Playing poker last night, there was 8000 in chips on the table. Of which I had about 6000 having wiped out 2 of the last 4 players in one hand. I was feeling pretty confident of getting the win in my first game for many months (it’s a casual game with friends and we’ve all been busy this year). Little did I know the chaos play of the final player at the table. Without looking at his cards he went all in, I folded. He did this a couple of times before I got annoyed and called him. He won. So I was back down to about 4000 chips.
Then he started playing properly and we traded jabs for a long time over some terrible hands. Suddenly we got dealt a few blinders. I got ace-king suited and make a move, throwing chips onto the table. Out comes the flop, all hearts and no help. We both stick and out comes another heart. Stick again and sure enough the ace of hearts appears on the river completing the flush. Turns out we both had ace-king so it’s a split pot.
By this point we had everyone’s attention after the duel ace-king draw. Next hand I get ace-ace and am feeling confident. My friend does his all in trick again and I can’t believe it, well there’s no way he’s getting away with it again so I call him. My 2 aces against his ace-jack before the flop. Interesting. The cards get turned over, 8…10…k. Looking good for me, but some ominous high cards sitting there. Turn card appears, it’s a 6 or something. Irrelevent. Down to the river, my friend looks beaten and everyone seems sure I’m going to win. The river card gets turned over. It’s a bloody Queen.
There was a long chip count after that, leaving me with about 600. Enough to play one hand but the game was over.
Never go all in without seeing the flop. In the long run it will pay. (Unless you are so broke it’s going to be your last hand anyway.)
Never get angry – '. . . before I got annoyed . . . – I love playing with players who are annoyed. I go out of my way to annoy them. Remember the line from The Sting, when Paul Newman takes a hand from Studs Longerman – “Tough luck, Longerman, but that’s what you get for playing with your head up your ass.” A pissed opponent will play badly.
The river can be a killer, but if you make it expensive for your opponent to see it, you’ll come out ahead over time.
Anyone can be the big winner once in a while. I play to be the second place winner all of the time.
When playing, drink tonic water with a slice of lime, or something equally lacking in alcohol. Being the only sober player at the table gives you a hell of an advantage.
I have at times in my life made more money playing poker in the back room of resturants and bars than I made at my job. Alas, those days are done, but I still occasionally take delight in letting co-workers or clients teach me how to play hold’em poker.
Ha ha! In the great movie The Sting, Paul Newman’s advice to newbie scammer Robert Redford is to always drink Gin when you’re playing a mark: they can’t tell when you’re watering it down (you can smell boozed up while actually consuming very little alcohol). He later takes his own advice when he acts drunk and obnoxious while drinking watered down Gin while he takes Robert Shaw to the cleaners.
Out of 8 players 3 of us were sober on Friday night, including myself and the other player to make it to the end. However I’ve done just as well in that game absolutely wrecked before. Which probably just says more about our general skill level than anything else.
Those rules are fine and on the whole I was following them. But by 1.30am with the finish line in sight it’s all too easy to forget the gameplan. That’s when I started getting hurt.
I forgot about that part. That’s probably why I didn’t drink rum and cokes. Of course, the salubrious effects of the tonic water are nothing to sneeze at, especially in the hot summers of Kansas when malaria runs rampant.
The Sting is full of excellent life lessons for the aspiring and highly impressionable young grifter. I also used to watch Alias Smith and Jones (a.k.a. Butch Cassidy meets The Sting) for its instructional value, but alas, the only nugget I retained was how to make an egg stand on end.
