Make mine a Donkey call

We didn't get gubbed 4 or 5 nil by Italy but were beaten 2-0 by the better team so no complaints.Well at least no complaints until I hit the poker tables later on....

I began by bombing out of the Late Night Crapshoot when I called a large overbet all in by a stack slightly bigger than mine.It smelled like a fishy bet but I was never going to be too far ahead of K5 with my 44 and the 5 on the board by the river sealed the deal.

Actually I didn't begin with the Crapshoot at Laddys ( just can't be arsed rewriting that sentence) but at a Party $50 full ring table where I won $30 when a donk couldn't laydown AK ( Ace high) v my QQ.

After the Crapshoot I sat down at a full ring $100nl table and folded 73 off in the big blind on my first hand followed by Kd6d in the small blind to a raise,the bb reraised and I watched the board come all diamonds Ace high and a large pot develop, whilst telling myself that playing Kd6d out of the small blind for a raise and reraise is not good poker. I had been considering a raise to steal the bb if folded to me.

Two hands later and I'm dealt pocket rockets ( two seats from the button) and I start to hope for a raise before it gets to me.Two players limp ( including one guy I've seen around at Laddys and respect as a solid player) and I raise 4 1/2 bb to $4.50 hoping to also have position post flop.No such luck as the ( played every hand of the five I've seen) button calls and the other two limpers called too.

The flop was a rainbow 3 9 10 and I'm still unsure over my postflop bet.I've been reading Phil Gordons "Little Blue Book" and rather than a pot size bet to try and take it down based on the big hands win ( relatively) small pots theory ,I bet $10 into a $21 pot to deny odds to anyone drawing to the straight and to encourage a weaker hand to make a mistake by calling me.With four callers to my initial raise a pot size bet would probably have made more sense.


Only the button called and a 6 fell on the turn filling a possible straight draw if he held exactly 78 but otherwise seeming fairly harmless.I led out for $26 into a $41 pot and was reraised all in leaving me ( I had him out stacked to start with) to call $31 to stay in the hand.Although I simply couldn't see him holding 78 ,my instinct told me I wouldn't get reraised all in unless my Rockets were beaten, however I was getting around 4-1 to call ,and although it was only over five hands, the villian had already seemed fairly loose and willing to bet big. I made the crying call and after a blank river, he showed 66 for a set of sixes to win the hand and leave me pondering where it all went wrong.

I can only assume ( if he's not a total donkey) that he read my post flop bet as weak ( he maybe put me on an AK/AQ/AJ type hand) and that's why he hung around to hit his two outer.Either way I could have saved myself money if I'd listened to my instinct.

I left straight away and headed to a 'Stars $50 nl 6 max cash table to lick my wounds.I then played like a donkey and won $40...which is nice! I'm not going to be too hard on myself because I totally dominated the villain preflop with my AK v his AQ.The flop was a rainbow Q 10 3 and when I made the continuation bet of $4.50 ( I'd raised 5 bb preflop) I faced a reraise to $13 which I called.I checked when an Ace fell on the turn hoping if he had a hand like KQ or a lower pair then I could take the pot with a checkraise.He duly bet out $16 which I raised to $32.He went all in and with only 15 cents to call I wasn't making the laydown!

A beautiful King came on the river and I yelled ship it and went to bed only $15 down overall for the night.It was certainly a little tilty and poorly played but the books say even the best ( and I certainly aint that) suckout sometimes!

I've decided to cheat a little and will be including my 'Stars roll as part of my main bankroll stats from now on.I've built $15 I'd forgotten I had there in January to $349, mostly through turbo sng's and although I planned on using it to "take a shot", my conservative bankroll managment head says I already am taking a shot just by playing $15 turbo's on it.

Dinner soon and then I'm going to try and play some decent poker tonight with no donk calls when I know I'm beaten!

Don't forget to register for the Britbloggerment 2 $5 sng on Stars this Sunday at 9pm BST.Password is donkament! Only six in so far.

Hopefully see you there.....