The Pub Poker Thread

[ashley12]

With so many people recently playing the online poker premiers tournaments, I am guessing a lot of people are playing pub poker competitions, or at least looking into making an effort to go an play. For those who havent yet, I highly recommend it, as it is a good chance to play NL texas hold em in a live environment, against people you may or may not know, without having to stump up quite a lot of cash to go play in the casino in your area.

The choices are usually two, depending on which pub poker league you play. The first events are free to enter, and depending on the state you live in, they may or may not be prizes up for grabs for winning, though there are usually lots of small freebies up for grabs for random prizes. These are a good way to play for fun and learn how the betting structures work in real life, compared to clicking a mouse button.

The other choice is usually small stakes tournaments, with buy-ins that can range from $10 for some very large multi-table tournaments, up to $110 that I have seen here in WA. The entry fees of the players make up the prize pool in most cases, though for the APL State Finals, the prizepool comes from sponsorship from FullTilt Poker.Org, who put up $10000 in cash and prizes, which given there are usually about 400 runners or so paying $10 each, is a huge overlay...

In West Australia, there are two major pub poker leagues. The first is Australian Poker League, who run free and pro events. The pro events each week are usually $25 to play. There are also many just free events across perth, which is great if you are just learning how to play the game, and not willing to put cash on the line just yet... Every three months the state finals are held, with the full tilt sponsorship. Also at these events, there are a number of cash tables and sit and go's running ranging from $20 SnG's to sometimes $200, where first prize is usually a seat in one of the big APL events on the Eastern States, where the prizepool is half a million dollars... occasinally novelty events are held with buyins ranging from $10 to $110, including Heads Up tournaments, deep stacks, rebuys, shootouts etc...

West Australian Poker League is the main rival in WA to APL. There pro series events are usually $40 to enter. Of that money, $10 goes to the venue, $10 goes to the prizepool for the WAPL Season Finals held every 15 weeks or so, and $20 prizemoney on the night. Need to qualify for the season finals, and there is a lot of dead money in the pot you need to effectively play a few events to get a chance at this dead money. Also cash tables and SnG's are at these events, though fields at WAPL events are generally smaller then APL events...

So yeah, thats about it, talk about Pub Poker events/experieinces here in th

 

[passionate81]

Used to play a heap of the APL tournaments here in Vic. Made a few state finals but never made the money. Best I have made in the state finals was 16th. I was sitting pretty, 2nd in chips. Blinds were 5,000 10,000 and I was Big blind. Folded to the small blind, who happened to be chip leader, and he put me all in trying to steal. I look down at pocket aces, call in a heartbeat and lost to his J8. Funny thing was that was back when I had just started plaing poker. I now think that I have improved my game but can't get anywhere anymore in those leagues.

Only play once a week now, and that's mainly to catch up with some friends. Online poker has taken over my interests. Played Tuesday night just gone had a big stack, raised with AK suited and was put all in by some guy holding 8 3 suited. Lost to a pair of 3s. That's why I no longer play seriously at these events LOL.

 

[Cartman121]

Played at the Doncaster Inn Pub for some live experience before I went to the casino. I've played alot of home games so i'm not a complete n00b to live play but just wanted to get some experience against some unknowns. Was really helpful, was able to pick up a few tells and mannerisms which was really good as obviously it's impossible to pick up on these whilst staring at a computer screen. So for the body language aspect was very helpful. Ended up coming 3rd/60ish. Blinds go up very fast, but was still good fun. Recommend to everyone just to try it out if they haven't, really good atmosphere, alot of the people were nice and chatty.

 

[BarcaRulz]

These leagues are good fun. Personally, i have only JUST started playing, and have only 2 tournies under my belt, one APL and the other NPPL. Came 10th in the APL one and 4th in the NPPL. Both times i was chip leader at some point, but i just couldn't hang on.

Will be playing another one tomorrow hopefully.

 

[ashley12]

Both APL and WAPL have cash table ring games operating, and today I played on the APL cash tables. Staff who havent worked that day are allowed to play out of uniform, provided they dont organise the event/play in the actual MTT's....

Blinds are 2.50/5 with a min buy-in of 20, and a max buy-in of 200. Rake is 10% capped at 50, which is a bit of a pain, but however, the soft play makes up for the additional raking...

