Subject: Stud and Hold Em in London: Trip Report (long)
From: asha34@aol.com (Asha34)
Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker
Date: Fri, Feb 22, 2002 3:56 PM
Message-ID: <20020222185645.03057.00000079@mb-fe.aol.com>

Just came back from a wonderful vacation with my family in London.  I had a
chance to try out the Grosvenor Victoria Casino on Edgware Road in the West End
of London.  It was a very interesting and enjoyable experience.

I only had about 5 hours of play.  But I managed to play PL Omaha, Hold Em and
7-Card Stud.  

The first table I sat at was L50 buy in L1,2 blind PL Omaha/HoldEM. The game
rotated with each round, the players dealing their own hands.  The house
charged 5 pounds an hour.  There was no rake.

This was the cheapest game in the room.  Four other games were going.  L100 PL
HE, L200 PL He and eventually a L50 PL 7 Stud game.

The players at my 50/50 HE/Omaha game all seemed to know each other.  I was the
only tourist.  From what I could tell in my 2 hours of play, the skill level
varied considerably.  Two of the guys seemed very good, though I doubt they
made their living at the game.  Three of the players I started with moved up to
the higher stake game as soon as seats openned up.  Four of the players were
nearly clueless -- playing many more hands than seemed to make sense and
regularly busting out, getting more money and coming back in.  A few others
seemed extremely tight, just waiting for the nuts; everyone generally folded
when they bet.

I managed to steal a few pots with some semi-bluffs from late position, but
lost my 100 pound stake after about an hour when my nut flush on the turn got
Rivered by a Board-pairing River which gave another player a full house.  Alas.
 I bought in again, rocked around for about another hour and went to the Stud
game when it started.

The Stud game was interesting.  I had never player PL Stud in a casino (though
I've played it many times in home games).  I quickly found that I could not
employ the strategy I generally use in home games.

When playing at home, I generally call or raise the bring in, depending much
more on position and my read of other players than on the cards I hold.  But
this game was very different.  It had a $.50 ante per player; I didn't know any
of the players; they all knew each other (with one or two exceptions); and THEY
tended to play more loosely and aggressively than those in my home game.

I tried to play very cautiously at first.  I applied about the same standards
to starting hands as I do to the 15/30 Limit games that I've often been in --
loosening up however if the pot wasn't raised after the initial bring in.  I
was MUCH tighter than anyone else in this game.  But no one seemed to notice. 
I raised a few pots on Third Street with a pair and no one folded.  I bet the
pot on fourth street with no improvement but with a scare card added to my
pair, thinking that this would get everyone to fold.  But I got called the
three times this occurred.  I didn't dare bet on fifth street with no
improvement (it would have meant my entire stack if I bet the pot).  I lost the
hand here once, when my opponent drew a third suited up card, bet the pot and I
folded. I lost an enormous hand when my 6th Street flush lost to a higher
flush.  I checked it down to the River once and won the small pot.  And My bet
on the River, after checking it down until then, won me the pot once when I
wasn't called on the River.  And I won a large pot when my pair of Kings, which
I had bet all the way and gone all in on on 6th Street was called by a lower
pair.
   As I said, this was an interesting game.
   I'm still trying to figure out what adjustments I should have made to take
full advantage of the combination of loose and aggressive play in this game. 
The challenge for me was dealing with the likelihood that I could have the best
hand on third or fourth street, but be against two or three drawing hands which
would win my entire stack if they hit their hands by the River.
   Here's an extreme example of the dilemma of Pot Limit 7 Stud.  
   You have Aces wired on the deal.  You know that if you raise the pot by 5,
you will get at least 3 and often 5 or 6 callers for the 5.
   On fourth street two opponents show two flushes, two show potential four
straights and the fifth and sixth player don't seem to improve (but might
have!).
  One of the players who didn't seem to improve bets the pot, let's say 25. The
next player, who is loose and aggressive, raises to 75.  You are next.  You
probably have the best hand.  You are not very deep; maybe you have 150. 
Everyone else except for the loose aggressive guy (who has a huge stack), would
be all in or nearly all if you raise and go all in.
   Do you do what seems like the obvious move and push in all your chips?  The
four drawing hands are yet to act.  You want to knock them out if you can.  But
what if you are 90% sure that at least two of them will call all in?  Do you
still do it?
   I did, and won.  But I'm not sure that I did the right thing.
   Anyway, I got into some interesting discussions at the table with the
players.  They were mostly of Arabic background (this is a heavily Arab section
of the city: Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Egypt were all
represented).  We talked about Internet poker (they didn't know, or said they
didn't know that this existed).  Oh, and they SMOKED ALOT!!!!

   I spoke to the floor about wearing a mask.  They assured me that I would be
allowed to wear one as long as the other players didn't object (considering how
much I talked, I suspect they would have prefered it if I covered my mouth most
of the time).

   And, everyone should know that this is the best place to change money.  You
not only get the best bank rate when you buy pounds, but you can change your
money back with no fee at the same rate.

   All in all, I wish I had had more time to play.  It was a blast.
   Now, if I can only figure out HOW to play...

Ashley