High Stakes Poker - Opening Night

Well... after alot of hype and aticipation "High Stakes Poker - the opening night" arrived.

This was a Grosvenor Staff home game that was played and organised by me with the intention of a regular game to be played every 3-4 weeks.


The game was set as a £0.10/£0.25 cash game with a min sit down of £5 and a £30 max.

Everything was ready: the table, chips and people. Now for the game! Start 6.30pm

If you build it they will come... - and that they did there was a total of 21 people there for the opening night of High Stakes with 17 players! This was many more than expected, as I had accounted for a few drop outs a few early exits. None of which happened so with a jam packed house and chips to be won theres only one way to go...

The Show must go on... - The following people were there from the start - Myself, Jess, Ryan, Glen, Paul, G-spot, Gus, George, Sparky, Jon, Rob and Kelvin (12). That meant the game got under-way with myself and Ryan railing the table waiting for a seat. Eveyone sat down with the max buy-in of £30

Blue Lights, Camera, Action.. - The game got underway with two action thirsty players Gus and Jon ending up all-in on the first hand! No exact details but after Gus' strong bet on the turn Jon pushed his stack in only to be met by a snap call by Gus with the nuts (nut flush). Jon immediately reloaded and an exciting start to the game. Not sure this was a great influence on the game tho as it sort of set a precident for the whole game with opening raises far too big in proportion to the blinds and alot of early gambling.

Reload, Reload, Reload - After alot of crazy action that I could meerley observe. More players seemed to be going bust and frequent reloads seemed to be occuring. This wasn't a problem as we had plenty chips and actions good but you could see this was getting a little bit too juicy. By this time more people were arriving and still no seats. In the end the extra players were Mark, Allan, Jim, Candice and Nathan. A "If ya go broke, ya back of the waiting list" policy had to be enforced just to guarantee that all players got a game!

Empty Bottles - By 9.30pm as well as the action the drinking was well underway. This became evident as huge preflop raises as well as multiple callers was taking place, so-so that i've seen less gamble on a roulette table. lol. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, winning/losing themselves a few quid and getting pissed at the same time. I still hadn't had a taste of any action but had plenty to occupy myself as i found myself chatting to the waiting players and introducing my daughters to everyone. With the house choca-bloc I couldnt really relax as much as i'd of liked.

Enter the Dragon (or dragonfly on this occasion) - I eventually got sat down at the table at 9:45pm at started my action with an immediate bet from early position. I didn't play a hand for a while until I was dealt pocket 10's. There had been a straddle two limpers an opening raise and 4 limpers before me so I shipped my stack to hopefully take it down or isolate. I wans't called on this occasion although the opening raiser (Ryan) said he nearly called me with K10 saying he knew i had nothing. I later told him I had 910.

I hadnt played a hand for over an hour as the action was just too feirce with overbets and 5 callers a regular occurance everyone was in the gambling mood. Problem was i wasn't picking up anything other than marginal holdings at best. There were hardly any spots to pick and floating was definately out of the question! I eventually picked up QQ in the big blind. The action went as follows - Opening bet, call, call, pass, call, call, call, pass, call. Action was on me and I was in no mood to mess around with my Queens and wanted to be up against just one player, so yet again I shipped. As everyone had a decision to make i felt as tho nearly everyone was hollywooding their decision. The original better (Jon) passed, but i got my caller (Sparky). We immediately went on out backs and Sparky tabled KJ! No help for him on the board gave me my double up and room to manouvre.

Juice, Loose, Aboot this Hoosse! - Some decent conflicts occured between players including Sparky and Jess, as well as Gus making steady profit from decent holdings. George seemed to run into brick walls everytime he ran into Jess and G-spots raises always seemed to be outdrawn forcing him to pass. Glen was the craziest calling alot and always outflopping his opponents it seemed as tho his lager was to him as spinich is to popeye! I was keeping well outta the way with unless i was prepared to gamble with some of the maniacs. (no offence lmao). Gus got the upper hand on Kelvin after calling his all-in bet with AJ. Kelvin tabled 9-9 only for the river to produce the J to brake Kelvin and bring an end to his night.

