Deep stack recovery at The Vic...

I had a pretty sick 7 hour session at The Vic last night. I demonstrated a great deal of peace of mind and depth in character under severe pressure.

In the first hour of play I managed to ship out £350.

I lost a decent sized pot when I decided to double barrel with 9 high, only to be check raised on the turn.

I reloaded and pretty much immediately ran 77 into AA with an all in on a jack high flop. After several hours of analysis of the hand after my session (seriously I gave a lot of thought to this particular hand!), I decided it was not tilt induced, but again I reacted to a particular tell / read I had on my opponent.

So even though I made the wrong play, I was still somewhat satisfied of my ability and confidence to make a play based on my feel / instinct. Which from previous posts you will be aware is a facet of my game I am aggressively developing.

I reloaded again...and composed myself. Although I was in danger of recording another losing session, and the fact I had just come off the end of a losing week, I knew I had a pretty good loose table image and if my opponents did not leave I would find my spot to utilise this image to double through.

The key to it is however (the way I see it anyway) is to play small pots and chip up to around £250/£300. Then when you find that particular spot you have an optimum stack to double through (which will get you unstuck and set you up for a winning session).

I see many weaker opponents limp calling, chasing, and when they find a spot they don't have a full stack (this is another reason I always reload to £200 when ever I lose a pot).

Also my bets are memorable. I make sure my opponents recall my bets and raises with both my style of betting, and in particular the size of my bets. I bet £13, £33, £66...As this is out of the norm as most player will bet £10, £15, £25...they will recall and unconsciously store my actions significantly better than the rest of the opponents.

So, when they are playing a pot against me, and I bet out, they will recall the last time I bet that amount and the details of the hand, better than they would of another opponent (as they will group and generalise their styles)...I hope this makes sense...or I am articulating accurately.

OK, so let me give you an example of this from a hand last night. As I mentioned earlier I managed to get stacked with 9 8, following a betting pattern / size of £13 (preflop), £33 on the flop and £66 on the turn -only to fold to a check raise.

This particular hand I had AQ, I made it £13 preflop and got two callers.

Flop A Q 3 rainbow. Beautiful. I bet out £33. I get one caller. My opponent knows I am going to fire out a continuation bet 80-90% of the time so he could be calling me with any ace rag, any pair, actually this particular opponent (who I had played with on several occasions) could have a huge range of hands.

Turn brings another Q. BOOOM! My hand is sealed. Lock down hand (as I simply cant put my opponent on QQ or AA). I got position on my opponent who checks. Now, I could check here show weakness, and then possibly lead out on the river -I would expect a call from a pair or any ace rag if I played it that way.

But, I realise I need to build the pot as big as I can. So I bet out £66. Now I am hoping and depending on this guy's recall of my previous double barrel bluff and praying for a call. I get a call!

River is a brick (well any card is a brick for me, actually it was a 10, putting a straight out there). My opponent bets out £50, into a pot of around £240.

Decision time. Size of the raise. If this guy read me for a bluff on the turn then he may have a weak holding, and too big of a bet will chase this guy away. If he completed a gutshot straight with the 10, then I am getting paid no matter what I bet, but it is unlikely he chased the draw.

I put him on a under pair to the board, or a weak ace. I decide the best way to disguise the strength of my hand is to push all in. As I commented earlier this guy is somewhat of a calling station, with an ability to make big calls. On a several occasions I have seen this guy make very marginal calls on river pushes (and have even said to myself "wow, sooner or later this guy will pay me off!").

I push, and try and look and sound as nervous as possible. After several minutes of sweating me, he calls. Weeeeeeeee! £13 x 3 (pre flop) £39 + £33 x 2 (flop) £66 + £66 x 2 (turn) £132 + £50 x 2 (river) £100 + £140 x 2 (river push / call) £280 = £617 pot.

From there I play lock down poker with the intention of completing a winning session. I am blessed when a beginner with deep pockets joins our game and pays my trip 7s off.

I get out drawn in a sizable pot late on, but still finish the night with +£200 profit. A very satisfactory result considering the start!

Anyway,

I am going to play now...

Yigit....out!