Edinburgh Poker Adventure Part III -- Animals at the Circus

I took a day in the Scottish countryside to give me a flavor for the land. What a beautiful country. My wife and I drove to the seaport of Oran, on the western coast of the country -- a little north and west of Glasgow. We arrived back late to Edinburgh, had a nice supper of Nepalese food, and went to bed early. Good thing -- because it allowed me to wake with the sun at 4:00 AM. I walked over to the Circus Casino, where a game was still in progress. I had 90 minutes to try my hand again at no limit poker in Edinburgh.

The game was very different from my last one. Where that was a tight and relatively passive affair, this one was rocking and rolling. There was one seat available, between the two largest stacks at the table -- each about $800 (I use the "$" to mean pounds -- about $1.70 per pound). I quickly saw that the player to my right was an excellent young gun. He was a tourist from Texas, here in Edinburgh with his college class from Austin. He knew the game, played a lot on line, and was running over the game. To my immediate left was another player with about $600 in chips. He was drinking, had a pint in front of him, but was no fool -- acting much more drunk than he really was. As soon as I said one sentence he leaned next to me, smiled broadly and said, "So you know Clint?" and then laughed as if he had just said the punch line to the funniest joke in the world. Three other players joined in and laughed loudly. I smiled and laughed as well, responding (rather lamely I thought) "No, but I'm John Wayne's nephew". This was, by the standards of the table, a great one liner I guess, because everyone cracked up -- and I was welcomed to the early morning poker Scottish pokerfest.

I played a pair of Jacks aggressively, re-raising the player to my right after he raised the BB to $20. I made it $70. Everyone folded but the initial raiser who called. The flop had an Ace and two low cards in it. He checked. I bet $100 and he folded, showing me KsQs. I rocked around some and then had an interesting hand against the drinking player to my left. I had noticed that though he often bet largely and loudly pre-flop, raising to $25 or so, he seemed to respect large bets after the flop. I thought he was trying to steal for short money when the betting was light and he was in position -- even when he had nothing. He made continuation bets -- and then showed his cards when he was bluffing a couple of times. But he made some lay downs as well when he was reraised.

I was dealt a pair of sevens in early position and called. He raised to $25 and was called by the button and by the player to my immediate right, the young Texan, who was in the large blind. The flop was 865 with two spades. As it turned out I had the suited 7. The big blind checked, I checked, and the drunk guy bet $50. The button folded; the Texan called and I called. A suited 4 hit on the turn. The Texan checked, I checked and the drunk bet $75. The Texan folded. I had about $400 left. I had been playing tightly, figured the drunk was trying to steal the pot, but that he'd lay it down if I raised. So I made it $200. Sure enough, he showed me the spade Ace as he tossed in his hand. Nice one for me.

After about thirty more minutes, at about 5:15 AM, the game was down to three players. I had about $100 profit, would be playing pretty much heads up against the young turk from Texas, and decided to call it a morning. We shook hands and I went for a two hour walk all around Edinburgh -- seeing the city before it really woke up -- even though the sun was shining brightly. It was the perfect way to start the day.

I returned once more to the Circus Casino and will report on it in my next blog post.