Sunday, 3 October 2010

FPL Table

As of 3rd October 2010






























PlayerPlayedWinsPodiumsKnock- outsPoints /PlayedTotal Points
Teddy7
5
6
15123
861
Adam
7
2
4
5
90
628
Cam8
07
3
70
559
Jon
6
1
4
6
81
485
Josh
4
01
1
37
149
Chris
3
01
041
124
Luca
1
00020
20

FPL Game 8

Five players made their way to the Bonerdome on a cool Autumn Sunday. Chris made a late withdrawal, leaving host Jon, Ted, Cam, Josh and myself to contest the high anticipated return of the most prestigious league in the world, by which I mean Shepway.

The starting stack for the tournament was 6000, with blinds beginning at 10/20 and increasing at regular intervals. Jon's new chips were impressive, an array of colours with my own personal highlights being orange, yellow and purple. The pots remained fairly small early on with several skirmishes resulting in relatively small fluctuations. Jon, Josh and Cam developed early chip leads, with Ted being unable to get things started and me losing several medium-sized pots to Josh. My personal lowest point was just over 4200.

Things got better for me after this phase though, the same cannot be said for Ted however. After pre-flop and post-flop action and a check-check turn, a third diamond on board invited me to throw out a value bet of 600. With little hesitation, Ted made a valuey-looking raise to 1400. I snap-called, Ted announced flush, 10 high and tabled the 10d8d for second pair on the flop and a showdown hand of a 10 high flush. He was left disappointed though as my QdXd regained its pre-flop superiority on the river. Still with a very much playable stack, Ted found another spot that seemed unlikely due to the nature of his ethnicity. Perhaps Kosher finally caught up with Ted when in a fairly large pot, Jon made a suspicious looking bet on the end, for a large proportion of the pot after a checked turn and substantial earlier action. Ted snap called and showed down his rivered top pair. He was again left wanting at showdown as Jon showed a disguised straight that he was allowed to make by way of a gutshot through a check-check turn.

At this point, Ted was short, with approximately just under 2000 chips. Cam opened for a standard raise, only for Ted to put his stack on the line. Cam then went into the tank for approximately five minutes before he made the reluctant, confusing, unorthodox, brave, gutsy, hopeful, courageous, optimistic, bewildering call with 9x9x. Ted made a predictably outrageous sound when the call was announced and he showed the King of Swaziland and the King of Lesotho for pocket Kings. The flop offered little hope for Cam and the open-ended straight draw that the turn offered was not even considered a threat for Ted who had the nut Jew re-draw, effectively meaning that Cam was drawing dead. It would have taken a great turn up for the books for Cam to hit is not unimportant eight outs, greater than the effort I put into researching that the aforementioned Kings actually exist. The King of Swaziland rules in an absolute monarchy, whereas the King of Lesotho rules in a constitutional monarchy. Mswati III and Letsie III survived the minor uprising that the turn brought though, with Ted ruling supreme. Cam was left fairly short with just over 2000 himself now. Ted continued his streak of royalty, providing ridiculous, inappropriate impressions of the Prince of Poker, Scotty Nguyen (baby). Cam, who did well not to cause a sucession crisis, reacted commendably well to the news, amazingly deciding not to leave in the face of Ted's behaviour.


At this point, Josh had grinded his way to a fairly imposing chip lead. In what was most definitely his most impressive appearance so far, the rising star took down 317514 (to the nearest 317514) pots that I had open-raised pre-flop with. When it eventually did reach showdown, Josh had the best of it more than half the time, against every player of the table. This dominating play was a product of Josh mixing his newfound aggression along with his more favoured checking and calling. Not afraid to check-call with nothing and bet the goods, Josh looked nailed on for a deep run today.

Jon's stack was fluctuating fairly aggressively, though with a general upward trend. Despite having to surrender position to Ted, he won a fair few pots, including one exceptional call when not offered the best of odds, holding only AK high, which was just about good to scoop the pot. At this stage, I was playing relatively few hands and trying to stay out of the paths of Jon and Josh who were clearly playing very well. With Cam unwilling to play large pots with me out of position, I was able to take down a lot of pots both pre and post-flop, allowing to remain relatively comfortable with roughly 7000 before the following hand.

