High On Poker

I woke up Saturday morning with a lightness to my step. Sure, I lost $467 playing NLHE yesterday, and sure, looking back on my two posted hands, I hadn’t played my best, but today was a new day.

The group didn’t have any hard-set plans. Roose was interested in some more poker followed by one of White House Sub’s famous heros. TwoDiamondPhillips is a degenerate. Hole is too, but he had a commitment on Long Island to get to by late afternoon, early evening.  Me, I had some money to win back.

We checked out of the hotel and made our way downstairs. I saw that there was a really pathetic 1/2 NLHE game going, but decided to sit anyway. There were probably 6 players tops, with one geriatric lady, a couple of middle aged guys one of which had a dropped eye like Quasimoto, an Asian man who looked too serious to be playing in this Special Olympics game, and a nerdy guy with parted black hair and glasses but wearing an oversized black leather jacket and an Ed Hardy shirt. Nerd Hardy and maybe the Asian were the only players with reasonable stacks. Nerd was clearly the chip leader with a little over $200. Maybe Asian had $200-150. The rest had under $100. As I said, Special Olympics.

I played a couple of pots early for small amounts, noting that it wasn’t going to be easy to get action unless I loosened the table up. The old lady called me down with top pair after I made a weak bluff bet on the river after checking around on the flop and turn. I exposed my bluff, which hopefully would pay off later.

Roose and Hole must’ve seen the soft spots, or more likely, there were no other options, so they sat down as well. I was in the 10 seat or maybe the 9 seat, with Hole in the 1 seat and Roose in the 2 seat. Maybe the Asian was between us.

It was clear that Roose, Hole and I are friends, so we got some great reactions when one of them and I butted heads in a hand. I don’t remember who won, I think I did, but I remember Nerd Hardy chiming in that he thought we were friends. It was a friendly table, so I just joked about how I was in the hole and would take money from my friends just as happily as anyone else. Roose added, “We don’t play that game,” referring to soft play.

I puttered around for a bit and added some chips to my starting stack of $200 when the Aces Conundrum occurred. I was finally dealt a premium hand and had already done enough advertising to get some action. I decided to raise from early position for $12. Amazingly, Hole and Roose called. Even better, Nerd Hardy decided to re-raise to $62, a $50 raise. Clearly, he had a monster.

The action folded back around to me and I considered my options. The truth is, the only thought on my mind was how to double through Nerd Hardy. My two buddies were at this point pure afterthoughts. I realized Hardy must have a good hand to make his raise. If he had absolute crap and was just taking a shot at the loose friends, then I want to push him out preflop, since the $98+ pot was a nice size already and I wouldn’t have much chance of getting more out of him post-flop unless I was in trouble. But if he had a big hand like KK, I could potentially get all-in preflop.

Then I turned my attention, albeit briefly, to my two compadres. WTF. I don’t slowplay the guys, but I also didn’t want them in this pot. More players meant more cards to dodge. I had to make it clear that they were all behind and hope that Nerd Hardy thought I was either making a play on my friends or overconfident in a weak hand. I had already established that Nerd Hardy was a regular based on his chat with the floorperson, and based on his stack size, he was serious about poker, even in this guppy pond. So, hopefully, he picked up on the loose image I was putting out there.

I moved my stacks in the middle and waited. “I call.” “I call.” WHAT?! I look to my left and both Roose and Hole are already in the pot. I didn’t necessarily target their money, but I’d take it…assuming they didn’t draw out. Nerdy thought for a bit and finally folded. He claimed to have folded QQ. I can believe it, especially since he was saying aloud, “Do you have AK?”

What did Roose and Hole have? After I showed my Aces, Hole showed J9h. Yes, folks. It was like he was giving me his money. Roose didn’t show but later claimed TT; I believe them.

I dodged the outs and sent both of them walking. Roose stormed off, pissed at losing. The table was abuzz with all of the action amongst three friends, but all I could say was, “I didn’t bust him. He busted himself.” Meanwhile, Roose was roaming the casino grumbling.

The guys basically forced me to quit, but I can’t blame them. Besides, there wasn’t much money left on the table. I walked to the cashier and cashed out $420, for $220 in profit. It was not enough to undo the $467 hole I dug the night before, but I’d rather be down $247 any day.

On the walk back to the car, Roose was still steaming. I am not a fan of sore losing. I think in some perverse way, I don’t mind losing because it means I have a challenge to overcome. I mind it a lot more in poker because of the monetary aspect, but if you are going to play this game, you have to expect to lose some times.

I tried not to goad Roose, which is my usual way of dealing with sore losers. Instead, I explained that I had no choice in my actions and that he and Hole essentially busted themselves. My all-in push screamed Aces, or at the very least JJ and up, all of which had Roose dominated (maybe AK, but that’s still not putting him in the best of spots). “I suck at poker,” was Roose’s lament, but it simply isn’t true. “No, you made an awfukit play.” I explained the concept first taught to me by Tripjax. “Once you saw my all-in raise, you knew you were beat, but you were so frustrated, you just mentally said ‘awfukit’ and shoved your stack in.” He agreed. He knew he was beat.

All poker players have leaks in their games. This weekend, I think I learned of my greatest leak. My C-game (and I’m being generous with the “C” designation; “Z” may be more appropriate) is terrible. When I’m not playing well, I’m a spew monkey. My patience level is not there and, as had happened on Friday night, I look for spots and take chances even when none exists.

But that’s what poker is about. Learning. Improving.

After packing up the car, we headed over to the White House Sub Shop. It was probably a little after noon and the place was already hopping, although well below the usual huge crowds. We all ordered, still stuffed from the breakfast we had pre-poker at the Country Kitchen. One of the best things about White House Subs is that the heros are as good, if not better, after a 2 hour drive (or an evening in the fridge).

The rest of the ride home was uneventful. I didn’t get to play in the LO8 tournament, but I got to spend time with my crew, play some poker, and have a great time. That’s +EV any day in my book.

Until next time, make mine poker!