TwoTimesJ
02-03-2004, 03:59 PM
I'm on the tail end of some two days of nearly solid cards, referring more to the continuity of the activity than my play, unfortunately, and am trying to come down from the "zone" with which I'm sure all of you are familiar. Another 2+ member, whom I don't recall, described it perfectly as the inability to make the ordinary decisions that govern the usual activities following short on the heels of making the difficult, and perhaps psychic task, of calling down an early position raiser while holding QQ with an ace on the board (and winning the hand). The warm California sun at dawn never seems so friendly as it does after an all night session, either in condolence or celebration of the battle's aftermath.
Enough prose - I just want to relate one lesson I learned, as a neophyte who is evolving into a solid (hopefully) player, and tell you of the greatest hand I have ever been blessed with that hit sometime last night around 4am.
Lucky Chances, Colma CA, 9/18.
Saturday was brutal. Amazingly, I flopped AA 4 times in just under 2 hours of play. Even more amazing, I lost 3 of 4, and only won the blind on the 4th! Lost to AK, 33, and finally to a gutshot straight draw on the river. 33 flopped it, called it down, and raised on the river. AK found a straight. I paid them all of handsomely and wished any of this had been between the hours of 7am and 10am, when such a hand is worth $300 from the house... Anyway, the long story short is that I was stuck for about 2 racks after a hard day of play.
This isn't a bad beat story, but lets just say I was hurting a little before finding last night's game. The table was 9 handed with 3 good players, 1 maniac, 1 ultra maniac, and 3 other seats that changed persons a few times. In short, we were getting action you would expect at a 1/2 table, and I tried to adjust to this to the degree possible. I was making a steady profit before things went totally on tilt, staying out of the way of the maniac unless there was good reason not too.
Finally, things went on serious tilt. The entire table was being superchared by 2 players who won monster pots with A8 and 72 offsuit. After a few false starts and clearly cracked hands, each of which was generally 2 bets to even run with as the UberManic was raising every single hand (and catching a disproportionte number of flopped sets, 2 pair, etc.), the moment arrived to ride the wave.
I'm on the button with 6 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 6 /images/graemlins/heart.gif. UTG limps, maniac calls, Ubermaniac laughs and raises, EVERYONE calls to me, I call, UTG reraises, maniac calls, Ubermaniac emphatically calls "Cap it!" and the entire table, including myself, call.
At this point there are 36 bets in the pot, less of course the usual tolls, and the flop is frightening to me. I've been laying in wait to catch one of these massive pots, and this has EXPENSIVE written all over it. It is, after all, 4am and I'm in a different world, which has been reduced to one simple plane;
6/images/graemlins/club.gif7/images/graemlins/spade.gif8 /images/graemlins/club.gif
SB checks, BB bets, Maniac calls, Uber calls, 3 more callers, I raise, all call.
I hold my breath, frightened of what may come. Its the 7 /images/graemlins/club.gif. UTG bets, Maniac and Uber call, 1 seat folds, 3 raises, SB calls, I raise, UTG folds, and EVERYONE else calls.
At this point I'm trying to get my numb mind to work properly and to strategize a little, and what should have been a simple problem of numbers and suits was just paralysis.
The paralysis was broken by the river card...
6 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif
So there I am. On the button. They all check to me, which is a little disapointing of course, so I look up at the Ubermaniac who proclaims, "You bet, I raise!". Well I laughed and said "OK - let's see if you've got it..." and I bet. He doesn't raise, but approximately 3 of the remaining players in the hand all call the bet!
When the cards turned over, the small crowd surrounding our table (at 4am on a Monday night at LC's) just rocked. I've never seen so many chips in my life, except of course the scores of racks I've lost this year learning to play...
Anyway, I just wanted to pass on this story. The moral for me was not how to play the hand -- any 50cent Party Poker player could get it right -- but about a table decision. At 11:30 pm I knew I should go home, go to bed, and get ready for work. But I also knew that this table could be read and surfed, and the real decision was to stick it out and to keep playing as long as I was sharp (as a dull stick to you veterans out there) and this set of fairly predictable players were here. Table selection proved crucial and profitable, and created this tremendous opportunity.