Shorter than after doubling Ted up, Cam open shoved for the second successive hand. Ted and I both spent several moments considering the call, before Josh insta-called. The pocket nines that haunted him in the war against two of the smallest states in Africa were slammed onto the table by Josh, leaving Cam ambivalent about being in a race with his AxQx unsuited. Unfortunately for him, Ted and I had both laid down smaller aces. Ted also mucked one of the two remaining nines, offering the slightest of silver linings for Cam. The board ran with little drama, allowing Cam to make a swift exit following lots of sentences that included the word, "Baby" from Ted. This gave Josh a flipping large chip lead, with over a third of the chips in play.

Josh continued his fine play, taking down pots of various sizes on various streets against various opponents with various starting hands.

Drama shortly followed, amazingly resulting in two players being all in and the third (Josh) having the majority of his chips in the middle. Ted made one of the most impressive all ins of FPL history, when Juninho got hungry with Kx4x. Josh made the call and after considering both folding and re-shoving, Jon also made the call.

The flop came 6x-4x-Biggerthana6x, allowing Jon to move all in. After a count, Josh made a reluctant but hopeful call with AxQx, knowing that winning the side-pot alone would give him a huge lead. All three players showed down their hands, Ted's pair of fours were second best to Jon's pair of sixes, both susceptible to Josh's AQ high that could also pick up a counterfeit draw on the turn. Both Ted and Josh were drawing dead by the turn though, as the sound of a 6x slapping the table echoed around the room. The irrelevant river was dealt, giving Jon a fair chip lead over me, Josh with around the starting stack and Ted eliminated in 4th place. The Judaism wasn't flowing as well as Ted would have liked, though the deadliness of his needles towards Cam left him with some consolation.

Three handed play continued for a good time after the bubble had burst, with all three players guaranteed at least the consolation return of £2. I realised I would to chip up if I was to make the final two. I looked to play pots in position and after some impressive play from Jonah that further increased his lead, I was able to snatch it back. A very large pot emerged between Josh and I. He called a strong value bet on the river, reading my weakness well. Unfortunately, I wasn't weak enough. A flopped pair of deuces was good for one of the biggest pots of the day so far, against Josh's Ace high.

In the hand before lunch, another large pot took place between Jon and I. After action on every street, 938 cards to a straight on the board and at least 6 minutes of tanking, I finally made the call for 2000 chips, with my top pair no kicker good. The pot totalled well over 12000, almost half of the total chips in play. This gave me a clear chip and went some way to equalling Josh's and Jon's stacks.

Lunch was belatedly taken, with my appetite remaining intact when I discovered I had won the last hand. Many thanks must go to Jon's Mum for a very enjoyable burger and chips meal.

As play continued, the chips continued to move away from Jonah, mainly in my direction but also in the way of Josh. After losing several small pots back to Jon, Jon had regained the chip lead and found himself covering Josh when the two of them amazing got the chips in the middle with straight flush draws! Josh's was for a higher straight flush, though any club would give him the win against Jon's made straight. No blame can be attached to Josh, who I believe also had a straight draw. His overcards may have been live also and with a wide range of outs, it was unlucky that the turn and the river provided small help. Josh took down third place, walking away with his first cash of £2, first podium but most importantly: a great performance. The best player at the table for long stretches of play, it was hard to picture him losing earlier on. Stack's boner was increased impressively as a result, though still a large underdog in terms of chips going into the heads up battle.

After a short pause, the blinds were agreed to be increased to 60/120 until the game became tedious. The battle did not start well for everyone's favourite erection nicknamed friend called Jon. I won the first four hands, cementing the chip lead and wittling Jon down to about 5000. It must be said that I ran well during this period, winning most of the pots and only losing three big blinds maximum in the hands that I did lose. Jon's play cannot be to blame for this, he played the short stack extremely well, making several all in moves that left me tanking like a Thomas engine. My conclusion was the same the first three or so times, much to the dismay of Ted, I declined to call with 7x2x off-suit. After running the board it would be fair to say that I could have won the event right there.

Eventually, having won a few more relatively large pots, I open shoved against Jon, putting him at risk for his remain 1500 or so. Knowing that he was most likely utterly live, he made the call with JsTs against my 5d5h. Suffice to say, Jon won the flip after making Jacks up.

