Goa Poker Trip 2017 (Day 1 and 2)

Well, I finally decided to do it – a longish stay in Goa doing what I perhaps love the most – playing poker. Here is a quick summary of my exploits on day 1 and day 2 – I will post the remaining days later.

Day 1 

Day 1 was a interesting day. Bought in for 20,000 initially, lost around 15,000 within a couple of hours trying to show a flush and got called with top pair. Topped up another 20,000 to take my buyin to 40,000 and stack to 26, however this too went in the next 1 hour when I called a river bet of 14,000 with ace high because the motherfucker’s hand didn’t make sense. He had opened a runner straight that I just couldn’t figure out, but I was beat all along as he had a pair anyway.

Down 40k I bought in for my last 30k, feeling that my Goa trip is coming to an early end. And then I went card dead. For 2 hours. Stack dwindled to 25k. I got depressed.

Which is when I had pocket kings. In the small blind I reraised the original raise of 1500 to 4500, and the only fish on the table went all in with nines. My kings held and my stack went up to 35k. A glimmer of hope.

Which is when I went on a 2 hour streak. Full house vs trips, straight vs set, I was on the better side of all close calls. Ended with a stack of 95k.

Profit wasn’t much, only 25k, but I avoided getting fucked on day 1. Hopefully tomorrow I can win more.

Day 2

After watching “Perks of being a wallflower”, I walked into deltin at around 10, and spent around 30 minutes at the entry queue. Two tables were already full and two pros I had seen a lot of earlier were waiting hungrily at table 3. I didn’t want to sit on that table but had no option. As soon as I sat with 30k, two more pros joined the table.

Third hand, I raised to 800 in the cutoff with ace-3 suited, and got called by the small blind to make it heads up. Flop came 3-7-9, he checked and I checked back. Turn came an 8, he bet 1300 and I decided to call. A 5 came on a river, he bet the pot of 4000, and after tanking for 3-4 minutes I called. He instantly said I was good and asked if I had hit 2 pair. On seeing my hand he was absolutely shocked. Sanat-1, pros-0.

Ten minutes later I had ace jack suited in the big blind. I raised to 1000 and got called by the button. Flop came 8-9-3, I made a c bet of 1400 and got called. Turn card was a 4, I checked and he bet 2000. I called. River card was a king, I checked and he bet 3500. His hand looked so fishy, I insta called and told him he had 10-j or 6-7. He showed 10-j and by now the table attained a new level of respect for me. My stack grew to 40k, and so did my pride. I also found out that the two pros I was scared were actually seniors from KGP who were making a living out of poker in Goa. They actually said they will stake me to play on the 50k bigger table but I said I needed more time.

Pride is indeed the bane of a poker player. I bluffed a big hand with ace-king and my stack went straight down to 10k. I topped up my stack to 30k taking my buyin to 50k, cursing myself inwardly for trying to bluff pros.

And then I went card dead again, like hell. Between 3 am and 5 am, my stack remained static, although I did manage to increase it to 35k by 6 am when the table broke.

The new table was interesting because it had a couple of Russians. Russians usually play super tight and this had sparked a debate on the table as to how Russians should be banned on the table and we Indians should collude to bust them. I was horrified at such regressive thinking and said that each player has his own style and whatever works should be okay. The debate then somehow spiraled into nationalism and Modi, and as my views are well known on that, I got into a major disagreement with a guy on my right, and he said aloud on the table that I was a dumb-fuck. He was visibly riled against me. I didn’t mind that at all.

Thirty minutes into the table, UTG raised to 1100, and my dear friend (let’s call him Amit), made it 3k in the cutoff. I had K-Q suited in the button, and decided to call. In hindsight it wasn’t a call but I just wanted to get the better of Amit. UTG was shortstacked at 23k, Amit and I had a similar stack of 35k. UTG called the 3k. The flop came 5-7-9, UTG checked, Amit bet 4k. I thought it was a really weak bet, so I raised to 9k. It was a good spot for me but UTG decided to shove, Amit folded and I had to fold. UTG showed JJ, and my little move and spat with Amit had cost me 12k, and stack was down to 23k. I decided to put my head together and not let Modi fuck with me any more.

I won a few small pots over the next two hours, and took my stack back to 35k by 9 am. And then Amit finally gave his stack to me when I had a-k and he had a-q and there was an ace on the turn. Stack up to 52, a small profit of 2k. Time 9 am, I had been playing for 11 hours.

Which is when the table broke and they merged the last two tables. I was tired but decided to play as I didn’t want to go back with 2k profit. Plus Amit had rebought for 30k and I knew I had to wait for a spot and he would give me that too.

The final table of the day was a lot of fun. There was a girl called Kanchan whom I had played with at house games in Gurgaon. There were some cool guys from Bombay, a couple of businessmen fish, a big stack bully and dear Amit. I was in my element, making jokes, making people laugh (except Amit).

Well, Kanchan gave her 20k stack to me when I had J-J, flop came 8-9-10 diamonds, one of my jacks was a diamond. I bet 4k into a preflop pot of 7k, and she shoved. I called and she just had ace of diamond. 7 of hearts on the turn gave me a straight and the river blanked. Kanchan was done. Sweet girl though.

Stack up to 70k, I started being more aggressive. And then I got into a very interesting hand. UTG raised 1k, Amit made it 2k in the cutoff and I called with K-9 diamonds with the button. Flop was a sweet K-9-5 rainbow, UTG shoved his last 7k, Amit decided to call. I of course went all in. Amit tanked but called with his last 25k. UTG showed K-10, and Amit showed…..Pocket aces. He was super angry I called his re raise with k-9 but I told him that’s what dumb-fucks do. My hand held, and more than anything I loved the look on that idiot’s face as he left the casino dejected.

I played a few more hands, had the better end of a flush over flush, and ended with 115k, a nice profit of 65k for a 16 hour session which ended at 2 pm.

Oh, and they made me a Deltin member at the end of this session – I have a card which buzzes me straight through to the casino without any waiting in the queue.