Cercle Wagram - Paris Trip Day 2

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Day 2 began at around 08:30 for me and around 08:40 for Blair who was still air-tight in his camp bed!

Having found a pharmacy for plasters and vaginal cream minty enough to brush your teeth with, we headed out to find breakfast. Here's one for you ... why MUST the French give you cheese on your Baguette? Despite explaining that I was happy to pay full price for a Baguette they could 'forget' to put cheese into, my request was refused and we take to the roads again, me starving!

As the Casino doesn't open until 3pm, we decide to do some sight-seeing. (See post "To Jim, Derek ... etc. below)

We arrive back in Cercle Wagram at around 3:30 and it appears quieter today with only 5 tables running - 50 folk is still a good turn out though! We change our money to chips, we register upstairs and then head back downstairs to the bar to wait to be called and seated.



Paul and I are called to start a new E2/E2 table and I'm pretty pleased to see that with 10 players seated the average age is about 30 and average chip stack is about 150Euros (I have bought in for E120). Play is tame and quite controlled in comparison to Friday but it's still not a table Paul or I feel can be bluffed so it's looking like we'll sitting tight again and getting ultra-aggressive with big hands. That's exactly what I have planned anyway when, around 45 hands in, I'm dealt AA UTG ...

I raise to E8 and, having played very few hands up until now, can only pray someone else has another premium enough hand to be willing to play. The button raises it up to E20 and I'm happy to call it to see a flop hoping to avoid only a draw-heavy board. 9K4 (2 spades) so I bet out E24. Button re-raises to E50 and I insta-shove for around E70 more not concerned how strong or weak I look - he's pot committed. He insta-calls and, not before time, I'm curious about what he could have. Why I didn't take my time to think the following through though is beyond me; (I can just remember being pretty over-excited with AA in a game bigger than my usual stakes)

He knows: I've played about 4 hands in 45, I've only ever shown down good hands, I've shown I can fold 88 pre-flop (I did so face-up when Jim - who joined our table on hand 25 or so - showed me AA) and, with 110Euros, I have enough to cripple him although not bust him out.

I know (when I think about it after): He hasn't been the aggressor very often pre-flop but has called pre-flop raises in position and shown down marginal hands like KJ on J high boards regularly enough for me to think that he does have a reasonable enough hand this time around. He has more chips than me (around E140 at a glance) and that he has position on me.

Getting back to the hand, I'm All-In with AsAc on a 9sKs4d board and I have been re-raised and called. WOOPS! Before we can flip over the cards, the turn and river have been dealt (no spades, no King, no cards making a straight so two safe cards for me ... I think). Not so as he turns over 99 for the flopped trips!

Oh, ARSE!

I reload with another 50Euros I scaj from Paul and sit even tighter than before for another 10 hands or so with noticably the smallest stack. Until I'm dealt TT. I raise it up to 12 from mid-position after 2 limp in before me. I get three callers including Paul with around E60. The Flop comes QJ9 (2 spades) and SB bets out E16, BB calls and I work out that, with the T spades for a straight, possible flush draw and possible straight flush draw, and decent implied odds, it's time to push and hope. I'm quite happy to be called by a flush draw, KQ, QJ and even 99, QQ or JJ and two of the callers have two of those hands. It's the limper UTG who takes it down though with KTo (a flopped straight) after the turn and river come out 7 J.

I hit the rail this time, my suspicions 'of it taking you to sit down with a bankroll of at least E400 (200 Big Blinds) to beat this game consistently' confirmed in my mind.

Alas, 5 of the 6 of us were in the losing boat with only Derek, who managed to find a fish big enough to donate E80 to him when pushing with 67o when he held QQ being the only one to turn a E120 loss from Day 1 to a profit on Day 2. Well done that man!

At E510 down I was one of the worst off from Poker - E280 down on Day 1 and E210 down from Day 2. The experience I have gained from playing in a foreign country (at a table where I CAN'T get involved in the conversations), playing at stakes higher than my bankroll, and with guys so loose-aggressive it makes Gus Hansen's play look like Chris Ferguson's, I'm back home a wiser and hopefully better cash game player.

Now, back to my 25c/50c game on BlueSq with all those loose idiot Frenchies!!!

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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.

Paris (to Jim, Derek, Blair, Paul and JoeDaft)

OK, so it didn't all go according to plan (which kinda made it all the more fun) but know this guys, I had a FANTASTIC time in Paris with youz!!! And it is with great pleasure and with comfy trainers on that I post the photos from our expedition yesterday.