Several more fluctuations later, Jon was fought back down to around 2500. On a flop of 2x-2x-7x, Jon open shoved on the flop. I spent several minutes contemplating the call after sensing that Jon was strong, leading me to believe I could be up against an over pair or even a third deuce. I reluctantly show down Ac7h to discover I have Jon's with his 7x8x outkicked. No drama on the turn or river completed a day of underwhelming showdowns, not that I was complaining as I took down my second FPL event of the season and the £15 prize. A well earned and arguably unlucky second place yielded £8 after a rock solid performance from the rampant boner.

All in all, a great day. A day of firsts. The debut of Jon's bright chips, the first cash and first podium for Josh. The first games without a podium finish for both Cam and Judaism. And amazingly I haven't mentioned it before now but also the first appearance of Jon's ridiculously aggressive Jewish mask and a humourous piece of headware that will keep the head of the boner dry, however wet the adjacent area to him his.

Play of the day: Jon's call with AK high in a big pot against Ted's inferior A high.

The points distribution for todays game are as below. Jon's got an updated league table to come in the next post.

Adam: 145
Jon: 108
Josh: 69
Ted: 40
Cam: 20

Monday, 27 September 2010

New Fixture - Sunday 3rd October

A new fixture has been announced, taking place on the 3rd October (this Sunday) at 9:30 and it will be held in the Hobbs residence. So far, 5 players have been confirmed. The long awaited restart of the season looks to be a very exciting game with sensational new chips and some spectacular surprise headwear.

FPL Update- Part 3

Game 7-

After missing Game 6 for football and/or partying related reasons, I once again hosted a fixture. Just like the previous game at the Sovietdome, this was a 4 handed encounter, with myself (Teddy KGB), Jon, Cameroon and Josh playing. In addition to the prize money on offer for 1st and 2nd, me and Cam had a last-longer bet, in which the first one of us knocked out would have to purchase a copy of the film Rounders on DVD for the other one (Rounders is the best poker-related film, and possibly the best film, ever made. I recommend it!). Anyway, the game got off to an unexpected start, with league table positions reversed as Josh took a surprise chip lead, with myself short stacked. Thankfully (for me) this did not last very long, and after doubling up through Josh with a full house, I gained a large chip lead and knocked Cottingham out soon after. Following this, I managed to get it all in pre-flop against a shortstacked Jonah with AQ, and Jon holding just J9 offsuit. Jon doubled up with a turned straight after i flopped top pair, but was forced all in again around 30 minutes later, once again holding just J9 vs my AK. After a flop containing another two 9s, however, Jon had once again doubled up. He was still shortstacked, but after these two hands Jon was feeling the power of the Jack 9, and went all in again holding J9 of clubs, which i called holding pocket 9s. Bang Bang Bang three clubs hit the flop, which doubled Psychojon up once again to give us reasonably even stacks, and put Cam into a slight chiplead. Justice was done though, when i finally KO'ed Jon, and me and Cameron were once again heads up at my house. Just like the last time, it was a long, drawn out heads up contest, with both players playing good poker. With about a 2:1 chip lead, I put the Tramp all in with a rivered set of Jacks, and Cam insta-called with a full house. Despite the chip lead, Cam could not (predictably) finish it off, and i worked my way back into the chip lead until, 2 and a half hours into the heads up battle, an interesting hand came up. I called cam's preflop raise with 23 offsuit, and the flop came 3-K-J with two hearts. I checked and called Cameron's bet, and again when a 4 hit the turn, after reading Cam's weakness. When the 5 of diamonds hit the river, I checked once again, and Cameron went all in for his remaining chips. After thinking for a while, I eventually called with bottom pair, no kicker, and Cameron tapped the table and turned over 92 for a 9 high, a complete bluff! I had won the money, the league points, but best of all the DVD side bet, retaining my 100% home record. The standings after this, and indeed the current table, are as follows:



This game was played at the end of April, and after a long summer of cash games, and the 2nd Adam Owen Invitational tourney, the FPL will resume shortly. Lets hope things carry on as usual.

"Meester Son of a Beech! Lets play some cards..."-
Teddy KGB, Rounders.

