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The buyins for these were between 5-10 euros. I would sit on a cash table, decide how much I need to win to buyin to these tourneys, and adopt a hit and run strategy. Once my buyin had reached the amount I need for the tourney, I would leave the table and enter the tourney. The cash games I played were a mix of PLO and NLHE. The strategy went pretty well, in the sense I took part in tourneys for a total buyin of approximately 30-35 euros per day, but maintained my BR at it's original limit. Unfortunately, finished all tourneys in the mid to late stages, but missed the payouts. As long as my net result was break even, I was ok with that.

The highlight of the weekend though was a live cash session at one of the home games in Mumbai. These games are regularly organised every weekend, and with Rs. 25/50 blinds, these tend to attract a wide range of players, from amateurs who are learning the game, to regulars who frequent the bigger tourneys and cash games in Goa. While skill levels are across the board, you are guaranteed a session of fun! Having started the session at 7 pm, it was a very slow beginning. For the first 2 hours, I wasn't getting involved in too much action since my cards were pretty dead. During this time, I also ended up losing half my stack and was down to 1700. Being a relative short stack (the action was intense, with 8x-10x preflop raises quite common) I was considering moving into shove or fold mode. On one hand, I was in mid position, with UTG raising to 6x preflop. The table folds to me, and I shove with AJs. Table folds down to the original raiser who makes the call. He had A9o. WIth no A, J or 9 on the board, I ended up winning with the better kicker. Now back to my original stack, I go back to regular poker mode. After some intense playing, I was up to 10k (almost 3x my buyin) when I get involved with K8s in a 3-way hand. I played this hand partly due to position, and partly due to the original raiser (BB position) who had played a bit loosely during that session. I flop mid pair with an 8, on a Q 4 8 rainbow board with 1 club. BB makes a c-bet of 6x BB, which is called by CO and me. A 3c hits the turn, giving me a flush draw, and outs for trips or 2 pair. BB checks, CO bets 12x BB, I call, BB calls. At this point, I had BB at nothing more than top pair with no draws of a straight or flush. The river was a perfect 5c for me, thus completing my K-high flush. I was certain no one else was drawing for the flush, thus giving me the best hand. By now the pot was about 2800. BB opens the betting with a less than half pot bet of 1200, CO raises it by little more than double (2500) and I shove. BB thinks for a bit and folds, while CO says "Oh the action was here with a set of 4s". The moment I heard that I was 100% sure I am winning. If he really thought I will play a set of 4s like this, he's clearly underestimated me, and I was hoping he will call. Call he did and said, if you have the flush, take it. I said yeah, I got the flush and showed my hand. He later told me he hit the straight and couldn't fold that hand.

Now sitting with about 15K, the best hand of the evening for me was yet to come. The hand above was a mix of skill and luck, while I consider the next hand to be purely skill. A new person (new to me, though he is a regular to the Mumbai and Goa poker scene) sat on the table. We were running a full 10-handed table for a while now. There were a couple of limpers when action reached the new guy in SB who raises it to 12x BB. I was at BB and look down to see As Kd. I considered raising, but having seen SB for about 20 minutes, he appeared to be a solid player and I didn't want to chance a drawing hand against such a solid player, so I only call. The limpers fold their hands and the blinds are heads up! Before the flop was dealt, SB says I check dark. For those unfamiliar with live poker, this means he is checking without seeing the flop and action is on me. This is a common technique used when trying to extract information about the opponents hand. The flop was pretty disgusting for me with 3 diamonds on the board! Jd 3d 8d (am not 100% sure of the lower cards rankings). Since he had checked dark, I check it too. However, at this stage, I began analysing my opponents play. Firstly, he makes a very healthy raise of 12x. This could mean either he's playing a strong hand, or a speculative hand and wants to isolate one or two opponents. However, when I considered his check dark move, suddenly it didn't make sense! Since I was with the Kd and the Jd was on the board, most strong suited diamond hands are ruled out. The best possibility left was Ad Qd, which was definitely not a strong enough hand to check dark as you would want to protect your hand if you hit top pair with Q, and you will also try to extract value from KQ. With an extremely low possibility of flopping a flush, SB couldn't have made the check dark move as a trap either! He definitely didn't have the flush! But he could be with a low pocket pair and might have flopped a set. I was still 50/50 whether he had a hand, or made a move. The turn was a Jd 3d 8d 10c. Now I had a gutshot straight draw and a K-high flush draw, with 2 overcards. It was possible I was still ahead if he hit air, but possible I was losing as well. He made another bet of 1200. I decided to call for information, as I was unsure what hand he was holding. The river was a Jd 3d 8d 10c Ks. Not quite the card I was hoping for, but better than A-high! Plus I was also beating AJ and AT now. But SB makes a move I did not expect and shoves his entire remaining stack of about 4800! Oh boy!

Now I tanked! Not sure if my K pair was good enough or not! Being short on information, I decided to have a bit of a talk with my opponent. I looked at him and said "AQ is the only hand I am concerned about". I didn't really care which hand I mentioned, I was looking for a reaction. SB, who was looking at me so far, turns and looks at the board, studies it for 2 seconds, then turns back and nods his head. Hold on!! The guy who just put in his entire stack of 6600 had to look at the board to understand what I was saying?? And that too a solid good player like him?? I don't buy it. He looked away because he wanted to break eye contact with me. This can mean either he's sitting on a monster or nothing, and doesn't want to reveal any information. Now, I could eliminate 2 pairs and sets on a board like this. He's either playing a straight or a nothing hand. There was an outside chance of him playing a flush too, and my flop analysis of him checking dark was wrong. I was still 50/50 on whether to call or not. I pick up my chips and start counting. Keeping the number of chips in my hand, I look at my opponent again. Seeing me reaching for chips, he now has his fingers on his cards, and is showing that he is really eager to show his hand. Sign No. 2! If he really did have monsters, why intimidate the opponent by showing that? Instead, you will be sitting on your hands and praying to the poker gods that your opponent calls. And a seasoned player like him will definitely know how to remain cool when you have a monster! I was certain he's trying to mislead me and get me to fold! Now I was 70/30, in favour of calling. But this call would have halved my stack and cost me 6600! Not exactly petty change when playing 25/50! While studying the board one final time before I decide, opponent asks me "What do you have?". Bingo! Now I was certain I was ahead! There is no way you are asking your opponent this while he is considering what to do if you have monsters! For one, it doesn't really matter, does it? And two, by speaking about my hand, my doubt about calling might magnify and I could fold. And if it's curiosity that's making you ask that question, then this will be asked AFTER I have acted, not while I am thinking about what to do! I sensed this was a sign of weakness again. I make the call! Opponent insta mucks his hand! Although I didn't need to, I show my AK and take the pot! With a round of "good call" from the table, I was pretty pleased with my play too, and got a nice sized pot too!

Finished the day with a net profit of 18.5k or 370 BB! Pretty good for one session of live poker! In the week to come, I will be back to online tourney mode, using the same strategy of using cash games for buyins. However, if my cash sessions don't go as planned, I will stay away from the tourneys!

Cheers and good luck at the tables!