Squeeeeeezze - I was enjoying the atmosphere and banter at the table but was becoming increasingly frustrated at my lack of action. It was just before 1am and I hadnt played a hand for ages! I found a perfect opportunity to make a move. The Squeeze! Jon lead out in the pot for the usual large bet to which Glen flat-called. The action was on me and look down at 9-5 hearts. I decide to go over the top with my stack to take the pot down there and then for a £20 pot. The bet was £37 more and Jon entered the tank. Bare in mind i hadnt played a hand in ages had only shown three hands at this point two of which were QQ and the other K9 that was a small pot in which i won at showdown. I figured Jon has to have a monster in this spot to call, with Glen behind him to worry about also. To my amazement Jon called the all-in and glen passed. At this stage i can only put him on QQ or KK as he took too long for him to have Aces. Jon tabled his hand that revealed AJ diamonds! I was amazed that he can call here (unless he had a super read on me. yea right. lol) but thats ok as he has put his money in. I still wasnt THAT far behind and waited for a miracle board to get me out of this spot. The board actually brought two Jacks which was irrelavant anyway as Jon was ahead but killed any chance of salvaging something. Nice hand sir just hope you call me next time with AJ. lol ; ) I quickly reloaded and continued to grind it out. The worst thing was Jon left at 1 which meant our big hand was his last that didnt give me any chance of re-couping any of the money i donated to him. (To be fair to the lad he did say he was leaving at 1am before we even started the game so couldnt complain)

More Tilt than The Eiffel Tower - After the disappointment of the previous hand, the fact most of the money just left and the fact i hadnt really played sent me on Tilt. I was now in gambling mood and didnt really care about my A game which I clearly wasnt playing. To make matters worse Glen the most pissed person in the room was falling all over his stack but not only that was the biggest stack. It was a perfect opportunity to recoup my losses as he was calling anything and everything. But once again still couldnt pick up a hand. Jess took a canny bit off him and even took pity at one stage checking behind with her top two to win a big pot. Must point out that Glen is a top lad but on this occasion was errr just say a little tipsy.

With the night drawing to a close I got involved in a hand with Nathan. Nathan is a good player and a top lad and played with him before so i should of known better. Glen opens the pot with some ridiculous bet (as always) I look down at QQ. I raise and hope that Glen will pay me off. Nathan then re-raises me and alarm bells ring. I reckon ive got Nathans range in this spot just about nailed. lol. He knows i can play and knows Glen calls regardless. So he must have KK or AA here. I felt aces but waited for the action to get to me. Glen passed (which in itself is amazing) and action returns to me. This is where my biggest disappointment lay as ive made these types of laydowns hundreds of times. So really i should raise or pass. Because I thought he had aces i should pass. I done neither and flated. We both see a 9 high flop and instead of waiting for him to do it (obv it was coming) I shipped on the flop only to hear the expected words "i call".
I looked at Nathan and said "You've got Aces havnt u?" Nathan nodded his head and seemed disappointed in me that I couldnt spot it. The Fact is I did but from my frustrations all night and the gamble in me desperate to escape this time I couldn't manage the right thing and lost my buy-in. Fully deserved. I was so annoyed at myself, but hey even the best of us can play bad. LOL (huge heed).


Over and Out - All in all the night was a huge sucess and a great kick off that promises to be a sucessful run of High Stakes Poker nights to come. From now on the nights will be limited to a set 10 players that will play for the whole night and players can change on different Poker nights. I think this way the game will be more about the poker and less a piss-up it sort of turned into.

The big winners from "High Stakes Poker - Opening Night" were : Jess, Jon, Gus and Glen - Big Well Done to all those players and to everyone else for their excellent behaviour and showing respect for the fact they were in my home and my family were there. Really enjoyed you all been there and feel lucky to have you lot as pals.

Next Time on High Stakes....... The next game is booked for the 2nd of June "The 2nd Sitting" and the following players will be taking part - Myself, Jess, Ryan, Jon, Paul, Gus, George, Sparky, G-spot and Nathan.

Those of you who havn't played in this game yet will get plenty of opportunity in future weeks as different people will play each time.

Looking forward to the next game and check back for future posts about

HIGH STAKES POKER

"The Second Sitting"