Sorry for the excess; I'm certain this was more fun to write than it was to read. Sorry to those of you looking to hear that the 4 /images/graemlins/club.gif5 /images/graemlins/club.gif or 9 /images/graemlins/club.gif10 /images/graemlins/club.gif were out there and that I walked out with my share of the $100K bad beat jackpot...
Enough prose - I just want to relate one lesson I learned, as a neophyte who is evolving into a solid (hopefully) player, and tell you of the greatest hand I have ever been blessed with that hit sometime last night around 4am.
Lucky Chances, Colma CA, 9/18.
Saturday was brutal. Amazingly, I flopped AA 4 times in just under 2 hours of play. Even more amazing, I lost 3 of 4, and only won the blind on the 4th! Lost to AK, 33, and finally to a gutshot straight draw on the river. 33 flopped it, called it down, and raised on the river. AK found a straight. I paid them all of handsomely and wished any of this had been between the hours of 7am and 10am, when such a hand is worth $300 from the house... Anyway, the long story short is that I was stuck for about 2 racks after a hard day of play.
This isn't a bad beat story, but lets just say I was hurting a little before finding last night's game. The table was 9 handed with 3 good players, 1 maniac, 1 ultra maniac, and 3 other seats that changed persons a few times. In short, we were getting action you would expect at a 1/2 table, and I tried to adjust to this to the degree possible. I was making a steady profit before things went totally on tilt, staying out of the way of the maniac unless there was good reason not too.
Finally, things went on serious tilt. The entire table was being superchared by 2 players who won monster pots with A8 and 72 offsuit. After a few false starts and clearly cracked hands, each of which was generally 2 bets to even run with as the UberManic was raising every single hand (and catching a disproportionte number of flopped sets, 2 pair, etc.), the moment arrived to ride the wave.
I'm on the button with 6 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 6 /images/graemlins/heart.gif. UTG limps, maniac calls, Ubermaniac laughs and raises, EVERYONE calls to me, I call, UTG reraises, maniac calls, Ubermaniac emphatically calls "Cap it!" and the entire table, including myself, call.
At this point there are 36 bets in the pot, less of course the usual tolls, and the flop is frightening to me. I've been laying in wait to catch one of these massive pots, and this has EXPENSIVE written all over it. It is, after all, 4am and I'm in a different world, which has been reduced to one simple plane;
6/images/graemlins/club.gif7/images/graemlins/spade.gif8 /images/graemlins/club.gif
SB checks, BB bets, Maniac calls, Uber calls, 3 more callers, I raise, all call.
I hold my breath, frightened of what may come. Its the 7 /images/graemlins/club.gif. UTG bets, Maniac and Uber call, 1 seat folds, 3 raises, SB calls, I raise, UTG folds, and EVERYONE else calls.
At this point I'm trying to get my numb mind to work properly and to strategize a little, and what should have been a simple problem of numbers and suits was just paralysis.
The paralysis was broken by the river card...
6 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif
So there I am. On the button. They all check to me, which is a little disapointing of course, so I look up at the Ubermaniac who proclaims, "You bet, I raise!". Well I laughed and said "OK - let's see if you've got it..." and I bet. He doesn't raise, but approximately 3 of the remaining players in the hand all call the bet!
When the cards turned over, the small crowd surrounding our table (at 4am on a Monday night at LC's) just rocked. I've never seen so many chips in my life, except of course the scores of racks I've lost this year learning to play...
Anyway, I just wanted to pass on this story. The moral for me was not how to play the hand -- any 50cent Party Poker player could get it right -- but about a table decision. At 11:30 pm I knew I should go home, go to bed, and get ready for work. But I also knew that this table could be read and surfed, and the real decision was to stick it out and to keep playing as long as I was sharp (as a dull stick to you veterans out there) and this set of fairly predictable players were here. Table selection proved crucial and profitable, and created this tremendous opportunity.
Sorry for the excess; I'm certain this was more fun to write than it was to read. Sorry to those of you looking to hear that the 4 /images/graemlins/club.gif5 /images/graemlins/club.gif or 9 /images/graemlins/club.gif10 /images/graemlins/club.gif were out there and that I walked out with my share of the $100K bad beat jackpot...