Monday, December 05, 2005
A Nomination for a New Tiltboy...
Richard stared hard at the board, 6s Qs As Kd 8s, for a full minute, trying to figure out how he'd just gotten knocked out of the tournament. He looked down at his AhAc again, the picture that he had just gotten fully kicked in the junk developing clearer, and then you could see it begin. The burning rage in his eyes, mouth open in disbelief... a full-on Hellmuthian tirade trying to escape his lips but the words just not coming. "How..." and then he shook his head and walked out of the room. In a daze he drifted towards the living room, turning around halfway and walking back towards the table, "How do you make so bad a play?"
While slowly stacking up chips the answer comes with a slight chuckle, "I know, that was a really bad play, wasn't it?" And then Richard is off again, shaking his head, too angry and confused to say anything more. There's not much more that can be said, Richard is just the latest victim of the one and only, Footloose.
Phil Gordon often writes about an interesting poker concept called implied Tilt odds. I've never seen someone so in tune with that concept than one of the regulars in our Sunday and Monday tournaments, Footloose. The name pretty much sums up his game, and he always stacks a mountain of chips in the first few levels of our tournaments. Last night he was in rare form however. He is the namesake of the hand 74, and recently added K4 to his repetoire, now known as the BigFoot.
On the third hand of the tournament, Foot is in the big blind and Bob is under the gun. Bob is a tight-passive player, and he open raises to $12 it folds around to Foot and he smooth calls. The flop comes down 3h3d5d. Foot checks and Bob fires out $20, Foot smooth calls again. At about this time, a friend of ours who is just learning the game hears the phrase "smooth call" used, and asks a smart ass question to the effect of, "if that's a smooth call, what's a rough call?"
As the dealer slides the turn card, 6c, onto the board, I answer him by saying, "A rough call is what Foot is doing to Bob when he turns over 74 and completely whores out Bob's hand with a straight." Foot checks again, Bob bets $25, Foot raises to $75 and Bob calls. River is a brick, Foot bets $50, Bob calls and turns over Kings, and Foot turns over his hand, naturally the 74 offsuit for a straight.
Bob goes out the next hand to Matt when he runs into Matt's Aces. Two orbits later Matt, another tight-passive player, limps under the gun and I find pocket sevens on the button. I raise to $12, Foot re-raises to $36 and I'm immediately thinking, bullshit. As I ponder how much I'll reraise him, Matt smooth calls from under the gun. Ruh-roh. I call taking a shot that I'll hit a set. Flop comes down 6d8h10s and Foot immediately fires 100 into the pot. Matt slows down for a minute and says, "I've gotta make a bet and find out where I'm at, I'm all in."
I make a very easy fold and Foot sheepishly calls, turning over 79 offsuit for the flopped nuts, knocking out Matt who was holding pocket Jacks. Foot is two for two. We get down to four handed and it's Foot, Richard, myself and Avery (the novice player). And that's when magic of Tilt happened.
Richard has been playing very tight all night long and he would like to believe that he has a very tight table image. However, he has an extremely loose image to everyone because though he appears to be tight, he sometimes gets caught making a big bluff and gets crippled or knocked out. A lot of it has to do with how he used to play months ago, which he has tightened up considerably from, but reputations take a while to change. So he comes in for his standard raise and I fold on the button, and Footloose thinks for a bit before announcing a reraise up to $75. Richard now goes into one of his routines, and I'm trying to figure out which one he's giving us. He counts down all his chips a couple times, looks back at his cards, counts them down again, and announces a reraise of $85 more. Now I'm positive he's holding Aces, this definitely appears to be the Aces show he's giving, but you never know with him for sure.
Foot goes back in the tank, starts counting down all his chips. He asks Richard how much he has behind it and Richard announces $161. Foot counts down his chips again, and then says, "I just don't see how I can lay this hand down." So knowing Foot, I suddenly wonder if he's somewhere between 99-JJ or AK and thinks that Richard is just full of it. Anything QQ or KK and Foot would already have his money in the middle. He counts down his stacks one more time and says again, "I just don't think I can lay this down... I'm all in," before he can finish his sentence Richard has insta-called and flips up pocket Aces. Foot smiles and turns over 7h4s. He had Richard covered by $3.
