Big Slick Cash Game

Finally got back to the tables on Friday. I felt ready to resume. I played about 1200 hands online and picked up $415 at $1/$2. That was a decent re introduction I guess. I've been thinking about adapting my play a bit and what I implemented worked well, so thats promising.

In the evening I decided to go up to the Big Slick to play the £1/£2 cash game ($2/$4) with no max buyin. The game started at about 11:15pm and I sat down to start. I had decent expectations of how juicy the game was and I wasn't disappointed.

The very first hand, one guy who had a striking resemblance to Richard Bucket (Bouqueeet!) from Keeping Up Appearances had to ask the dealer what to do preflop. He was playing about £200. He open folded the flop. He soon learnt how to play and called every street (and eventual allin) with J3 on a JxxQx board. Not one to bluff then. Every time he called, he'd day 'I got to call'. Lol.

There was another guy who had a real problem with bet sizing. He'd try to bet like £80 into a £20 pot but we were playing pot limit. Dealer kept on having to tell him he could only bet the pot. Then he'd do something crazy like bet £5 into a £70 pot. He soon went busto.

Onto some hands I played. Richard Bucket limped in in EP, bet sizing guy minraised to £4. 2 other callers, I call from BB with Ts7s. Flop is good for me, 8 T Q with 2 spades. I lead for about £12 into the £16 pot. Only Richard Bucket called. He's only playing about £100 before the hand. Turn comes a 7 of clubs to give me 2 pair with the spade redraw. Opponent used to bet every time someone showed weakness so I decided to checkraise allin on the turn. He obliged and said 'I got to call' as usual. He said this when he called £30 river bet with queen high though, so I wasn't exactly concerned. Until he showed Q8. River blanks and I lose the pot.

A few hands later, I get dealt AA in early position. One guy guested for £1 (basically posting out of position) but only seems to cost £1, and I could only make it £10 to go. Richard Bucket (who was playing about 90%+ vpip) called, and the BB who looked pretty bad but probably was in the top 5 at the table, also called. Flop came 3 9 T. I can't remember if it was with a flush draw but I dont think so. I bet like £24 I think. Richard Bucket insta calls obv, and BB tanks for a little while and also calls. Turn J. I'm not liking this card much, now I'm torn between trying to control the size of the pot and protecting my hand. If I was heads up with the massive fish, I'm taking him to value town and he's gonna have to show me better. But I'm pretty concerned about the BB. BB checked, I decided to check and Richard Bucket checked. Which was a first for him. Usually he asked the dealer how much he could bet. Dealer would say 'Any part of £x' He'd bet exactly £x every time. If he had to do if off his own back he'd bet £10 or £15 on every street, regardless of the pot size. Anyway, river is a total blank, a 5. BB bets £50. I decide to call, Richard Bucket folded. BB shows KQ for the gut draw come good. Hmmm.

I then get a couple of good hands with no action, AK flops AKx against the inevitable opponent, he folds saying 'It's not his kind of flop', and J7 which I open raised button flops J7x against him as well, and again he insta folds.

Then, my comeback begins. I get Ks6s in the BB. Bucket is the only limper and SB completed. Flop comes 764. SB checked, I consider betting but realise Bucket will do it for me and check. He checks too. Odd. Turn is a 2. SB checks, I bet £4 into the £6 pot, Bucket raises me to £9 or £10. I have seen him do this with all manner of shit and call. I think I'm about 75% in front here. River is a 6, giving me trips. Immediately, Bucket says allin. Lol. He's playing about £400 at this point having luckboxed a ton of pots. Pot is about £30. Dealer tells him he can only bet £30. It's on me. I go into the tank considering whether I should be raising this. I'm pretty concerned about his insta attempt at allin. He then starts trying to needle me, he had never done this before and that struck me as odd. Telling me to call, saying he has nothing etc... In my experience, these speech plays usually are strength, and he had never done this before which was also a problem for me. Eventually I just call, and he shows Q2o. Lol.

I then get QQ in the blinds. Inevitable limp from villain, several other limpers and I pot it up. He then limp raises me to about £45. He's done this about 5 times but only shown down A9o in these pots. I decide to call but I'm felting any low flop. Flop is good, I think it was 9 6 2. I decide to checkraise allin, but he checks behind. Hmmm. Turn is another 6, I bet £100 and he folds.

A few hands later I get JJ. Ash (another CR member who was the only other decent player there) open raised his button to £9 behind Bucket's inevitable limp. He is playing every hand at this point. SB calls, I make it about £35 to go from BB. Bucket calls, claiming the dealer mislead him about how much it was to him and wouldnt have called if he knew how much it was to him. Everyone else folds. Flop comes 9 5 2 rainbow. I'm felting this against Bucket for about 1.7 buyins. All day long. I bet out £80. He calls pretty quick. Turn is a terrible card for me, the 9 of hearts bringing 2 hearts out there too. It's pretty possible he has the 9. I know I can get a cheap showdown as long as he doesnt ask the dealer how much he can bet. He doesn't. I check, he checks. River is a blank, I think it was a ten. I check (with the intention of calling a decent sized bet) and he checks. He shows 43h. Dodged a few river cards there :-)

I then get dealt KJo in the BB. Inevitable limp from standard guy, Ash completes his SB, I check. Flop comes K32 with 2 spades. Ash bets £5, I decide I'm way ahead/way behind with position and just call. Richard Bucket askes how much he can bet and dealer tells him £28. Ash folds, I call. I'm pretty sure I'm good here. Turn is another spade. I'm not too concerned as I've never seen him raise a draw. I check, he bets £10 (lol). I call. River blanks, and I check to him. He checks behind and shows A3 for 2nd flopped pair. I wish I could play this guy every day.

Final hand was pretty sick as I didn't get value when I thought I would. One limper (probably the inevitable guy), I complete SB with 33. BB (new American guy to the table) checks. He was pretty bad and seemed to be limping pretty much every hand. Flop 348 with 2 suits. I lead for £5 into the £6 pot. He calls. Turn is I think a 6. I'm not too concerned with 57 and bet £12 into £16 I think. He calls. River is an 8 giving me a boat. I'm getting paid off here with any 8 for sure, and there's a decent chance he has one. I bet £25 into the £40 pot and he tanks it up. I'm pretty sure he is gonna raise me, he asks how much is in the pot but after several minutes he folds. Pretty annoying.

Overall I did enjoy playing live cash for the first time in a while. The problem is it takes me about 40 mins to get there each way, and the rake is 5% of the pot uncapped. You also have to tip the dealers. So you need to have a pretty big edge to make it pay. Luckily the players are abysmal. Ash actually told me afterwards that they were better than usual last night. Lol.

Several things I learnt. Firstly, don't play live cash until 3:30 am when you have stuff to do the next day. I have to go to Spurs shortly and I'm gonna be tired. Secondly, I need to pay more attention in the live environment, i.e. focus more and talk to other players less. That's something I'll work on. Another thing was pretty annoying was that getting back late I wasn't able to get a residents parking space and had to park in a 1hr slot which meant I had to get up at 9am to move my car. Not good when you go to bed at 4:30.

I definitely will be trying to go there regularly. If you don't run bad you can make a fortune. I can't remember exactly how much I was in for but I either made £60 or £80. I lost a couple of £150-£200 pots so that's not too bad.