Anyway, I played for the registration hour before the tourny started at 7. I played a relatively tightish game for this hour. Didnt really catch any hands, but made a quick $70, which is always good.

Tournament started after that, so with everyone involved we had no action for a while... When the first break was on we restarted, and I bought in for the max again. We played about 4 hands then the break actually started, and about 3 people posted. I got 34dd with no-one adding any money into the pot, so I raise to 12.50 in the CO. The button makes a raise to 25 and everyone folded. I felt obliged to call for 12.50 into about a 50ish pot given all the dead money from the posters. I flopped 345, and crack an old blokes aces... So if you read this, sorry Tezza...

About an orbit later, loose passive limps in and then it folds to me, and I bump it up on the button to 25 with the might 24o. Two callers from the blinds, limper folds... Flop A102 and we check around. I turn a 4 for two pair, and the SB leads for 20. BB folds and I reraise to 60. He calls, with 20 behind. River is a 7 and he check calls. I mention two pair, he asks aces and what, I show the 2 4. He does.....









After that, very little table respect (no s**t). I tighten up, barely raise without the goods, (JJ and AQx2) One hand I got 99. Three limpers and I overlimp. We have a family pot and see a flop of 773. I should have bet here, but I checked in mid position. Checks through, turn is another 3. Bet of 20 from UTG, folds to me and I min-raise which should isolate. It does, he moves in for 60 more. I tank, but put him on Ax and call. Im right, I ship it.

I then nearly make quite a huge stuff up. I get AQ, I open raise to 22.5, I get one caller behind me and the blinds fold. Flop is AK4, I lead for 20. He folds, so I decide to show I am a nit by exposing the ace. BUT as it finds out, I actually had two callers, and he has moved in for 17.50. So fortunately, I showed the ace faceup without yet chucking away the queen. Villian has QJ for a gutshot and misses.

I announce last orbit for me, I become a card rack including that hand. Last hand I played I stuffed up, got JJ in early positon, raise to 25 get three callers one of whom is all in for 15 to make a side pot. Flop is Q44. I should have bet when the first guy checked, but I failed to, and had to fold to the person behind me's bet of 35. Im wrong too, he had A5 against the all in's 95. However, the consesus of the table is that it was a good fold, because the case 5's came on the next two streets...

Left 200 up overall, which is nice...

 

[paxmaniac]

Blinds are 2.50/5 with a min buy-in of 20, and a max buy-in of 200. Rake is 10% capped at 50, which is a bit of a pain, but however, the soft play makes up for the additional raking...

That's absolutely horrific. How can they possibly justify charging double or more compared to Casino rake?

 

[ashley12]

The minimum chip value is $2.50, so for example, a $22.50 pot isnt raked... compared to the casino which a 23 pot is raked $2.

A lot, about 50%, would buy in for far less the the minimum at the cas, like 40-60. Many also minimum buyin and look to play bingo... Only once in the two times I have played there I capped it. (I had aces, UTG raises, I reraise as UTG+1. Get flat called by **** in UTG+2 and there is an undershove from the button. **** flops a set of 6's for 30%ish of his stack pre and gets all my dough (pot was about 700 IIRC)...

Its pretty bad, but the money goes to charity/non-for-profit groups... such as sports clubs, etc...

 

[The Passenger]

good fun these. i've just moved countryside to a small town called bathurst where there are about 3 on a week. i usually get to at least, usually two and am running well there - well in front. i've probably forked out for about $300 in tournaments (about 15 played) and have cashed three times for $250 (winner), $200 (split 1st and 2nd) and $100 (third).

the standard out there is very ordinary. a lot of guys willing to gamble.

they always have a sly cash game on the side (rake free) which is quite nice too.

played a $55 tourney in sydney last night. 45 players, final tables, finished about 8th. the guys running the tourny ****ed up a bit though. come the last two tables, one table had just over 3 quarters of the chips on it. unfortunately i was on the wrong table and by the time we got to the final table none of us had near enough chips to mount a decent challenge.

 

[Athomas]

*BUMP*

I'm in vic, just started the pub poker scene. Play NPPL as there is simply no APL or even NPL near me.

Anyone else in vic play? Where would you reccomend?

