World Cup Fever

A mixed night at the tables last night and ended down $20 overall.Began by finishing 3rd in a $5 sng with Juice at Laddys before booking a small win at $50 nl 6 max and then joining my Mum at a $10, 6 max beginners table on Laddys.It was the first time we had ever sat at the same real money table together.

Not much happened there until I looked down and saw the magic rockets from early position.Hmm I wonder if anyone will raise before me I thought and watched as my Mum made a pot size bet.I raised that to $2 which my Mum called.Flop was a 6 7 9 rainbow and I led out with a $2 bet thinking my bet would take it down if my Mum had AK/AQ.When she raised it again I smiled imagining her face when her KK or QQ gets slapped down by my AA.When I’d finished smiling I pushed all in for my last $5 and my Mum called with…..AA.I think I’ve only seen AA v AA once before at 6 max and nearly fell off my seat laughing.

Mum left and I moved to the home of my recent nightmares….Interpoker. I bought in at a 6 max £50 nl ( aprox $100 ) and lost almost a full buy in when I’d raised with AJ and called a reraise from the 2nd loosest player at the table.The flop was a J high rainbow and I bet out and the villan raised it by just over the pot total.It was then fairly obvious he had an overpair to the board but obvious as it should have been I convinced myself the villan had midpair and decided to put him under pressure by reraising all in,which he dutifully called with KK.

An arghhhhh moment and I couldn’t believe that I’d been such an idiot.On reflection I think part of the reason for me making such a poor play was that I’ve been skipping round the micro-levels recently.I realise anyone playing $5-$10 nl and above probably sees all $10,$25 ,$50 and even $100 players as all cut from the same cloth but in my experience there can be vast differences in the standard of player and what is considered a “good” hand.At $25 nl depending on the player I wouldn’t be so upset at calling a player down with AJ on a J high board because more often than not the villan will turn over KJ,J10 or a mid pair but I need to learn to give more respect as I move up and also to trust my first instinct more often.

The good news is that I moved to a $100 6 max buy in table and played well,managing to extract almost a full stack from a player with 77 when I made a full house and just knew he had trip jacks and would call my all in.Strength:extracting maximum chips from opponent,Weakness: Not laying down a beaten hand.

Looking forward to playing later tonight but from now until July 9th poker will be taking a backseat. 1.5 billion people are expected to watch the opening ceremony and game shortly and I’m really looking forward to it.Three games per day means fitba heaven for me.

In a daft,half asleep moment I actually promised Mrs A a meal out and a trip to see The Da Vinci Code until I suddenly remembered the World Cup started today.Thankfully Mrs A is happy for us to order in an Indian carryout tonight and save the cinema for another time.I bought her a perfume from the duty free at the Airport on the way back from Majorca last Saturday but it must have fallen out the bag and both the taxi driver and airline said there was no sign of it.Well I ordered her a new one from fragrancedirect.com and it arrived yesterday so I’m currently in the good books.

Not sure if that will still be the case after she’s put up with wall to wall fitba for a month……