Nice Score at the Hairy Crapshoot

The Empire Hairy Crapshoot has improved it's format. The four pound entrance fee has gone but the casino now rake 10% from the prize fund, so it's debatable whether the winners are better off. The add on is now worth 2000, so there's a bit more play when the 'real' tournament starts.

I played Thursday night with the usual mix of players :
1. First time live players from Europe who can't shuffle/deal/sort out split pots etc.
2. Hairy, scary looking Eastern Europeans who can't speak without sounding like they want to kill me.
3. Mildly drunk cockney lads on a boys night out playing poker who are all waiting for the last man to get knocked out because he's driving.
4. Regulars who think they own the place, but do know how to work out side pots.

I played my usual too tight too aggressive style and ended the rebuy period with 700 chips from my starting 1000. This is the norm for my style of play. I added on for 20 quid but was still short stacked with blinds going to 150/300 after the break. I used my 2700 chips well and eventually got it all in with pocket eights on a scary fl op of 2,3,6. A lady who looks and talks like she was in the Munsters called me with A2 and for some reason I decided she'd flopped a straight and got up to leave. The board didn't help her and I went to walk away. It was only when a bloke that looks like Peter Stringfellow* told me I'd won that I realised I was still in and sat down again (Note to self, stop being so defeatist).
*Stringfellow is a thinner, scruffier version of the man himself, who says he lives in Leicester Square. I believe him and think he lives near the statue in a cardboard box. A solid player and pleasant bloke when you get to know him, especially as he never asks for loose change for a cup of tea.

I got to the final two tables with a mixture of luck, solid play and luck. My key all in hand to get me to the final table was my Ten Eight suited against a baseball capped Russian lad with pocket nines. He was dealing and looked fairly sick when he dealt an eight on the flop and another on the turn to more or less triple me up.

One incident I'm not proud of involved a meek looking bloke and one of the semi drunk lads. The meek looking bloke went all in to a big bet by the semi drunk. For some reason the semi drunk thought everyone had folded and threw his cards face down into the middle of the table. The cards didn't quite hit the muck but he clearly threw his cards away. The meek bloke protested (quietly) when the semi drunk grabbed his cards back at which point the Russians and everyone else started arguing. I joined in and got quite irate with the Russians, most of whom were just hanging around the card room. I shouldn't have got involved as I wasn't even in the hand, but I felt like sticking up for the meek bloke so I said my piece. It's only when all the Russians left the card room for about ten minutes I thought they may be making plans to kill me and decided I would keep my mouth shut next time.

The final table came and it was push or fold time for most people. I was unlucky for the seat draw then lucky with my cards and others being bust out. We got down to three, Ivan the deadly Russian, Oz the uncharacteristically quiet Australian and I. Oz had about 70k, I had 22K and Ivan had about 20K. The blinds were 6k and 12k so we chopped it for what I think was a good deal. Ivan and I got 470, Oz got 700. The prizes were 340, 500 and 900 and there was a good chance I would have got third, so the extra 140 quid was nice.
What I don't like is The Empire don't manage the deals so the players have to sort it out themselves. I came third on a high card so I had to march the other two to the cash desk and hope they were men of honour and would hand over the money owed. They did, but I'd prefer not to have to do that as I can see it turning ugly eventually.

So to recap, last week I earned £644 extra after tax for doing 41 extra hours, a knackering 81 hour week. My earn rate was £15.70 an hour. If I'd played poker all week at Thursday night's earn rate of £105 an hour I would be banking £4305! Wow.

Good news - my multi table money is in profit for the first time since my WSOP side event busto. Let's see how long that lasts!

Profit / (Loss) - Both live and online
Cash - $770
Single Tables - $1214
Multi Tables - $32
Total - $2016