Sunday, 26 September 2010

FPL Update - Part 2

Game 6

The 6th game of the FPL was the first New Romney fixture, hosted by a very accommodating Chris Meller. Held towards the end of another bitter winter, the players couldn't wait for something to take their minds off the frostbite and nasty colds. More importantly, Teddy KGB, due to a reason, was unable to attend. This game would be contested by Adam, Cameron, Josh, myself (Jonah) and of course the host.
The game started at a fast but steady pace, with myself, Adam and Cam dominating the play. A bad spot for Josh left him with minimum points and me with a chip lead. Chris was to be the next casualty. His knockout was also won by myself. However, three handed play commenced with no clear chip leader.
However, I found myself in another lucky spot against Cameron, flopping the nut straight against Cameron's wheel. Aggressive pre-flop play disguised my hand and he was crippled, leaving me a big chip leader again. The Tramp soon found himself knocked out at the tentacles of the Squid.
Heads up, battle raged with chips moving towards Adam, but the chip lead remaining in my stack. And then the game finished.
It was an unconventional end to the game but, being cut short before an absolute winner could be declared, a deal was made. It was as follows:

The first place prize was split 7:5 in Jonah's favour.
(2nd place 80+30%= 104, 1st place 100+50%= 150, 2nd place knockout points= 5)
Both players awarded 104 as a base, the additional 51 points split 7:5 = 30:21. The win and the knockout were awarded to Jonah for final table purposes.































PlayerPlayedWinsPodiumsKnock- outsPoints /PlayedTotal Points
Teddy5
4
5
12141
706
Adam
6
1
3
4
81483
Cam6
06
3
78
467
Jon
4
1
4
4
83
333
Chris
3
01
041
124
Josh
2
00030
60
Luca
1
00020
20

The FPL is likely to resume shortly and, no doubt, there will be plenty more surprising, humorous, puzzling, and often outrageous stories.

What a beautiful game we play
Seven times as graceful as ballet
Fifteen times as clever as chess
There's even a little fancy dress

FPL Update- Part 1

Due to a number of factors, specifically apathy, the Folkestone Poker League blog has remained unupdated (is that even a word?) since the end of game one. Despite over a year passing since that famous day, only a further 6 games have been played. In that time however, there have been bad beats, suckouts, league members retiring, new members added, distasteful humour, winning, losing, sidebets, and league position changes. In this first update of what's gone on in the last year of the FPL, I will cover games 2-5, in impressively hazy and imprecise detail. Enjoy.

Game 2- 

A full turnout for this game at Luke's was a pleasant surprise, unlike the uncharacteristic lack of food in the Wraight household. Following Chris' lack of notice about Game 1, it was agreed that his points total be doubled in game 2. Chris Meller "Feller" announced his poker debut with an astonishing 6th place out of 6, his 20 points doubled to 40 after he was knocked out by someone or other, this was over a year ago i can't bloody remember. Anyway, Jon "Psychomobil" Hobbs and Adam soon fell afterwards (Once again, i have no idea who knocked them out) followed by Cameron in 3rd. Bollocks I've just realised i could work out the knockouts by looking at the points. Actually i can't be arsed. In any case, I (Ted) had a reasonable chiplead over the host (Socks [Luke]), and a few hands into heads up play, i was dealt pocket aces. I remember this well (amazingly), as i slowplayed them by limping on the button, and smooth-calling luke's raise. He got it all in with top pair on a K-x-x flop, and my AA held up for my 2nd consecutive win! After claiming the majority of the cash (and making some kind of snide, sock-related needle) I left Game 2 atop the FPL Standings:

Standings:

1) Teddy – 350

2) Luke – 169

3) Cameron – 157

4) Jon – 149

5) Adam – 80

6)Chris – 40

Game 3

The 3rd FPL encounter took place at Cameron "STV" Rodger's house, and began in a similar fashion to the previous 2 games, with me in a commanding chip lead. 5 players, all but Chris, attended this fixture, and, following a barbecue lunch break (thank you Cam's mum), Luke was felted in last place (Get in there!). Jon finished 4th soon afterwards, leaving myself with a slender chip lead over Adam "Squid" Owen and Cameron. However, I could not repeat my earlier FPL success, and following a flush over flush cooler with Cam, I was crippled and swiftly knocked out in 3rd. Once again I'm sorry for the lack of detail in regards to knockouts, but thats what happens if you don't update things for over a year. Cameron began heads up play with a small lead over Adam, but the trend of hosts finishing 2nd continued, as Adam (predictably, heads up vs Cam) won for his first FPL victory. Standings after this:

