I guess I'll start off with last weekend TR and see where this goes.

I leave work on Friday and head home to get changed.



I've agreed to go play a donkament at The Vic with some friends who were visiting town. I'm about a 20 min tube ride from Edgeware road but the tubes are screwed and I'm walking around trying to find a taxi or book an Uber, neither of which are an option as everyone is already booked. I grab a pint at The Sloany Pony and just wait it out at the tube station, eventually getting to The Vic sometime during level 1 and managing to get a seat just before they start an alternate list.

My friends are nowhere to be seen, I assume they're also suffering at the hands of signal failures and engineering works on the underground so I settle into seat one (damnit) and get to work on my beer. I'm not exactly a fan of tournament poker but I'm happy to jump into one for the sake of having a laugh with a few friends. I chat it up with the table, play a few hands and they finally arrive and get settled, unfortunately all at different tables. I bust out after a couple standard 20-30bb hands (99 vs KK and TT into AA) and grab a few beers with my friends before calling it a night.

In the car home I receive a text from a friend (P) telling me to head over to Battersea for a quiet drink. 2 hours and 2 bottles later we're in the club, the three of us putting a weeks work behind us, proving for the nth time that gin and Red Bull really don't work together.



We head back to what P describes as her "normal house in Chelsea" and deposit our 3rd adventurer into a bed before deciding it's time we hit the casino. We settle on heading to The Palm Beach in Berkeley Square, thinking it's likely the nicest place we can get into without being members. After having to explain to the doormen that we were there to gamble rather than drink in the club they let us in and we waive the membership and just sign in.

We settle into a Blackjack table, order 2 double Cafe Patrons and 2 double rum and cokes and proceed to run pretty well over the next hour or so. Cafe Patron plays a big part in my life when partying with P, it does seem to be her weapon of choice.

P leaves most of the decision making up to me, while alternating between choosing how much we're going to be betting on each hand and speaking Russian to our table mates. We cash out around £800 aware that anymore is going to mean having to sign up as members etc and decide that the next stop is The Vic. We arrive back to find one of my friends from earlier has binked 3rd and is doing his best to give all the money back via the medium of alcohol. P isn't really a poker player and passes me the winnings from earlier and tells me to buy into the biggest game running at the moment.

I sit down at the £2/5 and the players lick their chops, I'm looking like a Class A fish and proceed to act like one. It is the first time I've played in that game at The Vic so I imagine they are pleased to see me sit. The table is a decent split between decent regs and a few seemingly recreational players (limping pre) but most of whom are willing to accommodate a fish and his drunk (apparent) GF. Unfortunately I don't really get into many interesting spots to talk about; I double up with AK vs A4 on an A high board and then give a little bit back losing to trips, again holding AK on an A high board.

I cash out ahead, pay back the stake and we call it an evening, the game breaks the second I stand up. We grab a quick breakfast at VQ around 7am and call it a night.

I spend the rest of the weekend getting hammered and playing £1/1 with my best mate who is up visiting, interspersed with trips to a club for more vodka fuelled fun.

Going Forward

This thread will be about my play in London (and wherever else I might happen across) and the lifestyle surrounding it. I have never really worked off a strict bankroll but have been tracking my play since July to keep better records. I've got together some cash left over from this weekend as my bankroll from now.



Plan is to play £1/1 and make my way up to the £1/3 games ASAP. Longer term plan is to be a regular in the £2/5 game and become the best player I can, while having as much fun as possible. It's fair to say I'm pretty horrible with money (only my own, I have plenty of former backers/poker friends who can attest to my ability to look after others money) but hey, whats life without a little excitement.

Fingers crossed that we get somewhere!

GL!

A client just remarked they prefer it when our assistant calls them because it's always good news, whereas if it's one of us it's either really good or bad news. I told my boss our assistant needs to start balancing her 'client calling range'.

Inside jokes don't work if no one else is there to hear it.

Results over the last month or so:

Subbed GL

What do you do for a living mate ?

Thanks. I'll keep it relatively vague; I recruit professionals within Financial Services.

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 151.9 BB (VPIP: 17.95, PFR: 12.82, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 39)

Hero (BTN): 102.5 BB


SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

fold, CO raises to 3 BB, Hero raises to 10 BB, fold, fold, CO calls 7 BB

Flop: (21.5 BB, 2 players) 4 6 8
CO checks, Hero bets 13 BB, CO calls 13 BB

Turn: (47.5 BB, 2 players) T
CO checks, Hero bets 29 BB, CO raises to 128.9 BB and is all-in Hero?

