04-11-2002, 02:16 PM
So the girlfriend (Jolinna) picks me up at the Mirage and we go get some grub. We end up at Mandalay Bay listening to some live Jazz and have a cocktail. She is clearly a bit antsy and starts asking me some poker questions.
Here is where some background is needed. She is a big time video poker player. Loves the game. So she understands hand rankings, and has some basic concept of odds. In addition, she is one of the better euchre players you will ever want to meet. She is a two time former #1 on the Cases Yahoo Euchre ladder, back when the ladder was over 30,000 strong. So she has some card background, but no real clue how to play live poker.
So I answer her questions and she decides that she wants to give it a try. Cool honey, I'll get you a book and we can do some free tables at paradise to get you up to speed.
No dice. She wants to play now.
OK, who am I to argue. I call the Palms and put us on the 2-4 list. Yup, they take call ins for the two-four game. VIP treatment baby, here come the high rollers! We get there and are first up.
I don't have much time to prepare her. So I give her the following guidelines with the caveat that they will be modified greatly as she learns more.
1. Preflop, you can only call with blackjack hands, pairs, suited aces and suited connectors higher than 6.
2. If someone raises before you preflop, you are only to call raises with AA-JJ. No exceptions.
3. On the flop, you flop a 4 flush, open ended straight, top pair, two pair, trips (or better) or an overpair. Anything else and you fold. No exceptions.
4. If you have any of the requirements for continuing past the flop and they check to you, then bet.
She was the tightest player at the table. By far. I love it.
But there were some problems.
As many of you may remember, the game is very fast when you first play. And she had never even played a home game. She did a great job of grasping the blinds, but had a fetish which involved folding rather than checking on the flop when first to act.
She has some trouble understanding kickers as it related to pocket pairs. In violation of rule #3, she insisted on betting pocket jacks into an A-K-K-X board on the turn because "I had two pair with an ace kicker, isn't that good?"
Hmmmm, maybe she should've taken up stud.
After experimenting with what happens when you violate the ground rules I laid out for her, she realized that, HEY! Dave actually knows what he's talking about!
Suddenly she's folding those underpairs, mucking all her raggy aces and betting her top pairs (usually, but sometimes she wouldn't bet em without a good kicker). Unfortunately shes stuck about $100 when this hand comes up:
She limps in UTG with KK. A call from MP, MP2 raises, 8 end up seeing the flop for 2 bets each.
Flop: K-6-5. She bets, call, raise, all but one call. 7 to the turn.
Turn: 9. She bets, raise, reraise, all others fold, she calls, call.
River: 5. She bets, raise, call, she string raises and it ends up being ruled a call. She beats 9-5s and AK. BIG pot.
She's hooked.
She wins her very next hand with AQ.
She's really hooked.
Meanwhile, I'm swimming around even spending most of my energy watching her so I can give her some useful feedback when the session is over. Then I get faced with a dillema.
I limp behind 6 others on the button with 57s. Jolinna is in the BB.
Flop: K-5-5. Checked to me, I bet, she calls, and 3 others call.
Turn: 8. Checked to me, I bet, she calls, the others fold.
River: 5. She bets.
Oh shit, she bet. What to do, what do do.
I'll get an educated opinion.
"Dealer, am I supposed to raise my girlfriend with my 4 of a kind?"
"Depends on how warm you want the bed to be tonight."
I called.
We racked up.
We went home.
Now that's a +EV play.
Here is where some background is needed. She is a big time video poker player. Loves the game. So she understands hand rankings, and has some basic concept of odds. In addition, she is one of the better euchre players you will ever want to meet. She is a two time former #1 on the Cases Yahoo Euchre ladder, back when the ladder was over 30,000 strong. So she has some card background, but no real clue how to play live poker.
So I answer her questions and she decides that she wants to give it a try. Cool honey, I'll get you a book and we can do some free tables at paradise to get you up to speed.
No dice. She wants to play now.
OK, who am I to argue. I call the Palms and put us on the 2-4 list. Yup, they take call ins for the two-four game. VIP treatment baby, here come the high rollers! We get there and are first up.
I don't have much time to prepare her. So I give her the following guidelines with the caveat that they will be modified greatly as she learns more.
1. Preflop, you can only call with blackjack hands, pairs, suited aces and suited connectors higher than 6.
2. If someone raises before you preflop, you are only to call raises with AA-JJ. No exceptions.
3. On the flop, you flop a 4 flush, open ended straight, top pair, two pair, trips (or better) or an overpair. Anything else and you fold. No exceptions.
4. If you have any of the requirements for continuing past the flop and they check to you, then bet.
She was the tightest player at the table. By far. I love it.
But there were some problems.
As many of you may remember, the game is very fast when you first play. And she had never even played a home game. She did a great job of grasping the blinds, but had a fetish which involved folding rather than checking on the flop when first to act.
She has some trouble understanding kickers as it related to pocket pairs. In violation of rule #3, she insisted on betting pocket jacks into an A-K-K-X board on the turn because "I had two pair with an ace kicker, isn't that good?"
Hmmmm, maybe she should've taken up stud.
After experimenting with what happens when you violate the ground rules I laid out for her, she realized that, HEY! Dave actually knows what he's talking about!
Suddenly she's folding those underpairs, mucking all her raggy aces and betting her top pairs (usually, but sometimes she wouldn't bet em without a good kicker). Unfortunately shes stuck about $100 when this hand comes up:
She limps in UTG with KK. A call from MP, MP2 raises, 8 end up seeing the flop for 2 bets each.
Flop: K-6-5. She bets, call, raise, all but one call. 7 to the turn.
Turn: 9. She bets, raise, reraise, all others fold, she calls, call.
River: 5. She bets, raise, call, she string raises and it ends up being ruled a call. She beats 9-5s and AK. BIG pot.
She's hooked.
She wins her very next hand with AQ.
She's really hooked.
Meanwhile, I'm swimming around even spending most of my energy watching her so I can give her some useful feedback when the session is over. Then I get faced with a dillema.
I limp behind 6 others on the button with 57s. Jolinna is in the BB.
Flop: K-5-5. Checked to me, I bet, she calls, and 3 others call.
Turn: 8. Checked to me, I bet, she calls, the others fold.
River: 5. She bets.
Oh shit, she bet. What to do, what do do.
I'll get an educated opinion.
"Dealer, am I supposed to raise my girlfriend with my 4 of a kind?"
"Depends on how warm you want the bed to be tonight."
I called.
We racked up.
We went home.
Now that's a +EV play.