Gabe thought you might find this entertaining
 

One night when I was having a late dinner with Gabe at the Carson Street Cafe in the Nugget, I happened to mention the, ahem, unconventional preflop strategy I used back when I first started playing hold'em. Back then, I figured an ace or any pair might win a showdown without improving, so I would play all of those. Any two face cards were certainly playable, and, well, flushes seemed like strong hands, so I would play any suited starters too. Straights were not as good, but still certainly worthwhile, so I would play any connected cards except the 3-gappers or low blocked ones, which just wouldn't be coming in often enough. Position, of course, never crossed my mind, but I did think about deception. Just to throw off anyone who might notice how tight I was playing, I resolved to play any hand containing a "7". Thank God I read Lee Jones before I went busted [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img].

Re: Gabe thought you might find this entertaining
 

That Gabe is one smart dude. You had told me this story once, and I had forgotten about it. And I still find it entertaining.

Re: Gabe thought you might find this entertaining
 

i think i remember you playing 1-4-4-8 much tighter than that long before lee jones' book came out. tight to a fault, actually.

Re: Gabe thought you might find this entertaining
 

I "loaned" my copy of Jones' book to someone long ago and never got it back, but I believe it came out around '98, so it's been available for quite a while. And yeah, I did a total 180 and started playing maybe too tight after that, especially considering the players I was against. But I'm sure it considerably cheapened my hold'em education at least. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Gabe thought you might find this entertaining
 

[ QUOTE ]
Just to throw off anyone who might notice how tight I was playing, I resolved to play any hand containing a "7".

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, you wouldn't want your more astute opponents to automatically put you on any ace, any pair, any paint, any 2 sooted, or offsuit connector type hands. Without those "7's" you would make it WAY too easy.

Re: Gabe thought you might find this entertaining
 

Heh, you understand my thinking perfectly. I played goot! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Gabe thought you might find this entertaining
 

In the first couple of weeks that I played hold 'em, i raised with every pocket pair no matter what my position and no matter how many opponents. Then, it "dawned" on me that I was being too predictable...heh. I then decided to raise only 2/3 of the time with my pocket pairs (again no matter what position and no matter how many opponents). To do this, I said to myself that I would not raise when both cards were red or when both cards were black. I even remember saying to myself "damn, I am brilliant" when I stumbled on to that masterpiece strategy. I even carried forward that randomizing technique to AK/AQ and the like but I forget the details there.

Unlike you, I did not get Lee's book. I got HFPAP. My head was spinnning by the time I got to about page 20.

Thankfully, in that first year, my opponents were even more clueless than I was (Casino poker had opened in Vancouver in '96 which is when we all started playing).

Anyway, yours is a great story...heh

Re: Gabe thought you might find this entertaining
 

[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, yours is a great story...heh

[/ QUOTE ]

...heh

Re: Gabe thought you might find this entertaining
 

coincidentally that happens to be almost the exact system i use to this day. your system is a little tighter than mine.

Re: Gabe thought you might find this entertaining
 

Coincidentally, I was going to post that I thought it was your system, but thought you might be cross with me. Hopefully those days are over. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]