Hand 37: Big Blind, A-Q, Early player raises to £15 and it is folded to me. AQ is a trouble hand in NL Texas Hold’em poker and I must be careful but I call anyway. Flop comes 10-K-7 giving me a gutshot draw. I bet £20 and I am relieved to see them fold. Stack size £799.
Hand 38: Small Blind, J-8, folded to cut-off who raises to £20, I fold. Stack size £797.
Hand 39: Button, 8-3, folded to me and I fold. Stack size £797
Hand 40: Cut-off, A-10, Player to my right raises to £15 and I fold and keep out of trouble with a dangerous hand. Stack size £797
Hand 41: 8-5, UTG calls, folded to me and I raise to £20, all fold. Stack size £809.
Hand 42: UTG, A-4, I fold. Stack size £809
Hand 43: Big Blind, Kh-5h, 3 Limpers and SB calls, I check. Flop 3-9-7 and all check. Turn card is an ace and it is checked to button who ends matters with a £20 bet. Stack size £804.
Hand 44: Small Blind, 10-6, folded to me and I raise to £15 and take it. Stack size £809.
Hand 45: Button, Q-J, Two limpers and I raise to £25 and all fold. Stack size £826.
I was still playing fast here even for a six handed poker game but no one on the table was trying to keep me honest and I was getting away with too much for me to stop. Throw in a couple of genuine hands and this was a highly profitable hour of play for me. This is a typical hour for me in many ways, the only differences being that £326 is way above what my proper hourly rate is and I got lucky with the 8-5 big time on hand 15.
Basically this is the type of poker game that I love. Most of the players were letting me get away with things and no one was being overly aggressive. Aggressive players and maniacs can really take you for a ride when they get lucky. You get them all in and in bad shape and they outdraw you not once but several times in the session with gut-shot draws against top set etc.
What I hope that this session highlights is in how straight forward I played. However I must stress that since this session was played some years ago, games at these levels have become seriously tougher.
I now use Poker Office at the NL400 to NL600 levels although it is also rare that I play as high as this now online and my usual levels are NL100 and NL200. It also has to be said that my level of play and the average player at this level at the time that this was played meant far greater value. Most if not all players didn’t use tracking software like Poker Office back then so there was a high level of naivety about the games at that time which needs to be factored in.
Carl “The Dean” Sampson
Come and see the excellent blog at bwin poker blog
22. April 2010 at 2:22 pm
Your blog was interesting when I found last Thursday by accident while searching for pokeroffice online. It’s funny what you could find on the internet sometimes. I’d have to agree on what you have to say, although it may seem like a wrong choice, but nontheless an interesting subject. Enough said, keep up the good work my friend!