 

[dUkezz]

athomas where abouts do u live mate, i play nppl and i quite like it... what venues have u played at

 

[Athomas]

athomas where abouts do u live mate, i play nppl and i quite like it... what venues have u played at

I've played at Mountain View Hotel, Century City Walk and Monash Hotel.

I like it too, going tonight to Mount View. Get 7 weeks off after tomorrow so will be going most weeknights.

Wherebouts have you played?

 

[Cartman121]

Weeee!!!!11!!! Running good in freerolls FTW!!!

Won pub poker tonight down at Donny Inn, 85 entrants apparently one of their largest ever. Ran like absolute god I won't lie, started the final table with 400k with the average chip stack 80k. Ended up heads up against the national champion who had just won $15k last weekend (still think he was a massive muppet - he open folded KQos to my sb shove with 1/3 of his stack in the middle!) clearly my 85os would have held but that's not the point. Go straight to regionals as i've won which is in 8 weeks, I think it's top 16 of that go to Nationals. Anyone ever played any of these? Are these deepstacked at all or just the usual muppet tourneys with <20bb's whole tourney? Won a cool little card protecter and a $50 food voucher.

 

[Athomas]

Weeee!!!!11!!! Running good in freerolls FTW!!!

Won pub poker tonight down at Donny Inn, 85 entrants apparently one of their largest ever. Ran like absolute god I won't lie, started the final table with 400k with the average chip stack 80k. Ended up heads up against the national champion who had just won $15k last weekend (still think he was a massive muppet - he open folded KQos to my sb shove with 1/3 of his stack in the middle!) clearly my 85os would have held but that's not the point. Go straight to regionals as i've won which is in 8 weeks, I think it's top 16 of that go to Nationals. Anyone ever played any of these? Are these deepstacked at all or just the usual muppet tourneys with <20bb's whole tourney? Won a cool little card protecter and a $50 food voucher.

haha you seem pumped. The regionals are deep stacked I'm pretty sure (10K - not that deep). This is for NPPL yeh? I came 2nd two nights in a row, two $25 vouchers... yay....

 

[Cartman121]

haha you seem pumped. The regionals are deep stacked I'm pretty sure (10K - not that deep). This is for NPPL yeh? I came 2nd two nights in a row, two $25 vouchers... yay....

Lol yeh fairly pumped to play in the regionals, better than the $5k or $6k we started with last night. Any idea what the blind structure is like? Or how many people will play it? And yeh it's NPPL.

Ouch, that sucks! Gotta get lucky with the coin flips heads up, still $50 worth of vouchers and that should be enough to see you through to regionals as well right?

 

[Athomas]

Lol yeh fairly pumped to play in the regionals, better than the $5k or $6k we started with last night. Any idea what the blind structure is like? Or how many people will play it? And yeh it's NPPL.

Ouch, that sucks! Gotta get lucky with the coin flips heads up, still $50 worth of vouchers and that should be enough to see you through to regionals as well right?

They were at different venues, but yeh seeing as this is the first week of the season, another final table appearance will put me through tor regionals most likely.

Regionals normally have 120-150 people. My friend won it 2 months back, $3000 lol. That's why I've joined now. No idea on blind structure sorry.

Good luck, will let you know if I definitely qualify.

 

[Stubbyholder]

Lol yeh fairly pumped to play in the regionals, better than the $5k or $6k we started with last night. Any idea what the blind structure is like? Or how many people will play it? And yeh it's NPPL.

Ouch, that sucks! Gotta get lucky with the coin flips heads up, still $50 worth of vouchers and that should be enough to see you through to regionals as well right?

I also won my local NPPL game last nite at the First & Last Hotel Fawkner. 48 players. Was down to 5k and blinds were 5000- 10000 and 12 players left Hit AQ suit , Naturally I pushed and got 6 callers Flop AJQ rainbow, it was checked down by remaining players, so now Iam back in the game, next hand KK rased to 40k 3 callers K hit on the river to win again and now on final table which I went on to win. Got the standard $50 voucher that was cashed in for cash , a cap and a Nppl card protector, so the old chip and a chair saying is true. So once again have qualified for monthly cash final

I have played in 4 monthly cash finals were they have $5k up for grabs , winner gets 3k. I have made 3 final tables for 2nd as my best for a total payout so far of $2050. I also played in the nationals final that was played last Sunday at Skyways Tavern, 274 entrants and I busted out in 156th position. Was the tightest game I have ever played in, I was first off our table after 2:15 hours, Basically 8 players shuffling 80k of chips around the same table whilst the chip leader was on 90k , so I started to play marginal hands more aggresively and still couldnt get any were. Busted out to a straight flush against my ace high flush

Starting stacks are 10k and 50-100 blinds every 20 mins

I have never played at Casino but may use some of my winnings tro play a smal tourney soon.


