To slow play an Ace or to raise an Ace, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end.

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks.

Sounds like old Willy was a bit of a poker shark in his time and suffered the same way as G did on Wednesday when his top pair got rocked from behind by Steve?s full house. We have all suffered from a bad beat in our time and we all deal with them in different ways. I myself just want to crawl into a hole. Last week I had AK suited with an A on board and a flush draw, I called Steve?s all-in. I had him on a top pair but not two pairs. It wasn?t really a bad beat, but the result was the same. Thinking and knowing in your own mind that you have at least a split pot, but not even considering you have been beat, or thrashed with a full house is just humiliating. Its almost as if your very character is now at question. All the respect that you have built up over the months or years of play disappears in an instant. And you do feel like a right gimp.

So what do you do then? Walk out? Storm off? Sit back down? Laugh even?

I believe that how you react to the bad beats you take makes the player you are. G was comforted by the fact that he had no choice to call and that he was already pot committed. Everyone then, said they would have done the same. G did the right thing, he took it well and continued to play a very tight game to take the lion?s share. Did this change the way he played and got him the second spot? I think so.

Previous to that the game was a strange mixture of extremely loose play by Steve and Adam and very tight play between Baz and myself. G and Martin had mixed fortune, both stacks up and down over the night. Lindz had a very un-characteristically quiet night. Not catching anything to play with, other than G?s todger later that evening, I suspect that an element of tilt crept in and was unable to make good of anything that came her way. Can?t even remember any ?woooo?s!? Don?t be too disheartened Lindz, we all have had one of those nights.

Pete was on form again, arriving eight hours late and wining about seventy-two hands on the bounce he came from behind right into Steve. Please excuse the innuendo.

I took a huge pot with pocket rockets and made the right decision to slow play them and let the others do all the work for me. This is the only time I have ever got any value out of AA in the hole. I normally announce ?all-in? as soon as I see them and scare everyone off. Position and timing is everything!

Watching everyone closely that night, I really tried to pin point their tells. And not wanting to name names, don?t want to give too much away, but I?m assuming that everyone there will be able to recognise this person by the following analogy.

Two men and a dog sat in a pub playing poker. The dog was cleaning up and playing beautifully.

?That?s a very smart dog,? an onlooker says.

?Not really? one player responds. ?Every time he has a hand he wags his tail.?

I read somewhere recently that a tell is like a throw-in or goal kick in football. It?s just a small possession advantage which some teams will use this to break forward. Knowing pot odds or card combinations is a much better tool to use. Saying this however, I did use a few tells last night to steal a pot or two.

Off to lunch now so I?ll finish my inane ramblings (nothing compared to the Deadmoney report though!) by giving a final positional report.

Lindz went out first, followed by Steve and then Martin. Baz held on till he was blinded out. A short break had myself Pete with about 20k and G with about 25k.

A surprisingly tight game to the finish saw a Pete go out only being beaten by my kicker. G and myself then swapped the chip leader position until we were even.

I called G?s all-in with a pocket 6?s to his AQ suited. They held up and I won, but only just.

Thanks to everyone for a great, but mixed night of poker. Looking forward to suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune again next week.