Empire Tuesdays

CC calls me at 7:05pm and asks if I'm up for a game. Of course I am, when is it? About 5 mins ago. Luckily, it was 10 mins from work, so I rolled over and we played 5-handed 30 quid freeze-out with some music industry folks. Busted in the first one fairly quick as one guy had my number. Every time I re-raised him pre-flop (pocket 8's, pocket 9's, and AJ suited), he moved all-in. I folded and was hamstrung. The second tourney, I look down at 67-suited and decide to mix it up, raising 4x the big blind. Guy to my left makes the call. When the flop comes JT7, I continuation bet the pot. He moves all-in on me. Having been bullied around the whole night, I made a sick call with third pair. He was pissed to turn over his A9-off, and I doubled-up. Picking up a couple of nice hands (QQ and AK), I increased my stack to 3x the starter and was dominating against the remaining 2 players at roughly 1x. I proceeded to get beat thrice on all-in's with the best hand....AK lost to AJ, KK lost to A9, and AJ lost to QT. I finished second, and was very disappointed to lose 20 quid on the night.

So....CC and I headed over to Empire where the usual Tuesday 1/2, 250-max cash games following the re-buy tourney were about to begin (~10pm). There was one well-financed fish at the table who provided my first double-up to 500 when I flopped a flush with J8-suited...somehow I got him to commit his whole stack when an A turned.

After the fish had re-bought 3x and quickly dropped 750 quid, he left, to the disappointment of the whole table.

After a strong start, I overplayed AT in position against AQ. I just didn't put him on a big hand, and lost 250 quid.

There were a few decent players at the table, but they were all very predictable/readable (sans the hand above). So, I played suited connectors, calling raises, when I was pretty sure these guys were on big cards. Got back on track with a hand of 89-hearts. I called a $15 raise and happily saw a flop of 839 2-suited. I led out with $15, knowing he would re-raise me, which he did for $40. I "agonized" and called. When the turn came 9, I checked to him. He bets $50. I call, looking like I need the flush draw. River 2 misses the flush, and I bet out $30, looking weak. He raises to $60. Again, I "agonize" for 90 seconds and re-raise for another $100. He ends of calling me with A9, trips, and I took down another sizable pot.

Final victory hand happened from the button. UTG lays down a live straddle for 4 quid (amazing what 2 pounds will do to the action on the table). UTG+1 raises it to $14, 3 callers later, re-raise to $35. It folds to me on the button and I look down at the rockets AA. With so many players possibly in this hand, there's only one thing to do, "ALL IN" (i had everyone covered at the table). The original straddler goes into the tank for 2 mins and announces a call. Everyone folds around to the $35 raiser and he mucks JJ. AA vs. KK and they hold up. I walked out at 2am +580 quid.