Yon 'Big Fuckin Pylon'

The Clyde ... ?


Commerce Buildings aka Fanny-tastic Square ;)


From L to R
Mr White (Derek the Vampire / Geisha)
Mr Pink (you shoulda seen his neck at the end of the day!)
Mr Black (and boy do I regret that wool jumper!)


"Where the f*ck did he go?" LMFAO!!! STILL!


The alien craft lands at Hogwarts Castle ...


... just inches above the 'Burial Place' of some burd Mary
(according to Da Vinci Code)


Weans wi' speed boats prohibited ... pity!


Derek was allowed to be 'Tour Guide' on one condition ...


... but he still lead us astray!


Ooo la la! Well, they wanted to be photographed ... !


Jim, Joe and Paul drag us up a million stairs to confess their gambling sins
(I pray we're gonna get back to the Casino soon!)


View from Balcony at Cercle Wagram
(my 'naughty corner' - punishment for donking)

The quite bizarre 'le Multicolore'
(seriously addictive I'm told)


After 3 hours of poker madness and with Joe still going on about Gravy,
we're hungry again!

Sorry, was anyone looking for stories and photos of a Poker Holiday ... ?

The step up ... and the kick down

Confident enough that I can step up a level in Cash Games to 50c/$1 with my BlueSq Bankroll of $450, I take $90 (20%) onto a table where I'm 2nd biggest stack and sitting behind the Chip Leader. All goes well, I'm focussed, make a few sublime plays and after 20 minutes (the end of my lunch break), I leave the table having doubled up to $180. Sweet!

A Brag post ... ? Not quite! I wish I could have kept it as so, but I really need help from anyone out there on this potentially progress-halting hand;

6 Handed Table with 5 folk in play, I've bought in for $80 and after 30 mins I'm down to around $44. I'm on the BB against two fairly aggressive players. Scotby has shoved regularly enough for me to tab him as a 'RiskTaker' - he has shoved around 5 times in the 50 hands I've seen at this table, but the two occasions he's shown the nuts, he's 1/2 pot bet / slow-played them.

Then this happens;




There was a lengthy pause before he called my bet on the flop but he Insta-Shoves on the Turn. I take the full time allowance before deciding to call, thinking his $43 shove into a $24 pot is purely a play against the shorter stack and 'weaker' player! I call and briefly feel great that I had read his play correctly ... only until he hits his 3 outer on the river!

I realise that this was a very loose call for $35 with 3rd pair but was it a good one? Was it simply a Bad Beat in the end? Did I deserve to lose for being in a pot with a marginal hand? Did I played it badly somewhere, calling or betting when I shouldn't have? Having had almost 30 mins to reflect on it and having typed all this, I'm still not sure that I would have played it differently.

I'm sure you'll see that AGAIN, my chips went in when I was ahead!

2.5 sleeps 'til Paris! :) I MUST be due a reasonable win again soon! Hopefully this weekend and in the APAT Scottish National on 3rd & 4th May. Either / or would do me fine.

Now I know how Mik feels ... !

pfffffffffffffffffffffffffff ...

That and a few choice swear words were all I could say to three beats I've just suffered in the FTOPS Satellite.

They say luck balances itself out and I do recognise that I was very fortunate to get 5th of 30 after I rivered a 3 outer mid-way through, but it doesn't make getting THAT close any easier. I'm not going to blabber on about a bad beat or 3. As painful as it is to miss out on a FTOPS Seat this time, I'm happy I got my chips in with the best of it on ALL THREE occasions and I'm now going to see if I can use the $25 winnings on three $8 SNGs to win more $26 Tokens.



Tonight's BritBlogger was a non-starter really. It started when I was down to the last 6 in above Satellite so I wasn't concentrating fully on it. I was third or fourth out for nil points.

Jim and Mary have cashed in the SHG. As it stands, Jim (who I have 50% share in) is 1650th or so of 2300 left and Mary is around 1600th. Both are guaranteed the dizzy and non-life-changing amount of $22.50!

Stick in you two! (Jim out in 1414th). Get it won Mary!

In with the best of it ... almost always

I sit here having just gone out of a $8 4 man SnG having flopped a Flush in the penultimate hand. With 8d4d I raise the 5xBB bet to 15xBB, get called, get all my chips in on the Turn and get called by his trips only to be beaten by a rivered Full House. And it rings a bell that this has been happening quite a bit recently ... since the SM a fortnight ago in fact.