When he flats my raise OOP I'm putting him on TT-QQ, AK, maybe AQ. We have stats but LOLSample size. When he shoves the turn here, what is your play, I would say we are only behind 6 combos of his range here so it's a simple call? Or is the inverse true, in that he would call down with his overpairs and only shove the 6 combos of TT and 16 of AK as a bluff (unlikely shoving AK here as a bluff imo)?

Heading to The Vic tonight of anyone is about. Hopefully get some decent hours in although must bear in mind a 6am start. Maybe no sleep?

Off we go



In for 100

Interesting evening, I played far below where I feel I'm capable but managed to win a couple key hands.

Opened for £7 to a couple of limpers in the HJ, BTN calls (as always), as does the BB (grumpy loud middle aged man).

Flop (£24): 89Tcc.

BB Check, I c-bet £11, BTN calls, BB shoves for c. £50, I reshove for c. £110, BTN folds.

Turn 7, River T.

He held 98o and I'm up to c. £160.

I then proceed to lose a couple small hands, opening premiums, getting 3-4 calls and missing flops. I reload for another £100 when down to £85 and after some time am sitting on £100 again when the following hand happens.

I open EP2 with AA for £5, CO, BTN, BB call.

Flop (£21) AJ7r

BB checks, I lead for 10 and only the BB calls.

Turn (£41) 9

BB Checks, I lead £25. BB tank calls

River (£91) 7

BB checks, I shove for £52, BB calls and mucks when shown my hand, claims he had JJ.

In the end I cashed out around £65 ahead, took the GF for some pre-birthday drinks as this weekend is going to be a little manic and got some sleep.

Crossed the 100 hours of live poker mark, not bad for a month and a half working full time. Wish I could play more.

Today (Friday) should be a good one, one of my candidates had a final round interview yesterday and will either be offered or not today, always good to win your flips. Will be out with a candidate I placed earlier this year late afternoon then we have a good friends housewarming, he just bought a flat in the area and it looks awesome.

Apologies for lack of photos, Photobucket is having issues today.

I found it in London.

Do you mind if I message you a few Qs about financial recruitment ?

Fire away!

Essentially recruitment is like a crap backing deal. They stake you the phone, office computer etc, you get a threshold every month which rolls over and accumulates (essentially makeup) and then they take a hefty cut of your profit after clearing makeup.

However I'm not leaving anytime soon

Running good, deal looks like it is going ahead once they get signoff for a higher salary from CEO. Find out on Tuesday

Nice thread, gl.

Do you just play at the vic? What stakes were the hands in post #10?

I just play at The Vic now but I've played all over the south coast, Aspers in Stratford, The Golden Nugget, The fox etc, most of which have gone.

Stakes were £1/1 which is mainly what I'll play unless I'm backed in a bigger game. Aim is to be playing £2/5 regularly by 2016.

Waiting for my last meeting of the day to show up. At this time on a Friday it's ok to order wine before he gets here right?

Cashed out +£150 last night, was up more but bled away over the last couple hours and couldn't get much going. Back over 4 figures in winnings which is nice, lets keep it there now!

I am playing The Vic's loyalty tournament today, this is the biggest one they've had in a fair while. 150 runners and c.£80k in the prizepool. The way it works is you get 5 points every day you play, 10 on a Sunday. The top 100 at the end of the qualifying period (about a month) get in for free and there are 50 more spots open to places 100-200 on a first come first serve basis for £165. I was crushing in the top 100 but a heavy week of work right at the death killed me and I've had to buy in for £165.

However, assuming they get to £80k and the field is capped at 150 runners my equity is £533 assuming equal skill. Most of the players who make this loyalty tournament are the older gentlemen who nut peddle the cash games for a few hours a day so I don't exactly think much of their game. However, levels are only 20 minutes so I expect this to be a bit of a crapshoot.

I have considered selling action in this based on my equity but I think I'll just let it ride and hope to bink a decent score, should be around £10k up top. Deals are apparently common in this but if I think I can win it, I'm going to go for it.

Let's run good today!

Nice thread, GL today

Thanks!

Another pic of the city they other evening, I'm a country boy but still think the city can look good. Apologies for the picture quality, taken with my iPhone and I have naturally shaky hands.

Sub'd

Good news: Cashed for £815.

Bad news: Girlfriend has fallen asleep in my flat with my keys and her phone is off.

Congrats on the score, what place did you finish?

Annoyingly 19th, 20k up top. My internet had gone down in my flat which is why I couldn't message my GF on facebook. Luckily she knew I would be back at some point and was checking and let me in!

In case anyone was wondering, this is what it looks like to take a piss in The Shard.