Bad poker made easy

The Goose and I were going to go to a movie but it did not start until late so to dodge traffic and wait for the movie start, I headed over to Mixers.

First off...wow, how the mighty have fallen! There were 4 of us besides the tournament host...Gypsy, who works next door, Taz, who works there, myself, and a guy I don't really know though this is the third time I have played with him.

I had a pretty firm goal going in even before I knew how many people would be there. Accumulate enough chips to win if I wanted, then about 45 minutes in start working on depleting them by playing "respectable" hands that could still lose and not look like I was dumping them.

Early on I pretty much limped from small and big, raised if I played from anywhere else, or folded. Meanwhile, I got a read on their play.

Gypsy has gotten better. Now he raises a bit more often and, instead of just raising with the nuts or close to it, he raises with draws, for one thing, which adds a lot of deception to his game. The director is a terrible, terrible player. He stayed in on a board of 4/5/6 against flop and turn raises with Big Slick. Then, just to prove it was not an isolated incident, he stayed in against pre-flop raises, a board of A/K/5 against a raise on the flop, and another raise on teh turn with a 2/4 and when he rivered a 3 he had lots of chips. Of course, he kept giving them back by staying to the river with any 2 cards...

Taz was playing his normal maniacal game and going from short stack to average to short to average. The other guy has calmed his game a lot and gotten much, much better.

I just played good cards and played them solidly. Once I called a raise with A/J hearts, the flop was low and ragged, checked, when an Ace hit the pre-flop raiser (three time player guy) bet and I put him on a better Ace and folded. Sure enough, at the river he had big slick.

Other than that, I played my cards solidly. On one hand I raised with A/9 (I loosen my requirements a bit 5 handed) from the button, the director called. I knew he would call with any 2 cards but I bet the flop after I missed it anyway. I bet it strongly and he actually folded.

An interesting hand came up I was not in. First guy folded, I folded, director, in the small blind, hesitated to complete his blind. As soon as he did, Taz reached for a big chip. Director completed, Taz raised, he folded. We all saw what happened and commented on it. I knew Taz would make that play and knew what to watch for. Just another reason to pay attention even when not in the hand. You can pick stuff up.

It paid off a couple hands later. With 4 players (Gypsy had busted out after a couple bad calls) I picked up Q/J in the big blind. He hesitated, then called, Taz folded, guy to my right completed, I raised 3 times the blinds (2/400 w/ante...one reason their attendance has fallen. People don't like the ante.) to 1200. He hesitated again, then came over the top all-in, the other guy folded.

Now, had I not seen and confirmed his hesitation, I don't know if I would have called. After all, when all else is said and done, I had a Queen high. But several things worked against him.

1) He consistently mis-valued hands.
2) His initial hesitation led me to believe he had something weak...maybe middle cards or low cards or at best something like a K/4, that type of trash hand.
3) His second hesitation included pulling out calling chips, then deciding to make a big overbet...2500 more or so all-in. It seemed like a move, not a "I have a killer hand and think he will pay me off."

Had Taz...or even the other guy...made this play I would have folded. But based on my read I called.

And he turned up Q/2 off.

Good read. Better flop...Q/J/rag. Turn was a deuce, giving him 2 outs. He hit neither.

Then the Goose called...the movie was off. I started looking to go home, loosening my play A LOT,

I took a lot of small pots and ended up pretty clear chip lead with about 9K (only 15K in play) and 3 players

Picked up pocket 3s. Raised to 1200. Might have been a bad raise since it essentially pot committed me. Taz came over the top all in, it was only about another 8 or 9 hundred so I was guaranteed calling. He had A/4. He hit the 4 on the flop, I never improved. Now he was the chip lead

Next hand he raised, we both called (I had K/7 and would not have called had I not wanted to go.). Flop came King high, 3 spades. Guy next to me made a speech about should he go all-in? then checked. Now, that could mean several things:

1) he really had a big hand. I did not believe it.
2) he had a weak hand and wanted us to check in hopes he could improve. This I believed.
3) he had a draw to a strong hand and wanted a free card to get it. Another possibility, though I really thought it was #2.

I did not check. I sent in the chips, believing they would both call and Taz had something like Big Slick. He did call, the other guy folded. And Taz was ahead...though not as far as I thought. He had Aces. I thought I had 3 outs (the 7s), but because he had a BETTER hand than I thought, I actually improved to 5 outs since the Kings would help.

Fortunately, I did not improve and was on my way out the door.

I know it sounds weird to go from chip lead to out in 2 hands and think I did well...but that fit my time frame and I did exactly what I wanted. Had I wanted to win I would have. Instead, I proved (to myself) that I was, that night, the best player at the table and when it was time to go, I got in with hands that were believable I would call on but were odds on favorites to lose. (I actually suspect I was a slight favorite on the 3s, but not so much that I was surprised to get beat. Probably something like 51-49 or some other statistically irrelevant advantage.)

So I will argue I played well, even on my bust-out binge.

Plus, I got home with no traffic. A perfect night.