Unlike RaiseTheRiver's BurnleyMik in last night's seriously tilted rant, I'm not too concerned.

Not including the pre-Paris Home Game at Jim's last Friday (a great night despite only 4 of the 7 of us turning up and where I was imagining hands - long story), I decided to study my recent run of results - all the tourneys I've played since The Sunday Million a fortnight ago. Again, as I've been so busy working, this didn't amount to many; about 3.5 hours on 25c/50c Cash Games on BlueSq and 10 or so SnGs over BlueSq, Stars and FT.

My cash game stats are looking pretty good at around $130 up at 25c/50c (with Bets | Wins columns showing I'm grinding) ;


and my Tourney Record would look OK too if it wasn't for these suck-outs! In these past 10 games, I have won bagel! $0.00!

And I know you're probably now expecting to read a run of bad beats but I ain't gonna do that. I'm just going to share it with you all (I say 'all' as if loads of you actually read this pish! ;) ) that in these past 10 tourneys, I have got my chips in whilst ahead on 7 of my final meaningful hands with the other 3 being 99 v Mair's TT All-In Pre-Flop, TQs on a Q high board v KK on the InsidePoker Freeroll, and QTs as a 28/72 dog with 4 to the flush on a 9 high board against 99. So I fell like I AM well focussed and playing intelligently enough to expect a reasonable profit from tourneys too but this just isn't happening.

I have the BritBloggerment on Stars at 8:30 tonight and a $26 Satellite to FTOPS Event #1 on FT at 7:15. If I do anything in either (or if I get sucked-out on again), you can expect to read about it on here.

L8R!

Sunday Million - AWESOME!

Last night saw me take on 7679 others in the Sunday Million on behalf of our Syndicate (3rd man of 5) and I have to say, I REALLY enjoyed it! It's exactly how I had expected it to be (having railed Munter and Jim in it already) and I did play really well. With Jim, Derek, Alan, Mary and Mik on the rail, I loved every second of it! Thanks Folks!

Having moved from a tight table when I was 500th of 1800 remaining and where chip stacks were fairly low in relation to the rest of the field, to one with chip stacks averaging around 32k (and with VictorRamdin), I stayed relaxed carefully thinking about each hand.

Then, with AK I raise it up 3xBB from SB and a short-stacked mid-position limper calls. Flop comes ATK (2 diamonds). I check it to him knowing he's gonna push and I call quickly. He flips over AJo (no diamonds) and I do a little dance inside my head. The T on the Turn is a safe and welcome card for me ... the Q on the river however wasn't! The band stops playing in my head, I'm now a short stack at my table but I'm still high enough up the leaderboard to survive into the money.

Unfazed (and happy that I had still made the correct play), I battle on and with my tight table image I manage to pick up some dead money from late positions with marginal holdings.

Then with AQo on SB and with an M of just below 5, I shove my remaining 17k over the UTG player's 4k raise ...



... again, I like the flop ... and the turn ... but the praying to the Poker Gods doesn't work and it's a sick, sick river that puts me out!

My stats show that I wasn't just sitting back playing scared like I thought I might. I'd even go as far as to say I was playing my normal game, but more aggressively at the right times through being more focussed!

You finished in 1474th place (eliminated at hand #16540267964).

189 hands played and saw flop:
- 8 times out of 22 while in small blind (36%)
- 9 times out of 22 while in big blind (41%)
- 17 times out of 145 in other positions (12%)
- a total of 34 times out of 189 (18%)

Pots won at showdown - 3 out of 8 (38%)
Pots won without showdown - 23

You finished in 1474th place - Top 19.2%


This is going to be good for me to compare with my other games and I look forward to doing so. The Sunday Million is well above my own personal Bankroll but it has encouraged me to look into playing more $25 - $50 MTTs. I have two $26 Tourney Tokens and a $75 one on FullTilt waiting to be used. Watch this space ... the GTD Tourneys (usually starting around 7pm GMT) will be getting hit real soon!

I think it's a pity APAT don't offer more higher buy in games. APAT have established themselves as a top-provider of low cost, high quality games both online and live and have succeeded in just that! In the online games the standard can be too 'relaxed' at times with some finding it hard taking a $10 MTT seriously. I really enjoy every APAT tourney - especially the 'OnLive' with it's $150 buy-in - but I think it's a pity that there aren't more $50+ games being offered online. I think we have enough quality players looking for the same and I hope Des et al consider this for Season 3.

So yeah, this week I'll be on FT using my Tourney Token me thinks! Say Hi if you see me!