ChicagoTroy
07-26-2004, 11:03 AM
Somebody asked for a report of the $10-20 at Harrah's EC Saturday night, here's the gist:
Ed Miller is going to give me a heart attack.
First off, $10-20 is a very new game for me, and this one was played with a half kill that was hitting once or twice an orbit for a few hours for $15-30. I'm not used to those stakes, and while my play is always the most aggressive at the table, it wasn't aggressive enough for what SSH advocates. That meant I was in for some bigger swings than I'm accustomed to. I folded for a while and then raised UTG with AKd. Two players called cold. The flop hit the ace on a A-rag-rag rainbow flop, but one guy caught his runner-runner flush on the river. I looked down to see $100 missing from my stack, and quickly reminded myself to think in BB.
Pocket 10's were also pushed hard, but an ace spiked on the turn and I got smoked there. Big draws were pushed hard as well, but every one missed. Two sharp players started going into "weak mode" against me since I was the most aggressive player at the table, and they'd flop two pair but just call me down. In this instance, I picked up that the aggression level was saving me money on some of my losses.
Once I went down $380 in just over 90 minutes, I decided to leave. Doubt was creeping in, "You aren't bankrolled for this game. There aren't enough bad players at this table. You've never lost this much in one session, you're going to tilt." Waiting for the BB to come around, I play my last hand with QJs under the gun in yet another half kill pot. Knucklehad with Rolex (KwR) calls, both sharp players limp as well (Damn!), the CO+1 raises (DAMN!!!!), and the blinds and everybody who limped calls.
Six players see the flop of 872 rainbow, giving me a backdoor flush draw and a double gutshot straight draw. Checks around to the preflop raiser who bets, the BB folds, but everybody else calls.
5 players see the turn. Turn comes a Q, giving me top pair with a flush draw. I check, KrW wakes up and bets, called around to me and I say "raise." Dealer says, "Raise, make it 60." I'm thinking "SIXTY dollars? Holy crap, I take it back!" Start feeling vaguely nauseous when everybody calls. $300 goes in the pot on the turn.
River comes an ace. There's over $500 in the pot, I'm first to act and bet out. It occurs to me that there are lots of draws on the board that have missed, and my CR on the turn could look like I'd slowplayed a flopped set. In an awesome display of crappy poker, everybody folds around to the preflop raiser. He thinks for about a minute. He's obviously hit his ace but missed his flush draw, and doesn't think it's any good. I look at the pot while he stares at me for a while, my last $30 bet has put me all in. I send him mental messages, "FOLD FOLD FOLD FOLD FOLD!" He thinks a little while longer and shows his hand to his buddy. Thinking, "FOLD you idiot! Your ace is no good!" Nothing. Finally I'm thinking, "Call?" And he folds. I take down a $540 pot, and I go from $380 down to $40 up in one hand. It's hard to explain to non-poker players the emotional rush of winning the biggest pot you've ever seen on a poker table (in a game I was playing). This is tiddly-winks for some people, but it was a big deal for me. It took two hands just to get the chips counted and stacked, all the time I have Queen, a band I hate, playing "We are the Champions" in my head. Ed Miller is playing drums. I'm not going anywhere.
After that hand, the little old lady (LOL) next to me goes on a $1500 rush. KwR has a A9 nine on a half kill pot on the river when a straight hits with board 7-8-T-K-J. He and LOL get into a raising war, and he calls the fourth bet and with a flourish flips over his hand and says "straight to the jack with an ace in the hole!" I say, "um..." knowing he's dead, and LOL turns over the obvious Q9. The guy is stunned, but the lady was a straightforward weakish player, so there was NFW she'd go four bets on the river without the nuts.
I swing up and down for a bit, and when I bet out heads up a couple times on the river in big pots with busted draws and am caught, some obvious Lee Jones followers clearly think I'm an idiot. IMO, this is the biggest benefit of SSH. Some rational but unsophisticated players think you suck. I catch a nut straight later on and am called down, TPTK holds up, and when I am called for the must move to a table with at least five sharp players I recognize, decide to boogie out of there with $867 over four hours. Poker is great.
