Congrats @skilful  WP

Well done m8, very very happy for you man : D : D : D : D : D

Here is my entry to the bet365 competiton!

Thanks for reading :) if you like it, can you click like to help me progress to the next round, thankyou!

The Hand...

You are at the Venetian, Macao, playing a 200$-400$ game.

You’re surrounded by rich and rather unfunny Chinese businessmen. And honestly, it’s a bit scary.

What a relief when you suddenly catch a glimpse of a familiar face across the room: your friend, Ray.

You don’t pay attention to the dealer giving you the cards while you’re on the Button. You don’t even follow the action when a ninja in early position opens 3 BB. A samurai in middle position calls.

You just shout “Hey Ray!” to your friend.

“Raise, how much Sir?” says the dealer with a strong Chinese accent.

You try to explain that no, you didn’t raise. You were just calling a friend… but you realize that the ninja and the samuraï are staring at you, with a sardonic smile.

The dealer looks at them, then at you: “You said you raise. Too late Sir” he says, looking sorry for you.

You look at your cards and see 7♥5♥.

You try hard not to moan out loud… And your consternation becomes even deeper when you realize that the man you saw passing by… was not even Ray...

You have no choice. You must bet.

You have 90 BB. You opponents have a bit more than you.

How much do you raise?

I can't believe this. This dealer is useless first he deals me junk all night and now he's angle shooting me with these two clowns!! AHHHH

Ray you're always costing me money. Last time we were out together you cost me £20 when you conveniently 'had no change' after we shared that taxi home. Now you're not even here and you're costing me money!

I think about a decently sized squeeze to generate maximum fold equity.

So a squeeze should be about 3 times the openraise + the amount in between that has been cold called give or take. So it would be 3x3+3 = 12bb minimum if I actually meant to squeeze here. I take a few seconds and consider making it 13bbs, yes 13bbs looks pretty good, I'm in position so don't need to worry about adding any extra to compensate for being out of position. I start to reach for some chips but then I stop and shudder.

A memory comes flooding back to me from a year or so ago..

I was playing cash at my local casino, well back then I was just moving my way up the ranks, playing 1/2 a long time before I was playing these games at the Venetian. I'd been playing most of the night and was up about 200bbs. I was on top of the world. The regular at the table was getting frustrated that I wasn't giving anything away, I was playing good TAG poker and really leveraging my position.

Half the table were call pre-flop , fold post flop type guys and I was using that to my advantage and raking it in!

In short I was playing well, making loads of money and felt...

Then BAM.

It all came crushing down.

It was 10.20PM (I'll never forget that clock, I glanced at it just before I acted). The table folded to me and I made my usual 3x raise from the Hijack with ATo. The button folded. I turned to the SB who the action was on and you won't believe what the poor guy did.

He was moving his hands down towards his cards which he hadn't checked yet and he accidently knocked some chips from the top of his stack, three 10bb chips went over the line, he went to take them back looking at the dealer but the dealer said they had to stay he had raised me. He glanced down at his cards, "urgh.. oh god.. haha". For a moment I felt kind of sorry for this guy, but then I remembered we are playing a poker game and it's about surivial of the fittest here. 

He was Chinese and he seemed like a decent guy he had been happy for most of the night and nothing seemed to trouble him.

The action came back to me. Well I have ATo and I know this hand is above a random range, there's 35bbs out there, I felt sorry for him but haha this is poker,  ALL IN!

I'm laughing with this poor guy as I look over at him and get ready to scoop in the 35bb pot. Then he started to straighten up, his body language changed a bit. He looked over at me with that same kind of gentle smile on his face and announced "I call".

I call? What.... he calls? I was kind of shocked and then started thinking about what he could have.

A few moments later he showed me.

NO WAY! NOOOOO WAY.

This guy had just set me up!

That was the first and last time I was schooled at live poker. His aces held and I lost 100bbs my last 4 hours profit.

I vowed never to make the same mistake again.

That's how I've managed to get here today to the Venetian. ALOT! Of hard work and no more making those same stupid mistakes.

Now I have a decision to make. Just before my hand reaches my chips I change my mind about the squeeze. I think about the fact that this isn't a pure trash hand, it has some value, it's 75s, not 72, and without the live tell that I'd just telegraphed to these two 's that I didn't mean to raise, some of the time I would be making this 13-14bbs as standard. 

But these guys know I didn't mean to raise initially, they might play back. I'm not about to get myself into a huge pot with 75s given this situation. If I can make the mistake to weaken my ranges like I did a year ago because I think someone has raised by accident, I'm sure these guys can too.

I announce "2400" and look back over at the fighting duo.

The Ninja laughs and says "ICALL" barely without taking a pause between the two words.

He looks over at me as I see the light bounce off his Ninja Star which is slightly exposed from his top pocket. This is one guy I don't want to get on the wrong side of.

Then he tells me that I "play like a little kitten" and pushes the Ninja star back into his pocket smiling at me.

The Samurai chuckles to himself as he pushes the extra chips out completing his call and closing the action, but not before reseating his sword that had almost knocked me out as it swung from the carrier on his back as he turned for his chips.

How did he even get past the door staff with that thing anyway?

He turns to the Ninja and joins in with the jibe..."haha like taking candy from a baby"

I think about the way i've been setup here, these crazy ninjas and all this talk of babies and cats..

I'm going to have to tell my friends over at Ranking Hero about this if I ever get out of here alive

 #OOPS365  #Part1 

Breath of fresh air that Ranking Hero times are in GMT! 

I spent this afternoon studying Mental Game of Poker chapter 2 in a coffee shop, and got back for 6.30pm just about -  thinking that stream will be starting at 7.30PM CET not GMT. Well that was a nice result! I still have 40 minutes to spare, so can download bet365 and get ready for the freeroll! :)

Good luck everyone playing in the bet365 freeroll tonight! 

#OOPS365 

Yo Rakinghero just half a day or so to go! That leadboard i've just found for the competition is on fire!

Looks like there's a massive gap formed between the top and the bottom. Well i'm fighting for my spot in the top 5 and then it's all over to the roll of the dice and the judges!

it has been a lot of fun, it's absorbed me lately and now i'm just trying to edge into the top 5 spots (well im already there but it's close im fighting for 5th right now!)

FB message is out, Twitter message is out. I just spent last hour emailing/phoning people (some of whom I havent seen for about 5 years lol!) and now i think i've done all i can.

So all that remains is for me to wish every single one of you good luck! It's been a real blast.

Now I'm looking forward to Monday's Bet365 competiton!

#HandMalta