I think we were all in shock, I know Foot is crazy, but I didn't think he was that crazy. I then dealt out his flush and knocked Richard out of the tournament. I'm impressed Richard didn't go get a weapon to use on Foot. A short while later I busted Foot out heads-up when I got a ridiculous run of cards and finished him off with AA.
But Footloose knocked out KK, JJ and AA with some magical force last night that would have made Phil Gordon proud.
While slowly stacking up chips the answer comes with a slight chuckle, "I know, that was a really bad play, wasn't it?" And then Richard is off again, shaking his head, too angry and confused to say anything more. There's not much more that can be said, Richard is just the latest victim of the one and only, Footloose.
Phil Gordon often writes about an interesting poker concept called implied Tilt odds. I've never seen someone so in tune with that concept than one of the regulars in our Sunday and Monday tournaments, Footloose. The name pretty much sums up his game, and he always stacks a mountain of chips in the first few levels of our tournaments. Last night he was in rare form however. He is the namesake of the hand 74, and recently added K4 to his repetoire, now known as the BigFoot.
On the third hand of the tournament, Foot is in the big blind and Bob is under the gun. Bob is a tight-passive player, and he open raises to $12 it folds around to Foot and he smooth calls. The flop comes down 3h3d5d. Foot checks and Bob fires out $20, Foot smooth calls again. At about this time, a friend of ours who is just learning the game hears the phrase "smooth call" used, and asks a smart ass question to the effect of, "if that's a smooth call, what's a rough call?"
As the dealer slides the turn card, 6c, onto the board, I answer him by saying, "A rough call is what Foot is doing to Bob when he turns over 74 and completely whores out Bob's hand with a straight." Foot checks again, Bob bets $25, Foot raises to $75 and Bob calls. River is a brick, Foot bets $50, Bob calls and turns over Kings, and Foot turns over his hand, naturally the 74 offsuit for a straight.
Bob goes out the next hand to Matt when he runs into Matt's Aces. Two orbits later Matt, another tight-passive player, limps under the gun and I find pocket sevens on the button. I raise to $12, Foot re-raises to $36 and I'm immediately thinking, bullshit. As I ponder how much I'll reraise him, Matt smooth calls from under the gun. Ruh-roh. I call taking a shot that I'll hit a set. Flop comes down 6d8h10s and Foot immediately fires 100 into the pot. Matt slows down for a minute and says, "I've gotta make a bet and find out where I'm at, I'm all in."
I make a very easy fold and Foot sheepishly calls, turning over 79 offsuit for the flopped nuts, knocking out Matt who was holding pocket Jacks. Foot is two for two. We get down to four handed and it's Foot, Richard, myself and Avery (the novice player). And that's when magic of Tilt happened.
Richard has been playing very tight all night long and he would like to believe that he has a very tight table image. However, he has an extremely loose image to everyone because though he appears to be tight, he sometimes gets caught making a big bluff and gets crippled or knocked out. A lot of it has to do with how he used to play months ago, which he has tightened up considerably from, but reputations take a while to change. So he comes in for his standard raise and I fold on the button, and Footloose thinks for a bit before announcing a reraise up to $75. Richard now goes into one of his routines, and I'm trying to figure out which one he's giving us. He counts down all his chips a couple times, looks back at his cards, counts them down again, and announces a reraise of $85 more. Now I'm positive he's holding Aces, this definitely appears to be the Aces show he's giving, but you never know with him for sure.
Foot goes back in the tank, starts counting down all his chips. He asks Richard how much he has behind it and Richard announces $161. Foot counts down his chips again, and then says, "I just don't see how I can lay this hand down." So knowing Foot, I suddenly wonder if he's somewhere between 99-JJ or AK and thinks that Richard is just full of it. Anything QQ or KK and Foot would already have his money in the middle. He counts down his stacks one more time and says again, "I just don't think I can lay this down... I'm all in," before he can finish his sentence Richard has insta-called and flips up pocket Aces. Foot smiles and turns over 7h4s. He had Richard covered by $3.
I think we were all in shock, I know Foot is crazy, but I didn't think he was that crazy. I then dealt out his flush and knocked Richard out of the tournament. I'm impressed Richard didn't go get a weapon to use on Foot. A short while later I busted Foot out heads-up when I got a ridiculous run of cards and finished him off with AA.
But Footloose knocked out KK, JJ and AA with some magical force last night that would have made Phil Gordon proud.
