Madchester Grosvenor: Night 1

I was on my cousin's stag do in Manchester at the weekend, obviously the man code rules say I shouldn't reveal anything from the weekend but i had a most enjoyable, scandal free time at the city's casinos, so I reckon it's ok. I didn't really know anyone, apart from my cousin obviously, but that didn't matter much after a few beers.

On the first night, five of us found ourselves in a small Grosvenor casino, it was possibly the smallest casino i've been in, certainly not the swankiest, but it nice enough and as we found out over the course of the night, the staff were very friendly and not too strict on policing a bunch of rowdy drunken Scotsmen.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but I don't really 'do' casinos anymore. I play poker, and that's about it. I used to be attracted to the idea of casinos, and tried my hand at various games but since getting into poker, everything else just seems like, well, gambling. But I was happy enough to get a beer and watch the games unfold.

As some of the guys sat down at the blackjack table I spotted a poker cash game table in the corner, I wandered over and saw that it had very affordable blinds at 50p/£1. This is still above my level for proper bankroll management, I would rarely consider even dipping my toes into 50c/$1 online but seeing as i'd never played or even seen a game lower than £1/2 in a bricks and mortar casino, this seemed pretty cheap at the price, so I sat down.

A couple of strangers were already at the table waiting for more players, when two of my cohorts, Dave and 'Magic' joined me at the baize. I bought in for £70, giving me the joint largest stack. One of the original strangers left after not very long, but we were joined by 2 others and our very own 'Munch', which created a very dynamic table.

One of the strangers, Giovanni, was an Italian restaurant owner and very much an Italian stereotype. He was loud, bold and passionate, and saw himself as the table captain, he bullied with a series of big bluffs, all the while inviting us to come to his restaurant for dinner the next night and was happy to buy the table drinks.

Sitting to his left was his polar opposite, Wendy. A middle aged chinese woman who never spoke and never, over many hours, raised. A preflop limp followed by a fold on the flop, and if that pattern broke, you'd better have something or give it up.

I often consider myself the only serious gambler in most social groups, and that's because I know very few people in the real world who do it as often as i do. 'Magic' however, was our group's only serious gambler. I got the impression that I probably play more often than Magic but he plays for higher stakes than me, was a keen sports bettor and also played the casino table games. Not that he was some kind of maniac gambler, he was clearly knowledgeable about everything I've just mentioned. So as we played, he was the one I was keeping an eye on.

I was sandwiched between 'Munch' and Dave, I didn't know they played poker, when initially getting introduced to the group, I was referred to Magic for poker chat but it seemed they all enjoyed a regular "poker and beers" home game. I think Dave and Munch both approached this game as if it were a home game, only Dave was there just for fun, while Munch wanted to show everyone who was the boss.

The dealer was from one of the newer eastern european countries, I forget which, but that meant we had 5 nationalities at the table, none of them English.

I decided to play fairly tight, I was aware I had been drinking for hours, so didn't want to just throw my money away, afterall £70 is still £70, drunk or not. Magic and Munch were in a constant battle with Giovanni to exert their dominance of the table, so there was plenty of action, I was happy to wait til I hit big and hoped to get paid off.

Although we accounted for more than half the players, I don't think there was ever any impression that we were in anyway a team, and Giovanni was more than happy to give as good as he got as the banter flew across the table. The poor staff had to continuously ask us to tone things down, which would work for about 5 minutes, or just embroil them into the banter. I suspect that because our rambunctious table constituted about 90% of the customers in the casino we got a away with a lot more than you'd expect. It was all in good humour, the laughs, action and drinks came thick and fast, well except for Wendy who sat quietly limp call folding all night. Some of the guys tried to entice her into the joviality but she wasn't for it, so we left her to her game plan.

Eventually, we lost Magic to an all in confrontation with Giovanni, I can't recall the hand but Magic had decided it wasn't his night and moved over to the Blackjack, where he lost 21 hands in a row before busting.

I thought I was going to be joining him soon enough when a my pocket queens came up against some VERY heavy betting from Giovanni on a king high board. He put me all in on the river, every street he had over bet the pot. I tanked for a long time before deciding his betting just didn't make sense... what to do what to do... he'd showed a few bluffs, but then he had the goods against Magic... arrgh... I called, he showed 3rd pair, and I doubled up, AWESOME!

The final player to join the table was Lin, he seemed to be a serious player, in every sense of the word, and I'm not sure if he thought the bunch of drunken loudmouths would be easy pickings or not, but I imagine he regretted his decision to sit down.

Not only did he look a bit uncomfortable with the table talk but after finishing off Giovanni, Munch focused his attention on Lin and before long he'd cleared him out as well. With just Dave, Munch and myself left, Wendy decided to call it a night. 

I was counting my chips ready to cash out, when Munch decided to challenge me and Dave for the rest of our chips. Including whatever i'd spent buying drinks for the table, I was still up about £10 or £20, I was quite happy all in all, it had been a really good night and essentially free. But Munch's bravado provoked me into playing more, as I said, I was happy to finish up there but he was giving it the big talk, and I couldn't let it end like that. I was sure I could outplay him and I had position on him too. Dave was happy to continue on, so we played winner takes all, with the money on the table.

Bizarrely, now with the strangers out the way, the mood became a lot more serious. I wouldn't have minded so much if Dave won all the money, he was just there for the fun of it but I couldn't let Munch lord it over us, well I couldn't have him lording it over me, I guess that's the ego talking. I'm not sure how long we played for, the drink has that effect you see but Dave went out after a while, leaving me and Munch heads-up about equal in chips.

With close to 100 big blinds each, there was really no need to get all our chips preflop, but we did. I can't quite remember if I 5bet all in or if I was calling a 4bet all in, but it was all in preflop, and all I had was ace jack suited and Munch tabled king something, maybe a nine, which he hit on the flop. I didn't hit my ace or jack, but I did go on to hit runner runner for a straight, scooping all the chips and more importantly, the glory and bragging rights.

I took back my original £70 stake and money for a taxi money, then put the rest in the drinks kitty, and never paid for another drink the whole weekend, nice.