ACF - Closed for Refurbishment!

Friday

4am-ish: Get up and get ready for 2 days playing Poker in Aviation Club de Paris, Paris.

10:30/11am-ish: Lunch, then a walk up to Champs de Elysse, a quick swatch the Arch de Triompe then it's down to the ACF.

12noon: Into the ACF to register for the 2pm Tourney. Stopped at reception only to be told that each of us MUST sign up for the 100 Euro Annual Membership. Hmmm ... OK, we're obviously not delighted about this but erm, OK. Apparently this is standard legislation now throughout Paris from March '08 and the guy at Reception is not even slightly amused by our attempts to reduce the cost. Can Jim (a member already) sign 5 guests in? NON! Can we buy just a weekend pass? NON! Can we get a Group Discount? NON! 500Euros down as a group and we've yet to see a card, not good!

12:30: So, we're in and we follow the Oak corridor through to the 'Tournie' sign only to see 'Tournie Room' in a state of disrepair. Hmmm. As ACF is hosting the EPT and a number of other equally as exclusive events in the near future, they've decided to decimate half the place to make improvements to the extent that no tournies are being run in March or April 2008.

1pm: Having politely explained our situation to the Manager (the money we've outlaid already , the distance we've traveled and asked about their inability to keep their website updated) our Membership Fee is refunded to us and we're out on the street with some serious decisions to make.

2pm: We find another Poker Club around the corner (hopefully Jim can remind me of it's name) but we suspect that it's owned or affiliated with ACF. 100Euro Membership again but this time with three choices of Tournament Buy-Ins - E60 for 600 chips, E90 for 900 chips and E120 for 1,200 chips - and there are 5 seats available (great, there's 6 of us!)

2:15pm: We're on the street again (in a English Pub actually) contemplating our next move when we realise that we may have passed a Poker Club en-route to ACF. We retrace our steps back and end up at Cercle Wagram just before doors open at 3pm. No tourneys here either, cash games are E2/E2 blinds but more importantly there's no Membership Fee. Our hosts would appear to be Russian and only ask that we leave our passports at reception whilst we play.

3pm: We find a bar up the road a bit (across from a Quick Fast Food place), sit down outside and order 5 beers and a Diet Coke. The bill comes in at E47 making this one of the most expensive places we'll drink!

4pm: We're back in Cercle Wagram for the E2/E2 games and trying to be clear that we don't want to be sat at the same tables as each other.

My 150Euros and I are shouted to join Table 2 where no surprise, it's all French players and it's only French that's being spoken. There are a few decent stacks at the table (average 220 maybe), not much banter / chat and the bets and raises are flying in. I'm amazed at how loose these guys value their chips so I start to play like each of them have multiple re-loads in them and are here for the day knowing that with E150 I'm likely to be the one sent walking first unless I get lucky.

1st Hand: I donk off around 30Euros with 88 on my first hand when the flop comes down Q high giving me second top pair. I Check > He Bets > I Call. K on turn, I check, he shoves All-In for 40 Euros and I get the hell away.

8th Hand (approx): 88 again. I raise to 8 only to be re-raised to 22 by Button. I call. Flop comes TJK and I check. He throws out a bet of around E40 and again, I'm done with the hand.

15th hand (approx): on SB I look down at pocket 5s. After 3 limpers help make this a pot worth stealing, a late position player who's been showing down a huge range of suited hands raises to 14. I call as does one of the mid-position limpers so it's three to the flop which comes 5K4 (two spades). I bet out $14 confident of getting at least one call, mid position limper calls, late position raises to E40. Mid-position player's body language tells me that he has decided to fold so, with late player pot-committed I'm happy to push my remaining E50 in. I'm called and he turns over K5 clubs for 2 pair. A 4 hits the turn meaning I've made a Full House and I need to avoid only a K. I do and take down a pot that takes me to around 190Euros.

The Betting gets pretty stupid / obscene for the next 60 minutes and with a bad run of cards and after some loose calls in late positions with loadsa value, my stack dwindles down to around E130. I now struggle to get involved in any pots in the knowledge that each WILL end up at around the E70 mark - more than 1/2 my stack.

Hand 45ish: After almost two rounds of having played only my blinds, I call a E20 raise from the relatively loose BB with T9 suited. The Flop comes 9d7d4s and I'm relatively happy to have hit top pair. He with E170 or so in chips bets out E40 and I think about it for a bit before calling (a push would have been better here, I now realise). I have E60 left behind now and I'm pushing if a 9, 10 or diamond hits - on more careful examination the push would have been best on Flop to have any chance of getting him to fold. A third diamond arrives on the turn and he checks it to me. I push with my last E60 and he insta-calls with QQ (one of them a diamond giving him the Q high flush draw too). The Kd on the river and sends me to the rail to think about how I may have missed an opportunity with an average hand and limited funds.

Table 10

I have a break, a steak (again) and another bottle of water whilst sitting with Joe and Paul at the bar, and then make a call home. After all that I feel refreshed enough to get back to the felt and I'm ushered to the table Derek's at. I play OK and build a good enough read and feel of these less aggressive players but I'm still down to around E80 from E130 when I'm dealt AQ suited on SB. With 3 limpers I raise it to 16Euros and I'm re-raised by BB to 40. Given that the only play that scares this guy off is an All-In (and it has been done regularly) , I push for 40Euros more. He turns KK (OMG, he has a hand this time!) , I fail to improve and I'm back on the rail again watching Joe and Paul playing le MultiColour.