Friday, September 02, 2005
The Obligatory Poker Story
I've been playing Poker online quite a bit recently. Usually nothing much of interest happens that is worth writing about, but I have noticed a slight trend.
SPOILER WARNING: If you don't know anything about Texas Hold 'Em or its terminology, the rest of this post will be completely meaningless to you.
The trend is this: An ALARMING number of people who play have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE what the hell they are doing. And I'm talking about in the REAL MONEY rooms, not the Play Money. I practiced for months with Play Money before I even thought about attempting using my own hard-earned ducats. I just can't imagine taking money that I worked my ass off to get, only to just hand it over to total strangers for no reason (by the way, for the record, my real money adventures in online poker have netted me a profit...so far).
What I've noticed is that most people have no concept of raising pre-flop. When I'm not in a blind and am dealt any kind of a decent hand, you can be sure I'm going to raise, usually around 3 times the size of the big blind. It pushes out anybody who is not in the blinds with a marginal hand that may have called the blind, but, more importantly, prevents the blinds from seeing the flop either cheap or free. But when I am in the blind, NOBODY EVER DOES THIS. It's unbelievable to me how many times people have let me see the flop for free. Why would someone with pocket Queens simply call the Big Blind, allowing me to check my King-Seven off-suit and flop Two Pair or a Set? I guess I shouldn't complain, because it has led to me making some extra money, but the problem I have is that these people think they are AWESOME players, and drive me crazy with their whining when the cards don't go their way.
Here's a perfect example of the kind of person I'm talking about. I was in a single table Sit & Go yesterday, and playing very tight early on. Anybody with an ounce of Poker skill should have noticed that I wasn't getting involved in any pots. Then I was dealt pocket Tens and raised 3 times the blind. This one guy, I'll call him AssClown, calls. I flopped a set. I don't remember the exact details, but every round of betting I'd do a pot sized bet and he'd call. There were no overcards on the board, so I put him on a higher pocket pair than mine. I was right and I ended up taking a good size part of his stack. On the very next hand, I held pocket Aces. Again I raised pre-flop and again AssClown calls. After the last hand, I had more chips than him and he ended up All In. My Aces held up and AssClown was gone. But he began pissing and moaning from the observer box: "Fuck you, man, I could outplay you all day long, you just had two lucky hands in a row." I just ignored him and he went away, but the sad thing is that he probably really believes this, when the evidence clearly states otherwise. I had a very tight table image before those two hands, and then suddenly came out firing chips, and he doesn't have the poker sense to lay down? Apparently, AssClown, you can't outplay me all day long, but as long as people like you are out there, I'll happily keep taking your money.
SPOILER WARNING: If you don't know anything about Texas Hold 'Em or its terminology, the rest of this post will be completely meaningless to you.
The trend is this: An ALARMING number of people who play have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE what the hell they are doing. And I'm talking about in the REAL MONEY rooms, not the Play Money. I practiced for months with Play Money before I even thought about attempting using my own hard-earned ducats. I just can't imagine taking money that I worked my ass off to get, only to just hand it over to total strangers for no reason (by the way, for the record, my real money adventures in online poker have netted me a profit...so far).
What I've noticed is that most people have no concept of raising pre-flop. When I'm not in a blind and am dealt any kind of a decent hand, you can be sure I'm going to raise, usually around 3 times the size of the big blind. It pushes out anybody who is not in the blinds with a marginal hand that may have called the blind, but, more importantly, prevents the blinds from seeing the flop either cheap or free. But when I am in the blind, NOBODY EVER DOES THIS. It's unbelievable to me how many times people have let me see the flop for free. Why would someone with pocket Queens simply call the Big Blind, allowing me to check my King-Seven off-suit and flop Two Pair or a Set? I guess I shouldn't complain, because it has led to me making some extra money, but the problem I have is that these people think they are AWESOME players, and drive me crazy with their whining when the cards don't go their way.
Here's a perfect example of the kind of person I'm talking about. I was in a single table Sit & Go yesterday, and playing very tight early on. Anybody with an ounce of Poker skill should have noticed that I wasn't getting involved in any pots. Then I was dealt pocket Tens and raised 3 times the blind. This one guy, I'll call him AssClown, calls. I flopped a set. I don't remember the exact details, but every round of betting I'd do a pot sized bet and he'd call. There were no overcards on the board, so I put him on a higher pocket pair than mine. I was right and I ended up taking a good size part of his stack. On the very next hand, I held pocket Aces. Again I raised pre-flop and again AssClown calls. After the last hand, I had more chips than him and he ended up All In. My Aces held up and AssClown was gone. But he began pissing and moaning from the observer box: "Fuck you, man, I could outplay you all day long, you just had two lucky hands in a row." I just ignored him and he went away, but the sad thing is that he probably really believes this, when the evidence clearly states otherwise. I had a very tight table image before those two hands, and then suddenly came out firing chips, and he doesn't have the poker sense to lay down? Apparently, AssClown, you can't outplay me all day long, but as long as people like you are out there, I'll happily keep taking your money.
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Glad to see that you are doing well.
I've been playing 2/4 limit in AC at the Taj about once a month since the spring and I have witnessed some incredibly stupid plays. Example: Last time I was there I got a free look from the big blind with KTo. The flop gives me 2 pair and I fire at the pot. Everyone folds except for one caller. A rag hits the turn and I bet and am called again. Yet another meaningless card hits on the river and I bet again. Out of chips the guy throws in cash to call me. I announce my 2 pair and he looked visablly upset as he turned over pocket aces. I didn't even feel bad for him.
It's best to incourage these folks while you keep taking their cash.
I've been playing 2/4 limit in AC at the Taj about once a month since the spring and I have witnessed some incredibly stupid plays. Example: Last time I was there I got a free look from the big blind with KTo. The flop gives me 2 pair and I fire at the pot. Everyone folds except for one caller. A rag hits the turn and I bet and am called again. Yet another meaningless card hits on the river and I bet again. Out of chips the guy throws in cash to call me. I announce my 2 pair and he looked visablly upset as he turned over pocket aces. I didn't even feel bad for him.
It's best to incourage these folks while you keep taking their cash.
Happened again today. I continued to raise pre-flop, and a couple of jokers across the table started complaining. "It is legal to just call the big blind, you know." No shit? If I raise it's legal for you to call me or re-raise, too, moron. At one point I raised pre-flop with 7-8 suited. Not a monster by any means, but the blinds were still low and if I missed the flop I would have no problem folding. Only one guy called. The flop gave me an open-ended straight draw (6,9, and a face card, I forget which one.) I put an aggressive bet out, and the other guy, who was fairly short stacked, raised all in. It wasn't much more for me to call. I figured he paired the overcard, but I had lots of outs. I called and made my straight on the river. My new "friends" across the table began questioning my pre-flop raise with 7-8 suited, and started questioning my abilities. Hmmmm....just last week on the WSOP they were saying how a lot of pros loved to play 7-8 because there were so many possibilities. I remembered that, and when the hand came up I played it. And won. But these fools were right and I was wrong. Makes sense. I ended up heads up with one of them, who had a 2-1 chip lead over me. So I tightened up and didn't play any marginal hands, and he starts complaining that I'm not playing enough hands. His exact words, "Pocket Aces don't come up very often, you know." Wow. First he complains that I'm playing crap hands, then he complains that I'm not playing crap hands. HUH???!!! I won the tournament.
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