#Aspers88 

First hand... Really??? Shiiiiiiiiit 

im a firm believer of poker tells at a live table. There's no faulting human nature. We naturally give off information without even realising it. 

The pots just over 2k and he goes all in messy splashing the pot. Not even remaining seated but chooses to get up in my mince (Scottish slang for in my face) his posture and behaviour is all wrong and come across as weak. But this is the first hand and I haven't yet had the chance to assess his table image.

this leads me to the cards. You have the third nuts at moment only AA and 99 are beating you hear. If he had them he would be going for value Not donk shoving over a 80k stack to win over 2k. With two hearts maybe he has a draw but odds are still in your favour. Even if it was a straight flush draw you still don't commit a stack like that.

its a £200 buy in I am not folding I'm going with my gut that he is weak and just trying to assertive himself as table captain to make players wary.

so I look him straight back in the eye and say call the word echoing in my ear as I throw my cards on their back. Everything is now in slow motion as I keep my eyes on his face so I can see the squirming frown or elation that will let me know if my call was good or bad.

This is then sending a message to rest of table that I'm the captain here!

#HeroScore new look of the widget you can share on Facebook! :)

#OMG365 

through my love of poker I run two poker clubs in Glasgow. One at the Bon Accord and one at kudos bar. I always like to keep the game interesting so I run a league and give out card guards to the winners. I also arrange free drinks from the pub if you have your aces cracked or you win a pot by bluffin with 72 off suit. Which leads me to my spectacular hand.

apologies it's not on 365 as I'm a new member having signed up via Ranking hero a short while ago.

so blinds are 100/200 I've got my starting stack of 5k and I'm in the small blind everyone has folded I look at my cards and and stare at 7c2h and think you dancer! Free drink coming right up! So I raise to 600. BB isn't budging and re raises to 1300. I pause and think need to rep I'm super strong here and reraise to 2700. BB plays with his chips and I'm screaming JUST FOLD inside my head. Slowly the BB reaches for his chips again and I'm like NOOOOOOOoooooooooo.... And he flat Calls.

i immediately regret trying to get involved in this hand for the sake of a free pint of beer...

FLOP : 777

OMG I literally just flopped the world! The absolutely stone cold nuts! I shove my remaining stack as my bluff hand now became a value bet hand. SNAP call from the BB showing KK. Turn and River were bricks. BB starts cursing me to hell. No free pint but a nice healthy stack! 

so suffice to say I probably could do with the training lol

 #OOPS365 #Part3 

Well Ray I'll not forget your instructions back at Ghostbusters HQ "When the light is green trap is clean" and this hand isn't clean...

as predicted our our third pot C bet did get rid of the ninja but the samurai refuses to go and comes over the top. Now he is goading you. Now the speech play here is almost trying to get you to call. You didn't even want to be in this hand in first place and were drawn in by lost in translation and catching a small piece of the flop. Plus it's a check raise all in. All these little signs indicates strength.

you have 78 bb left. Best option here is to fold. Pairs 8s and above and any ace is beating u hear. Suffice to say you tried to dig yourself out but just got deeper. again folding here and waiting for a better spot is the preferred option. Besides his 3 bet call and your raise was called indicating he is sitting pretty strong. 

This is is a fold :)

#OOPS365 #part2

Damn you ray! This is another fine mess you've got me into! however all is not lost. My 2 opponents however have decided to check. Now there are two aces already out on flop so chances of them both having an ace here are slim. However could one of them have that ace? The raise preflop could put them on kings or queens and have slowed down due to those over cards.

Time to see if we can weed out the field a little here. I opt for the continuation bet and go for one third pot. See if my two checker's come along for the ride or if one does.

Mean while I choose to ingore Rays Facebook and twitter replies to make him sweat as to why he now owes me money!

#OOPS365 #Part1 

Damn it Ray!!! Your always getting me into trouble and your not even here!!! Just like that time I was rescued by the Greek coast guard after joining you in a motorised dingy for a zip along the beach only to run out of fuel, then drift into Turkish waters. Towed back by angry Greek coast guard to a barrage of abuse in Greek. I can make the only occasional swear word out, then I reply "it's all Greek to me!"

Now I'm finding myself in a lost in translation moment and Ray you ain't even here to blame. I'm staring at 75h semi connectors and I need to make a mandatory raise. Blinds are 200/400 and it's been raised to 1200. From here I'm just going to min raise to 2000 maybe my protest would be detected as some kinda bluff disguising a monster hand or will they smell the weakness as the raise was mandatory anyway. The min raise will allow me to see if these two opponents will re raise or call. Leaves me with several options here. If a re raise comes in the pot build may be worth the call as I'm already in for 2k at this point and who knows could flop the world. Or they just call suspicious of my non existent friend Ray as some sort of angle shoot and we go to the flop. However my concern was the 3x raise from early position plus the call which is indicative of a strong starting hands. Time will tell and this could yet be turned into an advantage.

I then proceed to Facebook and tweet Ray telling him he owes me at least 2K to a frantic reply of "WHAT THE **** FOR (I should mention the Greek story is actually true. Ray has been substituted to protect my mates identity)

#HandMalta #BOMriver 

Now the 2h (BRICK!!!) hits the river. Now in this spot being first to act has its advantages. He shoves the entire stack. Any spade beats you here and could easily have a Ace rag with one of them a spade in his range. 

My instinct tell me that this situation is just like when Admiral Akbar drops out of light speed in front of the Death Star with its shields up... ITS A TRAP!

I'm folding here. Again this is all down to the tournament mechanics of being close to the money. No point in needlessly calling off my stack when I still have about 40bb left to play with. I'm still in and will wait for a better spot. 

#HandMalta #BOMflop

So 4th spade now hits the turn and the Swedish pro now opts to check. My instinct here is to check back and see the river for free.

Again the money bubble looms and no need to crazy at this stage. The check could be a perfectly laid trap for you to bet into. By checking back you exercise restraint and pot control. Peeling the river for free allows you to try hit that full house. 

#HandMalta #BOMflop 

Ahhh being close to the money bubble will make those not experienced turn into survival mode and the pro sharks begin to circle smelling blood in the water with a view to keeping maximum pressure whilst stealing the blinds and antes.

I now find myself in a hand with 2014 WSOP main event winner Martin Jacobson who i just witness bluff 20% of his stack in a river bluff two hands earlier, raises to 5000. Ive got the button ive got position and I look at my hand... KhKd.

Not wanting this hand to go like my first marriage, starts all good with holding hands only to lose my chips in the divorce. I three bet to 12k and see where I am at. Martin calls.

Flop QsKs7s

Martin fires a continuation bet of 12k. With alot getting there in his range I opt for pot control and call the 12k and access my options on the turn.

If another spade comes out im folding like a Oragami master, blessed that my tournament life is still in tact with a good stack left behind me. As being close to the bubble lesser stacks are most likely to bow out. If board goes on to pair then i'm taking a trip down to value town. Either way position is everything in a hand like this. If the turn is a blank I will access the bet size that Martin would make and make a decision if the pot odds are there to call.