Live Poker and Alcohol

I played a live game at Eight Club on Thursday. £100 buy in with the blinds at 1/1. I must say this was by far the hardest cash game I have ever played in. We used to have atleast 2 or 3 big fish in the game but this time the standard was relatively good. This was until the drinking started

CardRunners midstake pro Alexdb was there. (he has a great CR video posted) I drew a seat to his right and luckily not his left. Most others were thinking (ish) players.

I lost a quick buyin on a speculative bluff but was called with a full house. I then managed to tread water for a few hours watching the alcohol start taking effect.

By midnight there had been a few buyins and of the 9 players on the table almost all had atleast 2-3 buyins in front of them. The raises had started standard 4xbb, by midnight this had turned into 10-12xbb. There was even an open 30xbb with AA who got called from the sb who held JT and flopped JJx. Brilliant.

This time of night is where you need to be most disciplined and focused as there is so much value. Ranges are wide enough to drive a bus through and players are more concentrating on barmaids and banter than the game in front of them. In the next 3 hours I managed to win 6 buyins making a total £500 profit. Approx 200 hands makes that a winrate of 250bb/100.

To be honest I do find live poker so tedious. Yes its easier and its fun to be at a table having a mind war with friends but its so damn slow. 20-25 hands an hour ? zzzz..... Yet I still almost always manage to make a better return/winrate vs playing the same time online.

I might spend a day at a poker room like the Empire soon and see how I go. Its not gonig to be as easy as the above but will be an interesting break from the norm.