson
Everything I read about Norman on this board makes him sound like a tosser - good mate of yours though eh Tom?

He's actually a really really nice bloke. We had a drink with him in Larry Murphys before Sunday's games. He is fairly intense and like to talk at the poker table and he is very aggressive when betting and playing. He doesn't suffer fools gladly at all so if he has you pegged as a bad player then prepare for some trash talking... DeV anyone?

I think he likes most of us though.

cormie

arriving an hour late to freeroll aint best idea, I wasn't in form to play at all, I'd been driving around knocklyon area for about an hour and a half looking for some guys house off boards for sale forum that I was selling something to. Got bad beat AK vs A4, he hit a straight. I didn't even want to buy back in but I did because I was only there for about 15 mins and my friend was still in. I topped up too which is somehting I have never done before (or bought back in) haha, and I didn't even want to. Got another bad beat which left me with 100 when blinds were 2 4. Got AJ, nice but Daves AK beat it. Terrible night and quite humiliating after last weeks victory. But I did a nice lil move on Norman. he raised 500, I look at my 4 7 diamonds and call;) everyone else folds and flop comes 10 7 5. He calls me all in and I call immediately. He has pocket 3's and is shocked. haha.

Marq

DeV, I don't believe for a minute that you hadn't looked at that AK, though I must say fair play for tricking everyone into calling, it was hilarious. I was dealing at the table just after that, and I swear I thought Norman was going to kill me when I exposed the seven on the hand he lost 99% of his chips on. He got ace seven, but would have had the pair of sevens if it wasn't for me, and he lost to a pair of fours. Ah well, sorry Norman (I can barely contain my grin).
By the way, Well done to Biteme for winning the ticket, although never forget who beat you to win four euro later that night.

DeVore

Norman is a really sound bloke tbh. He's intense as Luke says and he's excitable too but he's also sound and I'd say if you needed a tenner to get home with he'd give you the last one in his pocket.
The thing about him is that he plays the player... he also likes the mind games but he's not as good at them as he thinks he is because I've seen him put *himself* on tilt!! Norman is a canny player though and thats why you see him at so many final tables (he had 6, count them *6* "bubbles" at the last bubble tournament). He generally doesnt make mistakes and so the only way to beat him is to trap him or outdraw him. You need nerves of steel to call him because he has no regard for his own chips and will force you to bet big if he thinks you dont have the stomach for it.

Curiously I rank Joe right up there with Norman, though he's not as flashy or as interested in mind games he's a damned hard player to play against and he doesnt make mistakes much either and seems harder to put on tilt. (I went from thinking Joe was the biggest arsehole I'd ever encountered to thinking he's a dead sound bloke I'd go for a pint with!)

I think our arrival hasnt gone unnoticed and certainly given that between a handful of us we've taken a dozen decent cash-tournies since Jan, that is to be expected! I get grief from Norman because I'm willing to play that game and I'll respond to it. Effectively I put myself in that kitchen so I shouldnt complain about the heat. And to be honest I enjoy the banter. Norman harrasses me because he believes it affects my game. Sometimes I guess it does. I take it as a compliment though because the only reason to make someone play differently is if you dont like the way they play normally. Why would he expend that much energy trying to get to me if he wasnt worried about me being at the table...

DeV.

Lafortezza

Originally posted by DeVore
Curiously I rank Joe right up there with Norman, though he's not as flashy or as interested in mind games he's a damned hard player to play against and he doesnt make mistakes much either and seems harder to put on tilt. (I went from thinking Joe was the biggest arsehole I'd ever encountered to thinking he's a dead sound bloke I'd go for a pint with!)

I don't hink Joe is any where near as good as Norman imo. He takes too many risks and tries too often to push people off the pot. He picks the wrong moments to raise with bad cards. He either has a really really big stack or is gone early from the tournament, you rarely see him with a small stack with 10-12 players left. Good fun to have at the table though.

kencleary

Yeah I have to agree with Luke here. I've seen Joe take insane risks before - like going all-in 7 hands in a row before the freeze-out without looking at cards, just trying to build a stack no matter the cost in re-buys. I don't recall seeing him at a lot of final tables either, whereas you'll rarely see a final table without Norman there. Sure he talks a lot of **** but I don't think there's any more consistent winner in the small stakes tournaments.

cormie

Who do you use to host boards.ie with? Are they good? Expensive? Boards has been down a bit over the past few days (for me anyway, and by the look of the amount of posts, for everyone) is this due to a server problem or a problem with boards only? Thanks:)

Hyzepher

Originally posted by DeVore
I think our arrival hasnt gone unnoticed and certainly given that between a handful of us we've taken a dozen decent cash-tournies since Jan,

I dont know - do people actually link us together or do they just see a bunch of unrelated newbies on the scene. Some of us are mildly linked due to the Business league but Idont know if the players see us as a group - I doubt it.

Hyzepher

DeVore

Originally posted by cormie
Who do you use to host boards.ie with? Are they good? Expensive? Boards has been down a bit over the past few days (for me anyway, and by the look of the amount of posts, for everyone) is this due to a server problem or a problem with boards only? Thanks:)

Offtopic:

We use Hosting 365. There arent many hosters who could handle a site the size of Boards. We were down over the weekend because we had a problem with the primary hard drive. Everyone was out on Monday too.

Its funny how lots of people (not the poker board I hasten to add) give us grief and call us everything under the son from Nerds to Nazis but one days down time and theres people texting me and sweating from withdrawals!

That was our first reboot in over a year iirc... not bad when you consider that we have a 99.72% uptime record for the year. You never know how much you miss something until its gone I guess...

DeV

Marq

Originally posted by Hyzepher
I dont know - do people actually link us together or do they just see a bunch of unrelated newbies on the scene. Some of us are mildly linked due to the Business league but Idont know if the players see us as a group - I doubt it

to be honest I never linked any of the boards people together until I actually started reading the forum, and even then I still know very few of you to see, though if anyone's going for pints this thursday I'd be happy to remedy that. I think most people in the fitz don't know about this forum, or the links between people on it, so they probably see ye as unrelated, though at this stage, not Newbies.

DeVore

Luke will tell you if I looked at those cards or not... it wouldnt have mattered anyway as I had to toss all my chips in there and see what transpired!

DeV.

mewso

I was standing behind Dev and I can assure you he didn't look.
I'm sure Norman knows some of us know each other but he hardly knows what boards is.
Anyway it's only Dev's arse he fancies.

DeVore

We've just been placed against each other so often at this stage hahah... Also, I'm down there 3 nights a week so anyone with that sort of regularity is going to become known to other regulars I guess.

He's trying to get sponsored for the WPC you know... that would be a scream to see Norman heckling Devilfish!!!

DeV.

Marq

Or Howard Lederer staring him down to get a read - it'd be priceless