Overall I find pub poker good fun and quite a patience challenge due to having to wait for the right hands to pounce on the TV scooter morons who wouldnt know what pot odds are if it hit them in the head. Also you get chipped up foir buying beer and I love beer

 

[dUkezz]

yeh i was registered for that national finals on sunday but i had work stuff so i couldnt go, plus i new it was gonna be a huge one so i just cbfd, i registered because i came 3rd in the past regional finals which is my best ever result in a poker tourny to date, but since then i have only played 1 nppl tourny as i am kinda over it lol...

 

[bombermick]

I play weekly. I used to play all the time but not so much these days. I came 2nd at a regionals which got me $1200 which was good considering I took the day off work to play lol.

 

[Athomas]

Was at monthly cash final for NPPL. Got AA (pretty early on). Small raise, he went all in. I call. He had QQ. Guy next to me says he had a Q, so did some other guy.

Cards come:
JT9Kx

 

[bombermick]

Was at monthly cash final for NPPL. Got AA (pretty early on). Small raise, he went all in. I call. He had QQ. Guy next to me says he had a Q, so did some other guy.

Cards come:
JT9Kx

all in with queens early is pretty ballsy but almost all pub poker players will do it. that was a terrible flop for you! Was at a nationals a few weeks ago where two people went all in early on with their Anna Kournikovas. Another person called their all in with pocket 9's. The 9's hit quads!

 

[Athomas]

all in with queens early is pretty ballsy but almost all pub poker players will do it. that was a terrible flop for you! Was at a nationals a few weeks ago where two people went all in early on with their Anna Kournikovas. Another person called their all in with pocket 9's. The 9's hit quads!

Crazy haha.

I thought he MUST have KK, or even unlikely AA as well. *Sigh* That's poker, but I was 99% pre flop. Hurts.

Nice with the 2nd @ Regionals.

 

[bombermick]

Crazy haha.

I thought he MUST have KK, or even unlikely AA as well. *Sigh* That's poker, but I was 99% pre flop. Hurts.

Nice with the 2nd @ Regionals.

If you play NPPL and live in Glen Waverley I have probably played against you. I don't play at the Mountain View very often but at some other pubs around the area. That is a terrible bad beat story you have there, made worse by the fact it happened at regionals. Win a big pot like that and you are on your way.

One time I had pocket aces and called another guy's all in. We both turn over pocket Aces which was amazing in itself. What was more amazing was he hit a flush! Not good.

 

[paxmaniac]

I thought he MUST have KK, or even unlikely AA as well. *Sigh* That's poker, but I was 99% pre flop. Hurts.

Big mistake to assume that. Many players will play AK and QQ much faster than AA or KK for the simple reason that AA and KK are much less vulnerable to bad flops.

 

[Athomas]

If you play NPPL and live in Glen Waverley I have probably played against you. I don't play at the Mountain View very often but at some other pubs around the area. That is a terrible bad beat story you have there, made worse by the fact it happened at regionals. Win a big pot like that and you are on your way.

One time I had pocket aces and called another guy's all in. We both turn over pocket Aces which was amazing in itself. What was more amazing was he hit a flush! Not good.

I came 2nd @ Century City Walk 2 weeks back. Play at monash too. So yeh, probably played you.

Tonight had AK on KQ5 flop. Push him all in (I knew he'd call). He has 66. 6 on river. haha I love pub poker stories.

And yeh that sucks when AA vs AA isn't a split.

 

[bombermick]

I came 2nd @ Century City Walk 2 weeks back. Play at monash too. So yeh, probably played you.

Tonight had AK on KQ5 flop. Push him all in (I knew he'd call). He has 66. 6 on river. haha I love pub poker stories.

And yeh that sucks when AA vs AA isn't a split.

he called an all in with a qk flop? what a donkey? so many bad beats from pub poker but that's what happens when there is nothing on the line.