Casino Trip

Having only ever grinded properly online I finally got the chance to go out to a casino and play some proper live poker last night. Up until now ive obv played in home games and I did do an unofficial £5 live SNG at some stage too... but this was my first time in a proper casino. We arrived at around 7:30PM and once I'd signed up as a member we saw they had a poker tournament starting at 8:00. I was there with my friend and his mum, dad and uncle who all also play (i'm envious that he has a family into gambling!)

The tournament was a £20+2 with £1500 guaranteed. You started with 4000 chips and were allowed one "rebuy" for £20 which you could use at any stage within the first 90 minutes to add 5000 chips to your stack.

My table was pretty quiet and people were limping a fair bit. At 50/100 i remember making it like 650 out of the BB over a couple of limpers with AQ and getting called, then cbetting a flop of 885 and taking it down. Had a nice pot where i iso'd KQs, checked back twice on AQJJQ and then "popped him on the river" hellmuth-style :P. There were some amusing hands that stick out in my mind:

SB has just "rebought" to add 5000 chips to his stack so he has like 9000 before this hand starts. Some guy on my table limped in from EP, it folds to the SB who completes and the BB checks. Flop comes Q89 rainbow, SB leads out and gets raised by the guy in EP. Then he turns to one of the floorpeople and says something like "man, can I take back my rebuy, I wish I could save these 5000 chips til after this hand". He tanks for a bit and calls off the raise. Then he leads out like 1500 on some random turn, and the EP guy (who only has 2800 left) jams it in. SB hollywoods a bit and is like "okay, so youve got two pair or a set... i call" and tables the JT for the nuts o_o. EP shows AA to be drawing dead and the SB doubles up.

Then he said something along the lines of "damn... i thought you only had two pair or a set. If i knew you'd had aces I would've just reraised the flop!" Rofl, obviously one pair > set in this guys mind. He then proceeds to "school" the table on how he could have folded aces there if he'd 3bet the flop, saying like "yeah if it goes, raise reraise shove on the flop I could fold aces there..." XD

The etiquette in general was terrible. There was one guy on my left who had this card protector and kept spinning it, but in doing so kept knocking his chips everywhere lol. There was another amusing pot involving him. It folded to an asian kid on the button who limped in, I folded the SB and the BB guy checked. Flop comes like Qxx rainbow, BB leads out and BTN calls. J on the turn, BB leads out and BTN tanks a bit before groaning and throwing some chips in. A blank on the river and both players check. BTN shows J8o for the turned pair and its good enough to win the pot. BB was all like "nice flop call" to which the asian guy responded "i called to make a move later in the hand" which sent the BB way on tilt. I swear it was like an hour later and he was still muttering and shooting glances at this guy. He even stood up from the table at one point to recount this "so sick" hand to his friend. The hand got brought up again and the button said he was just floating, to which the BB said "jeez, you sound like phil hellmuth". A while later after i'd gotten sick of his constant moaning I piped up and said "well, out of the two of you I know which one _I_ think sounds like phil hellmuth" which got some laughs from the table. I knocked that guy out AJs > ATs at some point and it was good to be shot of him o_O

Etiquette-wise there was a tonne of pot splashing, and a few people who i knocked out threw their chips forcably at me and I had to pick some up off the floor. One of them threw their cards at me as well, and said like "GL everyone, that doesnt include you" before walking away. That hand was pretty amusing, I checked down 34o from the BB and watched as the board was dealt out 2, 5, 6. I checked, someone else checked and this guy just dumped his 7000 into the middle at a ~1000 chip pot with K5o... tyvm sir.

Just before the final table I busted someone with deuces which got some banter going (since I was wearing a t-shirt that said "pocket deuces" on it). The guy who i knocked out was a really polite fellow and I made sure to shake his hand and told him it was a pleasure playing with him because it was just so nice to see someone with a decent attitude compared to most of the players I encountered.

Final table was sick. It paid top 8 for £70 and up, but we all agreed to put in £5 each so 9th also got paid £45 (which was break-even if they had rebought). I had a solid stack of around 53k and was playing pretty well. I really didnt have any tough decisions on the final table though. First hand I folded KJs on the button when the cutoff guy who covered me made it 12k, but I think thats fairly standard ICM business because there were lots of short stacks at that point. Was folding stuff like KQ in the SB as well, and 44 in the BB at one point to a 22k shove. But i was getting in some blind steals and took out a shorty 77 > 62o and stuff so that's how I kept myself accumulating chips. My friends mum (the only other one of us still in) went out QQ < 85o after minraising it pre and getting it in on J67r, to finish 9th and break even. A7 < A3 left 7 players.