Standings:

1) Teddy – 431

2) Cameron – 255

3)Adam – 230

4) Jon – 189

5) Luke – 189

6) Chris – 40

**Due to an incident involving Luke, Teddy, a sock and Microsoft Annie, Luke left the FPL. After the remaining members celebrated this great achievement, Josh and Luca joined the league to fill Luke’s shoes (Although thankfully not his socks).**

Game 4-

So, with Luke's hilarious, aggressive, and well received departure from the FPL, came the arrival of 2 new faces: Josh "Sheriff of" Cottingham and Luca "Fernandez" Fernandez Warren, who both made their FPL debut in Game 4, once again at the home of Cam. Those 3, me, and Adam played this fixture, and both debutants surpassed all expectations, Luca coming last and Josh 4th out of the 5 participants. I held a commanding chip lead (again) during 3 handed play, with Cam 2nd in chips, and Adam short. Cameron was desperate to get to heads up, and prove his critics wrong by winning a first heads up match in his long poker career, and was delighted to look down at pocket jacks on the button. Seeing a chance to knock Adam out, but not wanting to risk it all in case i woke up to a monster, Cam raised the total of Adam's chips, about 1/3 of Cam's stack. Adam folded his rags, and I looked down to find AK suited on the big blind. Interpreting Dr. Carrot's reluctancy to raise all of his chips, I instantly shoved, putting Cam to a (not very) tough decision for all his chips (easy call). After tanking for upwards of 10 minutes, he agonisingly folded the best hand, and then rabbit hunted, to see that his JJ would've held up, which would've given him the chip lead. Tilted by this hand, Cam's play grew more erratic, with crazy bluffs called down by me and Adam, until Cam, thinking he had Adam covered, announced all in, holding just A3 offsuit. Adam called with (I think) a pocket pair (or a better ace. A 10? Who knows? Certainly not me.) and, astonishingly, produced more chips from behind his glass of  Coke (or Pepsi. Fanta? Who knows? Certainly not me.) which put Cam all in. Adam's hand (whatever the fuck it was) held up, and we were heads up for the first time in FPL history. Getting revenge for the final leg of the old league final table, which had concluded around a week prior to this, I won the heads up after a few hands when my flopped pair of aces held up vs Adam's draws. A 3rd victory for Teddy "KGB" J-S, which cemented my place at the top of the FPL table:

Standings:

1) Teddy – 591

2) Adam – 333

3) Cameron – 319

4) Jon – 189

5) Chris – 40

6) Josh – 40

7) Luca – 20

Game 5-

After crushing previous games, it was now my turn to host an FPL fixture. Only four players made it to the Sovietdome for Game 5, myself, Adam, Chris, and Cam. The stacks were relatively even in the opening hours of the game, until Adam was knocked out by Cameron in a brutal boat over boat hand, with Adam's full house holding A9 no match for Cameron's flopped boat with A10, on a board of A-10-A-x-9. Sick beat. An aggressive, steaming Squid left the game a mere 2 hours after the start, which began a period of dominance by Cameron, holding a big chip lead over me, with Chris attempting to fold his way into the money. Unfortunately for Chris, Cameron did not knock me out, and (after folding his unraised small blind every single rotation) Chris was forced to shove with KQ with only a few big blinds left. It was an easy call for Cam with pocket aces, which held up to give him just over a 2:1 chip lead heads up. Despite being poised for his first ever heads up victory, I would just not give in, and after a grueling 3 hours of heads up play i had regained the chip lead, and eventually won! The final hand was notable as Cam, not for the first or last time against me, bluffed all in with just 10 high! Unluckily for him, I had rivered the nut straight and snap called for my 4th win out of 5, leaving Cam crestfallen. Hahahahahaaaa. Anyway, the FPL Standings after this game were as follows: 

1) Teddy – 706

2) Cameron – 401

3) Adam – 353

4) Jon – 189

5) Chris – 84

6) Josh – 40

7) Luca – 20

I wasn't present for game 6, but Part 2 is coming soon, presented by none other than Jon Hobbs, a man of many talents, among them racewalking, songwriting, aggression, scotch drinking, and creative folding. Oh and poker.