Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Something important to remember...
Many of us have purchased some or all the notable poker manuals out there to glean every nugget of advice we can about this game. From Super/System to the Little Green Book of Poker, we find some useful knowledge to help sharpen up one aspect of our poker or another. You play, practice, read and then practice some more. You feel like your starting to get the hang of things and then it happens.
You're sitting at a $1/2 No Limit game which you bought into for $200 and you raise to $15 from middle position after two people limp in early position, including under the gun. You get called by one other late position player, the small blind and then both the early limpers. Yes, you raised 7.5 times the big blind and got called in four places. Aren't people supposed to be respecting a raise like that? Don't they know that you're only supposed to raise 3 to 4 times the big blind in standard situations, so if you're making it $15, you really mean business?
You're holding pocket jacks and now the flop comes down 7 3 2, with two spades. The small blind and both early position players check to you and, confident from your studies you lead out to shut down any possible draws and overcards, firing $45 into the $77 pot. You get called by the small blind and under the gun chuckles to himself and throws in his $45 as well.
Inside your head you're screaming for "no spade! no spade!" and the turn brings the 10 of hearts. Okay, a deep breath. You dodged a bullet, if anyone had had Aces, Kings or Queens or flopped a set, they would have had to play stronger before the flop or on the flop, right? Jacks are probably the best hand here. Small blind and under the gun both check to you again. What in the bloody hell could they possible have here? Now the pot is a juicy $212 and you have $140 left in front of you. At this point there aren't many betting options available to you but to move it all in. You could bet $75 or $100, but if you get called, even if a spade or overcard falls on the river, there's no way you aren't moving your last $60 or so into a pot that's now over $400. 7-1 odds dictate the money goes in on the river, so now you push your stack in, figuring any kind of draw has to lay down their hand only getting 2.5-1 on their money.
The small blind goes in the tank for two minutes, hemming and hawing and finally pitches his cards into the muck. Then the under the gun player chuckles again, looks at you and smiles and asks if you've got a big pair. You shrug your shoulders still unsure on whether or not you want this guy in your pot, what in the hell is this guy holding, anyways!? He perks up, says to the table, "well, it's almost time to go home anyways," and calls your all-in, having you barely covered. Before you can turn over your jacks the dealer puts out the river card, a beautiful 6 of diamonds.
You're confidently ready to gather in your pot when the other player throws the 8 9 of diamonds out onto the felt, having just completed his open ended straight draw, and starts stacking up your chips in front of him. As one last kick to the groin he throws out a final nugget as he's towering his chips up, "I knew it, I never lose with that hand."
So this is why guns aren't allowed in poker rooms. See, you can do everything correctly, or semi-correctly but there's no accounting for what other players know or don't know about the game, or what ever "feeling" that they might be having. So is the most important thing about poker the nuts and bolts of the game? Which hands to play before the flop, how to price out draws or getting the right value for a made hand on the river? All important certainly, but maybe most important of all is realizing that individual sessions are just that, an individual session in a game that just keeps going and going. So long as you're making the right decisions, the cards and the opponents work themselves out in the end.
You're sitting at a $1/2 No Limit game which you bought into for $200 and you raise to $15 from middle position after two people limp in early position, including under the gun. You get called by one other late position player, the small blind and then both the early limpers. Yes, you raised 7.5 times the big blind and got called in four places. Aren't people supposed to be respecting a raise like that? Don't they know that you're only supposed to raise 3 to 4 times the big blind in standard situations, so if you're making it $15, you really mean business?
You're holding pocket jacks and now the flop comes down 7 3 2, with two spades. The small blind and both early position players check to you and, confident from your studies you lead out to shut down any possible draws and overcards, firing $45 into the $77 pot. You get called by the small blind and under the gun chuckles to himself and throws in his $45 as well.
Inside your head you're screaming for "no spade! no spade!" and the turn brings the 10 of hearts. Okay, a deep breath. You dodged a bullet, if anyone had had Aces, Kings or Queens or flopped a set, they would have had to play stronger before the flop or on the flop, right? Jacks are probably the best hand here. Small blind and under the gun both check to you again. What in the bloody hell could they possible have here? Now the pot is a juicy $212 and you have $140 left in front of you. At this point there aren't many betting options available to you but to move it all in. You could bet $75 or $100, but if you get called, even if a spade or overcard falls on the river, there's no way you aren't moving your last $60 or so into a pot that's now over $400. 7-1 odds dictate the money goes in on the river, so now you push your stack in, figuring any kind of draw has to lay down their hand only getting 2.5-1 on their money.
The small blind goes in the tank for two minutes, hemming and hawing and finally pitches his cards into the muck. Then the under the gun player chuckles again, looks at you and smiles and asks if you've got a big pair. You shrug your shoulders still unsure on whether or not you want this guy in your pot, what in the hell is this guy holding, anyways!? He perks up, says to the table, "well, it's almost time to go home anyways," and calls your all-in, having you barely covered. Before you can turn over your jacks the dealer puts out the river card, a beautiful 6 of diamonds.
You're confidently ready to gather in your pot when the other player throws the 8 9 of diamonds out onto the felt, having just completed his open ended straight draw, and starts stacking up your chips in front of him. As one last kick to the groin he throws out a final nugget as he's towering his chips up, "I knew it, I never lose with that hand."
So this is why guns aren't allowed in poker rooms. See, you can do everything correctly, or semi-correctly but there's no accounting for what other players know or don't know about the game, or what ever "feeling" that they might be having. So is the most important thing about poker the nuts and bolts of the game? Which hands to play before the flop, how to price out draws or getting the right value for a made hand on the river? All important certainly, but maybe most important of all is realizing that individual sessions are just that, an individual session in a game that just keeps going and going. So long as you're making the right decisions, the cards and the opponents work themselves out in the end.
