I've played 20/40 at DL nearly every day, and in spite of remarkably great games, have won so little that at this rate it will take the whole year to earn the college tuition that I'm supposed to be working on.
Looking back, I'm reasonably happy with most of that play, but I can't stop wondering how the BR would look if it weren't for those other times, when I got stupid. In other words, the player giving me the most trouble lately is that guy I saw yesterday, in the restroom, when I accidentally looked in the mirror.
Did I say great games? Yes, still. Perhaps more than ever. Especially after 9:00 pm, after the married pros have gone home to their honeys, and the serious drinking gets started, and the pot starts getting capped 5 ways before the flop. Yes, the experts will tell you that a passive game is better, and I won't deny that it should produce less fluctuation, than this wild, Rammin' & Jammin' Party Poker. But when you got so many players calling so many raises with trash hands, and you're only playing quality hands, then you can generate a decent edge in preflop play alone.
Wait for the flop, wait to see if I have anything, before raising with big cards? Hell, no! Get as many chips in there as possible when they're calling with garbage, BEFORE they discover that they didn't connect. Well, at least that's my thinking here, so I won't hesitate to jam it with big cards, and perhaps with too little regard for position.
The other night there were three limpers, then Slowroll Don raises from late-middle position, and I three bet right behind him with AQ offsuit. Both blinds and the limpers call, Don caps it, and nobody drops. 28 bets in the pot, and we haven't even seen the flop yet.
All the Limit Hold Em books you read as a new player talk about how "Big cards, like AK, AQ, etc., play well against few opponents, while drawing hands and small pairs play better against multiple opponents." Did that make any sense to you the first time you heard or read it? Me neither. But then it didn't take very long to get that, did it?
OK, so if that "Common Wisdom" suggests that AQ against a raise, with several players already in isn't such a great holding, then why would I three bet? Good question.
Sometimes AQ in early or middle position is a fold, if a tight player already raised. But this is DL Party Poker, and if Don had 3 bet after some ding-dong raised before him, then I probably would have capped it, with little or no hesitation. Party Poker means several things, and foremost is that they play all kinds of trash hands.
Yes, it's important to remember that the dingalings get pocket Aces and Kings, and other big cards just as much as you do, but on average I'm gonna have way the best here, and, as Fich famously advised: "Play better cards, for more money, from later position."
All things considered, this hand had a happy miracle ending. Not supposed to happen this way. Flopped Queen high and capped five way, 4 callers on the turn, the river made a possible straight flush, but nobody had either one, and my unimproved top pair best kicker took down 58 bets. Just like I planned it.
Right Fold, Wrong Reason
I don't know why I keep torturing and humiliating myself, posting about those nightmare laydowns. You know, hands where I convince myself that I'm beat, and should lay down, and do, then find out I was best after all, and wonder if I should have known that.
I thought it happened again the other night, against two of the wackiest, and therefore most difficult to read guys you ever saw. Turned out this time I really was beat, but in a pretty bizarre way.
Couple players walking, just 6 dealt in, and Curly open limps UTG. Muck, muck, and I raise on the button with As7s. B.C. calls from the small blind, and we see the flop 3 way, with 7 bets in the pot.
I myself am officially a Medicare card-carrying old fart now, but Curly was a rounder, running some probably scary games, or so I've heard, before I was even born. Now the man is 95 years old, no joke, and still drives to DL in his Dodge Dakota pickup.
These days he plays a cautious, passive, and mostly oblivious game, often trying rather ineptly to slowplay, and to set traps. Rarely open raises, but likes to limp with his stronger hands, and lots of weak hands too.
They say he owns half of Auburn, WA, and can easily afford his losses at DL. Fine. God Bless America. But don't ever try to put Curly on a hand, because half the time he himself doesn't even know WTF he got.
Then B.C., my other opponent in this hand, will tell you that his initials stand for Black Chinese. And that makes perfect sense, too, since he's a large Ethiopian guy, from Vancouver, Canada. B.C. is big and tall enough to be intimidating, but turns out to be happy-go-lucky, laughing, smiling and friendly.
He's also a Will Rogers of Poker, who never met a starting hand he didn't like. And it's a safe bet B.C. never read a poker book, either, but I sure wish he'd write one, and tell what makes him do the inexplicable things he does.
OK, so here I am with A7, in position, against two ostensibly weak, and yet Dangerously Unpredictable opponents, and the flop comes AQQ. They check, I bet, and they both call. Turn comes a Jack, and they both check again. Should I bet again?
B.C. won't hesitate to check-raise here with any draw, or even with nothing, and either of these guys could actually be sitting on a Queen. Chance the river will hurt me seems small, and chance my check here could encourage someone to bluff the river seems big. So I decide that taking/giving a free card is better than betting, and I check too.
But YIKES, the river comes another Jack, so now the board is AQQJJ, and B.C. bets right out. Heads up I would want to call him, but . . .
Curly most always takes a long time to act, but this time he looks at it, and thinks about it, then looks some more, and thinks some more, forever and a half, then he finally calls. WTF?
I'm not sure if which one, but I decide that one of these guys must have a Queen or a Jack. Most likely, I figure, B.C. is bluffing, and Curly has the Jack. I muck.
I'm at one end of the table and they're at the other, and they both showdown a King, half covering what looks like a rag kicker. Somebody at that end says "Play the board!" and it looks like a remarkable bet, and equally remarkable call, and looks like I folded the best.
But then the dealer spreads their cards before I can even ask her to, and turns out B.C. and Curly both have King Ten, made straights on the turn, and still split the pot. Yeow. Looking back, at their calls on the flop, and the still remarkable bet and call on the river, well, this is what I love so much about Diamond Lil's Party Poker.
Good Business Practices. Not.
Gunshot Wound to Foot, Self Inflicted.
It's really sad what happened to the 20/40 game last night. We were down to seven players just after midnight, but they were the right players, and I was loving it just fine. Then one of them went broke, and went to the cash machine, and that's when things went Deep South.
Diamond Lil's has two machines; one dispenses Ben Franklin, and the other Andrew Jackson. They don't seem to be owned or serviced by any particular bank or armored company, since you can see DL employees filling them in the mornings.
I think they impose more than just a nominal fee, and allow withdrawl against debit or credit cards, but am not sure. I've never used these machines.
Thing is, both machines were EMPTY, so the player who got up saying "Back in a Minute" was back more like immediately, picked up his keys and lighter, tossed the dealer his two remaining $1 chips, and left, disappointed. And he wasn't the only one.
Then, half an hour later, same thing happened again, with the other totally live player in the game. He also tried to use the cash machine, but empty is empty, so he picked up and left too.
At that point the game broke, DL stopped dropping $5 every minute or two, the dealer and I both stopped earning, and I went home. The people who fill the machines were probably already home, sleeping, and the people on duty, floor, security and cashier presumably didn't have access to do a refill.
All that is probably a good thing, since continuing the game might have created unwelcome tax liabilities all the way around.
And certainly the house didn't need that rake income, since they're doing so well that they've discontinued the Monte Carlo payouts, and frozen the Bad Beat Jackpot meter. Oh, but they are still dropping the $2 that funded those things, on top of the $3 rake. Yeah, I don't get that either.
