Hey hey hey. Wednesday, I’m off to Colorado, but I’m already there in my mind. I’ve been playing my fair share of online poker to break even results. I’m just trying to enjoy the process after the first part of the year.
The first four months were abysmal, poker-wise. I wasn’t losing a lot, but I was losing a little fairly often. And then I chop one tourney in AC and I’m back in the black and then some, with a whole new momentum behind me. Sometimes, kodokmas 99 can be a whole lotta nothing followed by a quick something, so I’m trying to just enjoy the game for its gamery and let time take care of the rest.
With that attitude has come a new curiousness about poker. I’m looking at hands in a whole new light, considering different elements of the game and hopefully whittling down my game in the process.
I saw some good press for my gambling home away from home, Atlantic City. According to some schlocky article on Yahoo (sometimes it seems like any dumb-ass can get a gig writing on the Internet…[pause for irony]…), Atlantic City has the BEST BOARDWALK in the whole United States.* That should bring in the real tourist money from all those Boardwalk aficionados who never heard of Vegas’ little developmentally disabled brother.
Still, it’s nice to see AC getting some positive press. It really has come a long way in just a few years.
Meanwhile, I played some poker against a bunch of silly gooses. That’s the only way I can explain these players after the following hand.
We’re playing the $9,500 KO Guarantee, with blinds of 50/100. We are table chip leader (6885) and in the BB when we are dealt 95s. UTG, the second chipleader with 6860, limps. UTG+1 with 5735 limps as well. Two players fold and the CO (2775) limps. The Button (4960) limps too. The SB (1630) flat calls. I mean, Jesus H. Christmas. Maybe this doesn’t seem odd to you, but I don’t think I’ve seen this many limpers online in a tournament well over a year. I must not be playing enough.
When the hand was first dealt, I assumed my hand was going nowhere. Suddenly, it’s a freaking 600 pot and I’m freerolling.
Of course, the flop comes down AKQ, all spades, flopping me the third-nut flush. The likelihood of another player having JXs or TXs is really slim, considering that I have two flush cards and three are on the board. However, with this many limpers, anything is possible and a player could even draw out with a single Js or Ts.
The SB checks to me, so I raise pot (600). I don’t necessarily expect to get any callers, unless I get someone calling with two-pair or a set. I really just don’t want to give any free cards for the spade flush draws with Ts or Js. The UTG folds, and UTG+1 raises to 2400. At first, I’m kinda excited, but then I start to worry. Why re-raise here unless you have an extremely strong hand? That still includes sets and whatnot, though, so I feel calm until the Button re-raises all-in for 4860! WHAT?! How could he NOT have a monster hand to re-re-raise all-in like that with sizeable stacks and small blinds. He must have the JXs or TXs, and if he doesn’t then in all likelihood the UTG+1 has it. I grumble, but decide that maybe, just maybe, the Button has a lower flush and the UTG+1 will fold his weaker hand. To protect myself from the possibility that UTG+1 actually has a superior flush draw, I push all-in. UTG+1 takes his time before calling 3235 all-in. At showdown, UTG+1 shows KQd for two pair and the Button shows JTh for a flopped straight. They are both drawing dead and I take the tourney chip lead, only to lose it later and bust out around 100 out of 680 or so players. At least it was a KO tourney.
Call me crazy, but I just don’t get these two players’ over excitement of their hands. The guy with a straight may have rationalized that no one flopped the flush, but with so many players seeing the flop and the action ahead of him (raise from a BB who could have any two cards, and a re-raise from an EP limper who could easily have limped with suited cards), I don’t see why he pushed all-in there. He was probably trying to protect against a flush draw, but really, he should have called and saw what the turn brought before pushing a flush draw off of his/her hand. After all, by pushing he is offering a set price to see two cards, which can be tempting to someone who already bet 2400 and may have a pair or whatnot. By calling and re-evaluating on the turn, you can instead offer that all-in price when your opponent has only one card to go OR alternatively, check it down if the next card is another spade.