Oct 24th - £100+£10 NL Hold'Em - Western (London)

Before my poker night at the Western last night I took it upon myself to go and visit 'Loose Cannons'...the brand new club opened up by Roy Houghton & friends Catman (why they call him that I still don't know) and Sonny Osman! Being situated under the railway arches close to Cannon Street railway station in the city of London the place is ideally situated for the city types who prefer to go straight there from work!

It has its own bar, restaurant and of course, plenty of space to play poker. The obvious question is 'will it work'?

'Loose Cannons' have decided to take a different route to operating a club than others in that their aim is to charge a £91 'quarterly' membership fee! Once this is paid then no other charges are payable. No 'juiced' tournaments, no 'raked' pots, no table charges for playing...infact no other charges at all! Sounds great eh?? The only problem could be the coughing up of the £91 to start with!

In order to get the show on the road, as it were, the club offers founder members a membership fee of £18 till Jan 23rd after which time the £91 becomes payable for continued membership. Because of various promotions the club are having between now & then I was happy to stump up the £18. Would I have been happy to stump up £91?? In a word...no! Will I be happy to pay £91 in Jan? The jury is still out!

The presence of a membership fee ensures that the club can operate as a private members club where much can happen without the long arm of the law intervening. Unlike the Gutshot, say, where pots are raked and the Gambling Act 1968 needs observing (licences etc) no such provisions are required at Loose Cannons but will the imposition of a £91 quarterly fee, payable up front, encourage or discourage potential poker players to join?

There is an undoubted air of wonder about this point of imposed membership fees!

Of course this all could change quite rapidly if Gutshot, who's court appearance to fight the injustices of the 1968 Gaming Act comes before the Hight Court in early January 2007, actually WIN their case. In an instant this would legalise all such clubs throughout the country which have sprung up as a result of Gutshots continued defiance and the 'membership fee' would become an obsolete requirement overnight!

If, however, Gutshot lose their case then Loose Cannons would suddenly have free run of London as the authorities would undoubtedly clamp down rapidly on other like-for-like operations leaving Loose Cannons the only 'legal operator' of a poker club for miles around!

In the first instance though its about getting feet through the doors and I was surprised to be given membership number 1194 as that would indicate that 1193 other like minded bods had already joined!

I'll report back on what its like to play there in a couple of weeks time when I take part in the VC's £5k added event. For now though I thoroughly recommend you take a look as poker playing in London in 2007 may about to change forever!


Meanwhile.....


My 'live' poker experiences of late have been poor to say the least. If it wasn't for Full Tilt and the decent MTT results I've been getting there of late I'd be well down on recent activities!

Last night at the Western was just one of those nights where 'form' meant that I was outdrawn in two successive pots, in quick succession, and there endeth my night!

The mere fact that they occurred on hands 1 & 3 of the evening meant I could concentrate on the FT $150 event which I'd bought into in a moment of madness (seeing a prize pool of $30k for only 200 runners helped)!

So here's how it went down...

I get drawn in seat 4. Button goes to seat 1. Blinds are 25-50. I have 5k in chips.

Hand 1 : Jd 8d.

I flat call the 50 blinds and three of us see a flop (SB, BB & me) of 8h-3h-2c. SB bets out 100. BB folds. I raise to 300. SB calls.

(I have top pair nice kicker. I believe that the SB bets here to attempt a cheapy hoping that anyone with a stronger hand than his will be put off slightly by his bet and simply call. I put him on a flush draw and raise as I want him to pay for the draw. The fact he merely calls re-inforces my view that he's 'looking' for something)

Turn : 4c

SB bets out 300. I re-raise another 600. SB calls.

(Ok..he's now definately looking for something...probably the flush. Maybe I should have raised him to 2k??)

River : Jc

SB bets 600. I re-raise to 2000. SB calls. Showdown.

(I have two pairs. No flush came for the hearts and he's flat called again. Surely I must be winning??)

SB flips 7c-3c for runner-runner flush. I'm befuddled and down to less than 2k already!

Hand 2 : I pass

Hand 3 : 7s 8s.

(I'm on the BB now. The guy who knocked me for over 3k last hand raises to 250 in LP. I flat call. Two of us see the flop!)

Flop : 8c-6c-3s

I bet out 300. Original raiser calls.

Turn : 9c

With the straight draw now in play I go all-in. He insta-calls and flips Ac-5c for the nut flush!

Woe is me!!

Entries ->55 - Place -> 55th - Loss -> £110 ($204) Profit/Loss for 2006 -> +$12486

(As from 7th August rate of exchange is calculated at £1 = $1.85)


Meanwhile....


Back over on FT's $150 event I finally succumb in 60th place when my 6-6 gets run over by A-K. This after I was beaten up when my 9-9 got squished by K-Q and my 10-10 got squished by J-J. Ah those 50/50 balls...don't you just love'em!!

(I ain't counting the 10-10 v J-J!!)