Arriving at Lil's to play, I'm in the parking lot looking for a spot when I see Mr. Traffic exit his parked Mercedes, and start walking towards the door.
He see me and waves, and I smile and wave back, but it's fake. I'm never happy to see this guy.
Some so-called "good" players have lots of talent, some have a deep understanding of poker theory, to include probability and strategy, and some have the perfect demeanor, with just the right attitude, composure and resolve, to always play their best. And don't we all know some guys who are strong in one category, but weak in another?
Traffic is the one guy I know who shines in ALL those areas, and more. In my book, he's the best player around. And while I respect and admire all that, and aspire to be just like him when I grow up, I also wish he'd stay the hell away from my game. Fortunately, Traffic usually does have bigger fish to fry, bigger games to play in, Vegas or LA, so we don't see him at Lil's all that often. Thank you.
By the way, where I can easily give Traffic a 4.0, here's how I would grade myself in those same areas:
- Talent: D+
- Theory: B-
- Demeanor & Resolve: A-
So anyway, Traffic walks on in while I park, and by the time I get in there he, plus some other guy I didn't even see coming, are already on the board ahead of me. Turned out that meant waiting for a seat two hours longer than I otherwise would have.
That sucked. So I plotted and planned, and resolved to be ready next time that situation came up. Sure enough, it did happen again, three times, over the next couple weeks. I was ready.
Each time I'm arriving, looking for a parking spot, when I see another 20/40 player also trying to park, or maybe already parked, and walking towards the door. And each time I zipped right up by the front door, left it running, in Park, and dashed inside to get on the board, before what's his name. Then I went back out, and parked.
Because sometimes, timing is everything.
Picking your spot, and chosing just when to "make your move" in the game, is another place where timing is everything.
- Play Poker Like a Pigeon and Take the Money Home
- The Education of a Poker Pigeon
They contain some gems of wisdom from a long-time pro, various other good stuff, some bullshit, in places, but overall both books are a great read.
One spot-on thing Mr. Anonymous says that is that you can't beat the game being a tightass all the time. Yes, you basically must play tight aggressive, but sometimes you also need to play loose aggressive, in part to avoid being too predictable. Just enough to create what another wonderful book I've been reading calls F.U.D. (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) — in your opponents minds. Done right, this can even force them to become more predicable. Win-Win. It's just that you can't do it too much, and have to carefully pick your spot.
Picking Your Spot
I've been in the main game, seat two, for a couple hours, and Felix moves over from the second game, and into seat one, just in time to post the big blind.
He's a small guy, about my age, works in a shipyard, and to me he looks, or seems, like a gypsy. I'm not quite sure just what that means, but it's the word that comes to mind when I see him.
He only shows up once in a blue moon, and I had only seen him a couple times before, but he made a big impression both times.
Felix likes to drink beer. Lots of beer. This time, as soon as he sat down, I was overcome by what seemed like a stench of stale beer mixed with rotten salami. Or something. Nasty. So leaned away.
Felix likes to talk, to make a speech pretty much every time it's his turn to act, and he plays nearly every hand, so the game gets slow. Oh well.
Felix likes to try to run over you, and will bet and raise with nothing, and with no fear, then be surprised, if not amazed, when he doesn't win.
So he posts, and I look down at K5 suited, under the gun. Well I don't even play K9 suited in that spot, but in this case the first THREE guys on my left were already *telling* me that they're folding.
Plus, the button is also giving that same tell.
Plus, my K5 suited was Spades. Ok, go ahead and laugh, but to me Spades have more aesthetic appeal than the other suits. Or maybe I just use suit to help with randomization.
Plus, I've been reading all that stuff mentioned above, and waiting patiently for the right moment to to get crazy just one time, and this seems like as good a time as any.
So I open raise. With K5 Spades. Under the gun. Yeah, I couldn't believe it either.
Everyone who had given the "I'm folding" tell did indeed fold, but everyone else called. Oops. Then Felix three bets. Ouch. Well, shit, I'm committed now, and I cap it.
Flop comes T 5 3 with one Spade, and we cap it again, and only lose one guy. I'm thinking that I probably have 5 outs, plus that backdoor flush draw. I'm praying real hard.
No more waiting, a miracle 5 on the turn, and now I'm thinking nobody will put me on trips, and one or more of these guys is gonna try to run over me, try to represent a 5 himself, and try to knock me off of [whatever they think is] my hand in this big pot.
And that's just what happened, with Felix leading the charge. Capped again on the turn, now 4 way.
Then Felix bets again on the river, I raise again, the two others fold, and Felix just calls. He had Ace Ten.
- Size of pot: Dunno. Usually I count bets, and know this, but this time, in all the excitement, I lost track.
- Wisdom of my play here: Debatable
- Gasps of shock from other players when I turned over that hand in that spot: Priceless.
Big Chick
Classic Hold Em doctrine rightfully calls Ace Queen an inferior starting hand. And if Mr. Tightass raises early and I'm right behind him, then yes, it's an easy fold.
But in the fast and loose Diamond Lil's Party Poker game, I give Big Chick a battlefield commission, and promote her to Group I. In these games, she just seems to me to be so much better than most of what these guys are usually playing.
Yes, sometimes I'm wrong; sometimes I get dominated, and burn some chips. But more often she IS the best, and when she does hold up, the extra bets that went in preflop more than makes up for those other times.
This time it wasn't the preflop bets. This time I kind of went crazy again, but it turned out well.
Flop comes 894, two clubs, then another club on the turn, and another on the river, and lots of action along the way. I shouldn't be chasing the flush with anything less than the Ace or King, and was actually more hoping to pair one of my overcards, and hoping that would be best.
But now 4 Clubs out there, and Felix, Small Blind so still on my right, gives a speech: "Let me check and see if I have a club." Then he bets.
It's been a long time since I looked at my pocket cards. Felix was a logjam on every betting round, took forever to play this hand, and now I'm asking myself how stupid I'll feel if I call and then it turns out I don't actually have the Queen of Clubs.
I mean, it's not like it never happened that I ain't even got down there what I think I got. So I give a speech also: "Yeah, I better look back too."
Surprise! I honestly thought I had Ad Qc, but turns out I had it backwards! Ace of Clubs.
"Whoa, WTF is this?" Then I twist my cards around 180 degrees and look again, from the other end. "Oh. OK. That's better. Raise!"
After that:
- I really did go back to being Sergeant ROCK.
- Felix made a $3,500 power rebuy.
