Flip Mode Squad

Flip Mode Squad, '98
Raw Deluxe, Check it out y'all
Busta Rhymes, Fire it up / Turn it up Remix

I've played a couple of nice cash sessions on Genting Poker recently. A couple of weeks ago, I found myself at a 'nice and easy' table with a couple of 'new' players on it - Joe Beevers, Barny Boatman and Ross Boatman of The Hendon Mob!

Anyway, last Thursday evening, I had about fifteen minutes to spare, and I noticed that a couple of the regular players from The Hendon Mob Forum were playing No Limit Hold 'em, so I dropped in for a couple of hands, and loaded up £5 to give myself a whopping 20 big blinds!

Bogus (IFlipUhaha) was playing, and we ended up doing some flips [for kicks]... it went 'quite' well for me. We got things started off when I was holding A6 - 'flip?' suggested Bogus. I agreed, and shovelled in my stack to see AK in my opponents hand. Nice - all-in and dominated - it was to be a foreshadow of later hands - but this time things turned out as they should, and my stack slid over to my opponent.

I re-loaded another £5 (last of the big spenders), and soon enough Bogus suggested flipping again. This time I had Ace Ten suited in my hand, so I agreed - pushing my chips in to see Ace Queen in my opponents hand this time! I was already dominated, and my opponent made two-pair on a flop which also gave me a flush draw... the third diamond on the turn evoking a manic fist-pump in my front room!

A few hands later we agreed to a third flip. Yet again I turned my hand over to see I was dominated by my opponent. Yet again I edged ahead with another unaccountably lucky board for me!

We then played a few hands where we managed to get to the flop without putting our entire stacks in the middle. This hand providing another double-up, with yet another flush completing on the turn. I was now officially 'on a run'... and it's definitely best to run with these things when they happen!

Everything was going my way now - I hit two-pair on the flop in this next hand, and the [ice-cold] deck decided to drop my opponent a lower second pair to ensure the money went in again:-

By this time, I'd run my 20 big blinds to over 200 big blinds in little over ten minutes, but I needed to pack-up and didn't want to look like I was hitting the table and running. 'I'm heading off in a minute', I informed the table, 'time for one more flip?' I suggested. Bogus agreed and suggested we just play the next hand all-in. Well... I hadn't loaded up with much money, and easy-come is easy-go in poker. I was dealt King Three off (a mighty hand to go to war with) and pushed my stack into the middle. My opponent called and turned over Ten Two off - I was ahead for the first time when flipping! Five blanks later I collected my final [almost] double-up to scoop a nice £100+ pot.

An unbelievably lucky run for me - not bad for fifteen minutes work! My apologies (of course) go to Bogus - who is a total legend and unrelenting to play poker against.

I'd rather be lucky than good

Vernon Louis 'Lefty' Gomez

What am I?

Guest Article by Carl "The Dean" Sampson

Some people ask me what the hell am I supposed to be? Am I a poker player, sports bettor, writer or what…….just what in hell are you? Well it is true that I do many things but then again that is how I like it because it keeps me sane. My last post discussed grinding and I still haven’t played any poker that I set out to do. Think I may need to re-read Dusty Schmidt’s book again Treat your poker like a business which is a book that I have read numerous times and I advise anyone to read.

I spent Christmas being ill although that meant that no one came to see me because they didn’t want to catch anything. End result was that I had a pretty miserable Christmas and ended up whiling away the hours on the exchanges while the missus visited friends and family. Still, I am not complaining as I won a few quid but it kind of left me feeling a bit flat going into January.

I have worked very closely with betting firms, odds compilers and professional punters down the years and so I have built up a huge amount of knowledge about all things gambling. Most of it is crap mind you and useless but it also means that I am probably the country’s worst gambling anorak. I try not to be a boring sod in other peoples company and never speak about gambling to anyone…….if you do then half of them see you as low life anyway and don’t understand.

Next week will see me back on the virtual felt (promise) and so I may have a few results to report back although I don’t find anything remotely exciting about quoting cash game results. Is it any wonder why they don’t get televised to any great level unless they are high stakes? Except for Sky Poker who do show their cash games regularly and I frequently switch between Sky Sports News, At The Races and Master Cash on Sky Poker during the day when I am stuck with some downtime………what a boring life I lead.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson plays poker at www.pokerstars.co.uk  

A Tough Way to Make an Easy Living

Guest Article by Carl 'The Dean' Sampson

Just like to say that I will be placing a few guest blogs on Leon’s site this year and so I hope that a few of you will be happy to read some of my dubious ramblings about all things poker. First off, I am trying desperately to get back to being some kind of poker player again on a semi-permanent basis. I was listening to an interview from Neil Channing the other day and he said that he would be grinding 60 hour weeks again down at the Vic.

All I can say is WOW……just how do people put that many hours in? Well I know the answer to my question because I used to do it once but many moons ago. It just needs motivation and a large dose of discipline which is sadly something that I have been missing over the past year. I stopped trying to kid myself that I could hack it in high-stakes levels a couple of years ago and that multi-tabling levels like NL100 and even NL50 would be my thing.

But I suppose a little of me died with it when I realised that this was all I was ever going to be based on how much time I could devote to playing poker. You simply cannot compete against players who eat, sleep and breathe the middle limits 24/7 and I have better things to do with my life than grind for hour after hour and spend heaven knows how many hours watching for value to appear. But grinding is an acquired skill and condition almost like building muscle and I have become very flabby this past year.

I played an eight hour session last week and it near wasted me the following day as all I felt like doing was watching At the Races. I often envy the tournament players who seem to live much more glamorous poker lives even if very few are +EV. But when a 3-4 hour session feels like mega-grinding to me these days then I know that I am going to have problems building that back up to a 40 hour week. But anyway…….hope you will tune in to listen to a few more whinges from me in future.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson plays poker at www.pokerstars.co.uk