Poker is a Beyotch
Friday, March 21, 2008
After dinner with wifey Kim last night, I noticed that my cellphone had a voicemail. While walking back from the restaurant around the corner, I listened to the message left by Jamie of the Wall Street Game. One of the greatest things about the WSG is its convenience. It is a mere three or four blocks from my apartment. The other great thing is Jamie's willingness to call me when a seat was open. In fact, that is exactly what the voicemail said.
Thursday nights are wifey Kim nights, due largely to the fact that our favorite show, Lost, is on a 9pm. Still, it was barely 7:30 and I felt the urge to play. Wifey Kim did not put up much of a fight, and we agreed that I would play until 9 and then come home.
Poker, well, poker wasn't that great. It was fun. No doubt about that. But in my 90 minutes of play, I lost $74 playing .50/1 NL. I was card dead for most of the game and did my best to limp in with drawing hands in order to at least keep a passing interest. Most of the time, I was force to fold preflop or on the flop. Like the last few sessions, I wasn't hitting anything, but I resigned myself to my fate and tried my best to tighten up. As a matter of fact, CK's friend Jesse even mentioned that I was playing tighter and Jamie concurred. I knew that it was a necessity to work through the rough patch, but it was also necessary for me to maintain my sanity.
Poker is a real beyotch. No doubt about that. And with that said, it should come as no surprise that at 9pm, just as I was ready to leave, I got my first top-10 starting hand, AQ. In EP/MP, I raised to $3.50, getting one caller, Jamie, on my immediate left. The flop was all unders and I decided to bet out $6 or so. I didn't want to bet too big because I wanted Jamie to think that I was trying to keep him in the hand. He called. The turn was another low blank. I bet out $11 and Jamie called. The river paired the 8, which was the highest card on the board. I couldn't imagine a bet that would force Jamie off of his hand without leaving me in shits creek in case he was smooth calling with a monster. I meekly checked and he bet out $15. I folded and, as a friend, asked Jamie what he had. He told me QJ, and I damned myself. First of all, I 100% believe him, since this is a friendly game. Second, an unskilled player could not do what Jamie did in that hand. I must've been clearly emoting weakness, but whatever the case, Jamie played the hand extremely well and I did not.
In the very next hand, I had a chance to redeem myself. I bet out $3.50 from EP/MP with AQd. I figured that it would be best to remain consistent. I got one caller, Tom G. The flop was all unders again and I bet out $5. He called. The turn was a blank and I decided that I was not going to repeat the $11 shitty bet from before. It was bad enough that I mirrored the crappy and ineffective $5 flop bet. He checked the turn as well. The river was a Jack. I checked. He bet out. I folded. He was kind enough to show AJo. Instead of giving up the lead on the river to a weaker hand, I gave up the lead on the turn, allowing my opponent to hit his three-outer river. I don't blame Tom G. I blame me.
I was going to walk, but I decided to play one more hand. I was dealt QQ, for my third top-10 hand in a row (with no top-10 hands in the 90 minutes prior to that). I bet out $3.50 preflop. I got something like 5 or 6 callers. I guess they all realized that I wasn't winning anything. The flop was AJX. I checked in EP and everyone checked. The turn was a Jack and I checked again. Someone bet and I folded. There were so many players that someone had to have the Ace or the Jack. This time, I think I did everything correct, except for maybe my preflop raise. Perhaps with the prior losses I needed to up the preflop bet, but that is an arguable point.
I was steaming pretty badly at that point, having chucked my cards violently all three hands. It's not something I do often, but this was just too much. I got up, said my goodbyes, made the usual joke about "This game is stupid. I didn't want to play anyway," and got the fuck out of dodge.
Back at home, wifey Kim gave me a hug to console me. Lost was fantastic. Online poker was left off.
I'm heading to AC tomorrow via bus. Solo. I appreciate all of comments about my last post. I think F-Train really hit the nail on its head when he suggested that the hardest part of this sort of trip is the laziness. If someone else is going, it's easy to say, "I'll meet you at X." When you are raging solo, it is up to you and you only when and if you do something.
That said, I think I need a day in AC to play against some donkeys. WSG is great and all, but the players are clearly talented and I need to remember that there are softer games out there. I also want to book a positive session, but I won't use the word 'need'. Poker doesn't work that way, and I plan to have fun no matter what.
I was thinking some more about taking the bus to AC solo. I realized that there is one thing that I fear as much as anything else: breaking the seal. Once I make that trip, what is going to stop me from making the trip every weekend. I know the answer to that. It's reality and my own guilty conscious. But still, breaking that seal of degeneracy is a dangerous thing to do. Good thing my middle name is Dangyr (spelled with an 'y' because my parents are pretentious...).
I'll leave you with one last hand from the WSG game. I min-raised KTs from the SB when it folded to me. I've been toying with min-raises a lot in SNGs/MTTs, and since I wanted to see a flop, I threw one in here as well. Jamie, in the BB, called. The flop was 494 with two spades, giving me a strong flush draw. I bet $4 and Jamie raised to $12. I thought about it and acted a bit confused as I called. The turn was a Queen of Spades, giving me the second-nut flush. I checked and Jamie bet $10. I said, "What a second. That's less than your last bet." I acted for a moment before tossing in $30. He pushed all-in and I insta-called. He showed A4 for trip 4s.
Before the river was dealt, Jamie offered business. Normally, I avoid these things, but I was running bad and Jamie is a nice guy and the host. I didn't want to be rude so I agreed to run it twice, even though I was ahead.
For those of you who don't know, some card rooms and homegames allow players to "do business" once they are all-in in a cash game. Basically, after the players see each others' cards, they can agree to run the river (or whatever community cards have not yet been dealt) more than one time (decided ahead of time). Usually, I see it done 3 times, but last night, Jamie requested to run it twice. If you win on all of the rivers (we'll stick to Jamie and my hand as an example) you win the whole pot. If you win one out of two, you split the pot. If you run it three times, you split the pot into thirds and you can win 1/3, 2/3 or the whole pot depending on the cards.
As I was saying, Jamie and I decided to run it twice, and the first card off was a Queen of Clubs, giving Jamie the full house. The next card was a blank, preserving my flush as the winning hand. So, thanks to Jamie for asking for business, thanks to me for being such a nice guy, and thanks for lady luck for being such a C U Next Tuesday.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 2:30 PM,
3 Comments:
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At 4:02 PM,
BWoP said...
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As a general rule, I never run business. But that's just me trying to not fuck with poker karma any more than it's already fucked.
I was surprised, though, that you agreed to run it 2x instead of 3x. You are a 2:1 favorite after the turn, with only another spade, any A, any Q, any 9 or any 4 helping Jamie.
Have fun in AC. You know if my eye was functional you'd have a ride in my car. -
At 1:14 AM,
Jamie said...
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I don't agree with CK here. Running business is the only thing that helped you make money! And yes, you forgot to mention in your post that I had the Ace of Spades in addition to the trip fours, giving me many more outs than just the full boat draw.
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At 7:19 PM,
Unknown said...
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Just one thought on the bus thing. When you have kids, you will worship the time you'll get to yourself on the bus.
Read a book, write on your laptop or whatever. That time will be precious soon enough, and in this case, it's for a good cause, spending time with friends in a cool city and to play poker.
You SHOULD do it as much as your wife will allow, even alone at times.
