Life and Times of a Poker Addict

Fire up the PartyPoker limit bandwagon... WAGONS HOOOOOOOOO!

Wow. That's about all there is to describe the play I saw the last two days. And I don't even really know what I'm doing yet as far as limit poker goes. But, wow.

Ran into some ridiculous situations my first day and kept getting smacked around by sets over my pairs, flushes on my straights... etcetera, etcetera. I kind of felt like I might get some birthday luck as far as poker went but August 2nd brought nothing but a $600 loss overall. Last night though, I ran over the Party clowns and got a little over $200 back. Just playing one table for the time being until I find my groove but things look profitable on the horizon, that's for darn sure.

Been trying to maximize my time on FullTilt because of their $10K a Day promotion, but after some early success, I got run over on the $1/2 Omaha Hi-Lo table. Particularly by one guy who was capping every round with like fourth best draws and somehow always pulling out a winner. But his name is noted and I'll get my money back from him eventually. Tonight I hope to earn back some of what I lost at the Warehouse on Tuesday, so everyone keep your fingers crossed for a big crowd. I simply can't make my money back with the number of people that have been coming out lately.

Okay, some more basic poker knowledge for my neophyte poker friends who keep up with this thing. Here's a hand that I saw the other night:

$1/2 No Limit Hold'em with 7 players

Early Position player (EP): 99
Late Position player (LP): AJ offsuit

EP makes it $10 to go with the blinds and one limper already in the pot. It folds around to LP who makes it $25 to go. It then folds back around to the original raiser who stops to think. He asks for a countdown of the other player's chips, which amount to $71 more after the raise. After another minute of consideration, EP raises LP all-in. EP calls almost immediately.

Board comes A9xxx and EP wins with his set.

LP player goes beserk.

Analysis: LP has no clue how to play poker properly. I may be especially harsh because we have all had to suffer through his bitching about this hand the last two sessions and he still doesn't understand why he is wrong.

I have no problem with either player's original action. EP raising early is letting everyone else at the table know that he has a big hand. LP re-raising is signaling to LP that he knows that and still has no problem coming over the top. At that point, the only hands EP has to worry about are AA-10 10. Then it comes down to decision time, do I believe that this guy has one of those hands or was he making a move with perhaps a lesser pair from late position or a big Ace. When EP comes back over the top all-in, LP absolutely must lay this hand down. He is behind all the following: AA-22, AK and AQ. That is 15 hands that beat his AJ, plus he doesn't even have the added benefit of the 30% chance he might hit a flush if he is suited with his AJ. In his best case scenario which is a pair 10's or lower, he is approximately a 55%-45% underdog. Also, he has to put in $71 to win $136, which is 1.91-1 odds. So he's getting slightly less than 2-1 odds to put his money into a pot where he is at best a 1.25-1 underdog. I think you all can handle the math on that one. There is simply no sense in getting all your money in the middle when all indications are that you are already a loser.

When LP turned over his AJ he berated EP for playing his nine's the way he had, exclaiming, "I knew all you had was a small pair. How could you call my raise, it very easily could have been a big pocket pair you were up against," and when the nine hit the flop, "you are so lucky you sucked out on me. What a horrible call."

I wish I had the outburst on videotape so I could run it back for this douchebag. You, LP, are the one who called all your money into the middle with AJ offsuit. You called the all-in, and while your initial play was fine, you should have had the discipline to toss it in the muck when EP came back over the top.