How to play like a chump

I was pretty upset that 6 people from work who committed to showing up all no-showed...though at least 2 called. 2 hours after they were supposed to be there, but at least they called.

Early on Jamey was hot. He was catching Aces. I lost a few hundred when I flopped top pair on board, bet it, he came over the top. Alan folded. Right there I should have put him on an over pair but did not. His pocket rockets took me for a ride. Alan was convinced I was betting different than I normally do, though I did (and do) disagree. When I have J/8 and am playing well, I raise pre-flop. When I am playing poorly, I limp. I had raised pre-flop. I flopped top pair, I bet it. I do not dislike this play at all. I did get outplayed as Jamey let me do the betting and correctly so as he had me beat with hidden strength.

Lost a few hundred on other hands, too. I was catching cards..I had 2 pair beaten 4 or 5 times.

Came a hand where I was in the big blind with 2/8. Board paired itself early. Everyone checked it to the river where I paired my 8. Nick came out firing and it caught my attention. First off, he massively overbet...the pot had maybe 200 in it and he bet 1000. Second, his betting style heretofore had been quite steady...he would gently toss his chips in the direction of the pot (and more often than not directly into the pot itself). This time he authoritatively tossed them away from the pot with an atypical smile. I correctly read it was unusual and in a half a heartbeat tossed in my own chips.

This was a bad play for several reasons. First, the smile and confident pose are "I have a better than normal" type tell. Second, I did not look at the board for straights, flushes, anything like that. I decided he was bluffing, noted his atypical reaction, and did not go any deeper than that. Even if he HAD been bluffing it was a weak play on my part. Third, even if he WAS bluffing, I was paying 1000 to win 1200.

By the same token, when I mentioned his unusual bet caught my attention, that brought a lot of criticism my way with comments such as, "I don't even have a betting style" from Nick and similar stuff from a couple others.

Well...that makes it even MORE telling. When people do not think about how they bet they are prone to giving off a LOT of information. There are people I play with who regularly put out a bet in small denomination chips when they have a weak hand and put out large denomination chips when they have a strong hand. I assume it is because if they have a weak hand they expect to lose the chips and don't mind seeing small ones go away...but it is hard to say.

Meanwhile, I picked up pocket Queens. I had been folding for a while, so I came out raising 4 times the blinds. Emily called...and I have played with her long enough to know that means she has a good hand. She will limp with weak hands but never calls a raise without something good. Flop came A/10/rag, 2 diamonds...and she came out betting. I put her on the ace and folded. Someone else called. On the turn she laid out her 5000 chip and he folded. And she flipped up a 2/3.

She totally bluffed me. I misread her as badly as I have ever misread anybody. As Roman admitted when we talked about it later, in all the times we have seen her play we have never...NEVER...NEVER seen her bluff. In almost 10 months of playing, this is the first bluff she has ever pulled off and she did it beautifully.

Someone thought she had put me on tilt...I do not think she did. I was actually kind of proud of her. And I went back to fold-fold-fold. But that blinded me to 5100.

I picked up pocket jacks after a couple people had limped in. I planned to raise and was too lazy to make change so I just went all in. Jamey called. He had A/K...standard race. I figured I was about 52-48 to win...and I was actually off a bit. According to Card Player magazine, that situation is a 57-43 advantage to the fishhooks, so I was looking good to double up. Until the flop gave him a King, I never improved and I was first one out.

And deservedly so. I think I won 1 hand all night. I played poorly yet again. I am starting to think I have lost my feel for the game. Oh, well. Easy come, easy go.