The bad part about being a good poker player

I feel egotistical claiming that...and I would argue I can only say it because of where I have the opportunity to play. I doubt I would fare as well as I do if I consistently played against tables of people who KNEW what was going on. There are a few people I play against that I think are really solid players, know how to play...but frankly, there are a lot of them that just...well, they aren't that good. But I fairly consistently get into hands with better cards, play them better, make more off my winning hands and lose less off my losing hands, have a better sense of what others are doing than all but maybe 2 or 3 people that I regularly play with.

So we have 6 players at each table to start but people keep flowing in late and we end with 8 and 7.To my left was another of Gary's daughters, though this one I had not played with before, then Gary, then Terry, then (late-arriving) Boston John, then Bob, then Randy immediately to my right.

I started playing well. I raised or folded, only played good hands. Unfortunately, my hands were not hitting. And I kept folding junk hands...2/9, 2/5, q/2...all of which would have tripped up. Of course, on the 2/5, Gary's daughter would have tripped as well, and she had an Ace kicker...though I think I could have gotten out of the way. I had a REALLY good read on her. For example, early on in the big blind I had J/rag and people limped to me. Flop came K/K/J. She raised, a couple callers, I folded. Turn was a jack...and I was still glad I folded because I had her on the King. Nobody else did until she put in her pink chip which she had commented on how much she liked. Since I had folded a Jack I knew she had the nuts but it was not until now that everyone folded. Much to nobodies surprise she folded the king. Two other times I got out of her way when I had good hands and she had better.

I picked up pocket 10s, jacked them up, Randy called. I knew instantly I was going all-in on the flop no matter what came. And the flop was beautiful...10 high. I flopped a set. I bet, he folded, and I was up a couple hundred. He did show his pocket 8s, a better hand than he usually has, and sow I showed the set.

A little later Saul raised, I got out of the way, flop came 10 high, he bet, everyone folded. I had him on an over pair, said, "Ah, show the fishhooks." He hesitated, then showed his pockets; 10s. He had hit a set.

Then Bob raised. He does not like to raise so I put him on Aces. Flop was queen high, he bumped it up, three callers. THREE! Turn was a blank, he raised less, they all called. River was a queen, he checked, Boston John raised, Bob disgustedly folded. Sure enough, Bob had Aces, John had the queen.

I think Bob overreacted his disgust a little since John DID have top pair on the flop, but it put Bob on tilt. Not too long after, he had limped in, flop came J/Q/K, 2 clubs, he went all in and John called. John had nothing, something like a 7/9. And of course he rivered the 10 to hit his straight and take Bob out. This time Bob's disgust made sense. It was a horrifically bad call and John got lucky.

Lots of folding by me, we go to break, I am down to about 2600, maybe 2400, somewhere in there.

First hand back I picked up the rockets. I have not had Aces in a long, long time. I raised to 800. Boston John called. I only had 16 or 1800 left after my raise, I know he will chase, flop came q/q/8. Randy groaned so I knew a queen was gone and probably an 8 as well. That meant John had to have the case queen to have any real hand worth calling me. I went all in, as I planned. And he said, "I am going to play the percentages." I knew that meant he was folding. But as John is wont to do, he just sat there staring. I finally said, "Does that mean you are folding?"

"Oh, no, " he said, "I am calling."

Okay. Well, either flip up your cards or put in your chips then. Or both. That is preferable. And the polite thing to do. Also the thing called for by the rules. Well, he finally flips up his hand. J/9 suited. A quick check shows me no clubs on the board. Cool, he is drawing real thin to 4 tens or runner runner for trips. So let's check the math and see if he made a good call.

Pre-flop he called 4 times the blind with J/9 suited. I am okay with that. He doesn't pay close enough attention to have any idea what I might have but that is a decent drawing hand. That gives us a pot of 1100...my 800, his 800, and the blinds both folded giving us 300 dead money.

I raised let's say 1600, I think that is what I had, for all in. So he is calling 1600 to win 2700, or approximately 1.7-1 for his chips. So he needs to be no less than a 1.7-1 dog to get the proper pot odds. And since I was all-in, there are no implied odds.

He of course does not know what I have. If I have a queen then he has 4 outs and I have a redraw to the boat. If I had pocket 8s he has runner runner for a higher boat. If I just have a big card or cards then he has 10 outs (3 Jacks, 3 9s, and 4 tens) which gives him...well, let's do the math. He knows 5 cards, there are 47 unknown, 10 help him, 37 don't, so he is a 3.7-1 dog...and that is the BEST CASE scenario!

So it is a terrible, terrible call. Horrific.

Even worse, after he saw the Aces...he still thought he made a great call. He is truly ignorant of percentages, pot odds, and so forth.

The turn was a rag, no help to either of us. At this point I am feeling pretty good. I am about to rake a nice pot, get some chips to play with, about 5100...everything looks great. I am a HUGE favorite; we now know 8 cards; his j/9, my aces, 3 from the flop, and the turn. I, of course, know 2 more because Randy is still groaning and I know he would have flopped the boat. So with 8 gone, there are still 4 that help him and 40 that help me, I am a 10-1 favorite to double up.

I am nowhere near a good enough player to not be ecstatic about having a 10-1 chance to double up. If you run this scenario 11 times, 10 times I win 5100 for a net gain of 27,000 chips (300 dead money x10=3000, the 2400 he called x10=24,000, 24k + 3K =27K) and the one time I lose I am bounced for my last 2400. I like those numbers.

Of course, the problem with consistently getting in with the best of it is that it hurts that much more when the river spikes the 10 to give him his gut shot straight. Which of course it did.

He made 2 horrible plays in short succession, one against Bob and one against me...and got rewarded for them.

I would argue both Bob and I are better poker players than Boston John. We both do a better job at reading our opponents (Bob's pre-emptive lay down of the Aces when the Queen hit, for example...) and even being aware of the NEED to read them...we both have at least some concept of pot odds and/or implied odds...we don't make terrible chase calls, etc.

But maybe it is a spurious argument. After all, he comes in week after week, makes mathematically HORRIBLE plays, and ends up with mountains of chips. Maybe getting in with the odds in your favor is not actually all that good a play. It certainly is not working out too well for Bob and I...I have taken so many brutal beats in the last couple of weeks it is pretty discouraging. Why bother playing well if it just gets you rolled by terrible poker? Randy and his runner-runner for bottom straight, John with his almost back to back gut shot straights...so pointless.


And that is the tough part about wanting to be a good player. I laughed it off at the table. People were telling me how sorry they were for me and I pointed out they should not be...I got in as the prohibitive favorite, he got lucky...but I WANT him to make that call every...single...time. Including when he gets lucky because that keeps him calling me when he shouldn't.

Even knowing the outcome, I would make the same play. Had we played that hand face up I would have played it exactly the same way. And once I made the initial bet, I was going all in. At the break I had seen some of the stacks at the other table. I was going to be short stacked very shortly, I had a great hand and a huge advantage. If I am not willing to play those...and bust out on them when someone hits their long-shot...then I should not be playing at all.

So my challenge is to not let it put me on tilt but simply laugh it off as the breaks of the game and get them next time.