Ed Miller is going to give me a heart attack.
First off, $10-20 is a very new game for me, and this one was played with a half kill that was hitting once or twice an orbit for a few hours for $15-30. I'm not used to those stakes, and while my play is always the most aggressive at the table, it wasn't aggressive enough for what SSH advocates. That meant I was in for some bigger swings than I'm accustomed to. I folded for a while and then raised UTG with AKd. Two players called cold. The flop hit the ace on a A-rag-rag rainbow flop, but one guy caught his runner-runner flush on the river. I looked down to see $100 missing from my stack, and quickly reminded myself to think in BB.
Pocket 10's were also pushed hard, but an ace spiked on the turn and I got smoked there. Big draws were pushed hard as well, but every one missed. Two sharp players started going into "weak mode" against me since I was the most aggressive player at the table, and they'd flop two pair but just call me down. In this instance, I picked up that the aggression level was saving me money on some of my losses.
Once I went down $380 in just over 90 minutes, I decided to leave. Doubt was creeping in, "You aren't bankrolled for this game. There aren't enough bad players at this table. You've never lost this much in one session, you're going to tilt." Waiting for the BB to come around, I play my last hand with QJs under the gun in yet another half kill pot. Knucklehad with Rolex (KwR) calls, both sharp players limp as well (Damn!), the CO+1 raises (DAMN!!!!), and the blinds and everybody who limped calls.
Six players see the flop of 872 rainbow, giving me a backdoor flush draw and a double gutshot straight draw. Checks around to the preflop raiser who bets, the BB folds, but everybody else calls.
5 players see the turn. Turn comes a Q, giving me top pair with a flush draw. I check, KrW wakes up and bets, called around to me and I say "raise." Dealer says, "Raise, make it 60." I'm thinking "SIXTY dollars? Holy crap, I take it back!" Start feeling vaguely nauseous when everybody calls. $300 goes in the pot on the turn.
River comes an ace. There's over $500 in the pot, I'm first to act and bet out. It occurs to me that there are lots of draws on the board that have missed, and my CR on the turn could look like I'd slowplayed a flopped set. In an awesome display of crappy poker, everybody folds around to the preflop raiser. He thinks for about a minute. He's obviously hit his ace but missed his flush draw, and doesn't think it's any good. I look at the pot while he stares at me for a while, my last $30 bet has put me all in. I send him mental messages, "FOLD FOLD FOLD FOLD FOLD!" He thinks a little while longer and shows his hand to his buddy. Thinking, "FOLD you idiot! Your ace is no good!" Nothing. Finally I'm thinking, "Call?" And he folds. I take down a $540 pot, and I go from $380 down to $40 up in one hand. It's hard to explain to non-poker players the emotional rush of winning the biggest pot you've ever seen on a poker table (in a game I was playing). This is tiddly-winks for some people, but it was a big deal for me. It took two hands just to get the chips counted and stacked, all the time I have Queen, a band I hate, playing "We are the Champions" in my head. Ed Miller is playing drums. I'm not going anywhere.
After that hand, the little old lady (LOL) next to me goes on a $1500 rush. KwR has a A9 nine on a half kill pot on the river when a straight hits with board 7-8-T-K-J. He and LOL get into a raising war, and he calls the fourth bet and with a flourish flips over his hand and says "straight to the jack with an ace in the hole!" I say, "um..." knowing he's dead, and LOL turns over the obvious Q9. The guy is stunned, but the lady was a straightforward weakish player, so there was NFW she'd go four bets on the river without the nuts.
I swing up and down for a bit, and when I bet out heads up a couple times on the river in big pots with busted draws and am caught, some obvious Lee Jones followers clearly think I'm an idiot. IMO, this is the biggest benefit of SSH. Some rational but unsophisticated players think you suck. I catch a nut straight later on and am called down, TPTK holds up, and when I am called for the must move to a table with at least five sharp players I recognize, decide to boogie out of there with $867 over four hours. Poker is great.