Man ten-handed, short-stacked poker is the nut low, but at the same time it’s plain to see how much value there is in this tournament. Our discussion on the latest podcast makes me tempted to just go play something I’ll enjoy more, and I’m still a little on the fence, but the 10AM start time is likely to be the thing that pushes me over the edge into playing. I’m a morning person, and those tough hours to monetize in cash games. If I don’t do well, I can always go play cash in the evening.
My starting table was pretty great, full of the most ideal sort of recreational players. There was one guy who was a little better than the rest but thought he was a lot better and wouldn’t shut up about how unlucky he was getting and how well he was playing. It got so bad that he was bragging to people in the middle of hands about how he was reading them. When one of the Bubbas three-bet him, he said, “Well, I know you don’t have AK, because you just call with that.” The Bubba was clearly rattled by this and said, out loud, that he’d have to change up the way he played.
Other than that kind of thing, random dumb poker talk from bad players doesn’t really tilt me the way it does a lot of pros. I sometimes even find it endearing.
What does bug me is the near-compulsive need to make lame comments and jokes any time a remotely attractive woman walks past or the subject of sex is mentioned. My current theory is that most poker players – most people, really – want nothing more than to fit in, make no waves, and be unobjectionable. Sports and (heterosexual) sex talk are the least controversial subjects you can broach at the poker table, and so making the easy joke or obvious pun is a way to affirm your normality and ensure that you’ll get a chuckle or grunt of agreement. Also most of these guys have no filter or impulse control, which is a big part of what makes them so bad at poker.
After that I got some tough tables. Dan O’Brien was at one along with three guys I didn’t recognize but who all seemed to know him and each other. That had to be one of the worst tables in the room.
Then that table broke and I ended up Calvin Anderson and someone else really good whom I feel like I should’ve been able to identify but couldn’t put my finger on it. Obviously there was still a ton of easy money in the tournament, and although I had access to some of those players, I think I could have run a lot better on table draws.
Anyway, interesting hands:
You Were in the Right Ballpark
Villain open limps the hijack, SB completes, I check 63o in the BB. Flop 9d 5h 4d. Checks to HJ, he bets 100, SB folds, I raise to 400, HJ calls. Turn 8d I bet 600, he says “Well, I put you on the flush draw”, flashes a 9, and folds.
All That For a Chop?
I’d had AK twice before against Villain. Once I raised his limp, checked back the flop, and folded to a turn bet. Once I’d three-bet him, checked back the flop, and folded to a turn bet.
Villain limps UTG for 150. I make it 600 UTG2 with Ah Kc. Action folds back to him, and he calls. Flop 822 with two hearts. We both check. Turn 8, he checks, I bet 400 into 2000, he raises to 1500, I call. River 4 he puts me all in for 4500, I call, he has As Ts which is about the worst hand he could possibly play that way.
More Bluffing
Villain limps UTG1, someone else limps, SB completes, I check 54o. Flop Tc 8c 6h checks around. Turn 3d, SB checks, I pot it for 600, UTG1 calls, others fold. Turn Kd I bet 800 to get him off busted draws, he folds.
Bad Fold
Blinds 150/300/25. Very good players UTG1 opens to 700, folds to me in BB, I call with K2s. Flop AKKr. I check and call 800. Turn Q. I check and call 1600. River T. I check and fold when he puts me all in for about 5500. My thinking at the time was that it would be hard for him to get to the river with enough bluffing hands given that he opened UTG1 at a 10-handed table. However, there are so few nut combos when I block the K (I don’t think he’s jamming a J for value, though I could be wrong about that, and if I am calling is a lot less good) that even just giving him T9s and 98s is probably enough for me to call. He later showed up with K3s after opening middle position, so he was clearly getting out of line pre-flop, which also makes my assumption less good, though I didn’t have that info at the time. This is definitely a good board for him to go three barrels with air, it’s just a question of how often he’ll have it.