Champion of Poker

Hand 30, UTG, 8-3, I fold, Stack size £600

Hand 31: Big Blind, Q-5, three players limp as does small blind, I check. Flop K-Q-9 rainbow and it gets checked around. Turn card is another Q. SB checks and I fire £20 and all fold. Stack size £620

Hand 32: Small Blind, 8h-5h, all fold to button who raises to £20, I fold. Stack size £618.

I now mentally switch to playing fast again as the time is right and I have been the tightest player on the table for three whole rounds. Switching gears and varying your speed like this continually throws your opponents a curve ball. I have been playing for about forty five minutes and am ahead by £118 without once having had a premium hand. My biggest poker hands were A-Q and I FOLDED THAT.

This just goes to show you that you do not need to wait for premium hands to win at poker. All you need is the skill to recognise profitable situations and the nerve to get your betting arm in motion. It would have been nice to have been dealt a premium hand during this slow period and trapped someone who thought that I was still a maniac but you cannot have everything can you.

Hand 33: Button, K-K, folded to cut-off who calls and I raise to £20. BB calls as does limper. Flop 8s-4s-2c. BB checks, limper bets £40 and I raise to £120, both fold. Stack size £700.

Typical, I decide to change gears to fast and get dealt a premium hand. I needed to raise here because I do not want to make it cheap for players to hit second best hands against me. I was taking the bettor to have a hand like A-8 suited or 9-9 or maybe 9-8 or 8-7 suited.

Hand 34: Cut-off, A-6, folded to me and I decide to increase speed by raising to £15 and test the blinds. Three out of my original five opponents have gone and been replaced so they will be unaware of my previous tight spell and I want to see what I can get away with here. Button folds and SB calls. Flop 5-4-A, SB checks and I check. Turn is the Ks, SB checks and I check. River card is a jack and SB bets £15 and I call it very rapidly and take the pot. Stack size £735.

In these situations with a weak ace I like to control the pot size. Either my pair of aces are well in front and likely to stay there or I am buried. I am not overly concerned about an out draw having only one opponent in a small pot. Here checking and inducing a bluff is the play that I like to make and it reduces my losses if my hand is behind.

Hand 35: Ad-Kd, UTG calls and I raise to £20, button calls, blinds fold and limper calls. Flop is great 3-K-8. Limper checks and I bet £45 and both fold. Stack size £782

Hand 36: UTG, 6-5, I fold. I was contemplating raising here because I am in a fast gear but I impulsively clicked the fold button. I have raised and shown aggression for three hands straight and the table never got to see my premium hands but they did see the A-6. Maybe the fold was more prudent and I was UTG. Stack size £782

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
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