I've been continuing my limit poker sessions. This weekend had mixed results. I won $100 on Friday night, but lost about $80 on Saturday night. I had fun playing both nights and have a couple of interesting stories to share. I won't be detailing a bunch of hands because I honestly find that very tedious when reading blogs. I'm including one just to get to the payoff to the story. Tonight's topics are improbable probability and confrontation.
I usually do my very best to be friendly, or at the least not unfriendly, at the poker table. On Friday night I had only been at the table for maybe 15 minutes when there was one of those common moments of confusion about who was supposed to have the button as one dealer was leaving the table and another was sitting down. The guy to my immediate left in the ten seat claimed he should have it, but the dealer departing and the guy in the two seat both said it should go to the guy in the one seat. The consensus seemed to be that it should go to the one seat, so that's where they put it.
The older guy to my left was quietly explaining to me that he thought he should have it because he swore he acted first on the last round of betting in the previous hand. He wasn't arguing or even upset about the decision, but the guy in the two seat was pissed that his recollection was being questioned. He angrily and condescendingly said from the far end of the table, "I was definitely the big blind in the last hand, sir!" The old man replied with the same explanation he was trying to give to me and the two seat got even more agitated and even started to get out of his seat. I finally interjected, "Look! Nobody really cares. If it means that much to you I'll give you three bucks out of my stack. Okay?" He sat back down, but looked a little bruised.
The next night I had another rare moment of conflict. I had completed from the small blind with A-2 of diamonds. I flopped a diamond flush draw and bottom pair. The guy two seats to my left bet and pretty much the entire table called the $3 bet. The turn didn't improve my hand so I checked. Same guy bet $6 and this time everyone folded but me and one other player. I figured any ace, deuce, or diamond would be enough to win the hand and figured I had like 14 outs. The river was a third deuce. I bet out and the aggressor sighed loudly and called. I turned over my cards and just said, "I have a deuce." He very snottily said, "Very well played, sir." I stopped stacking chips to say, "You're critiquing my play? Really? Have you played $3-$6 limit before?" Oh yeah...forgot to mention this. About 5 minutes earlier the same guy had won a hand by catching trip deuces on the river when he called all the way with a flush draw holding 8-2 of spades. Well played, sir.
The improbable happening of the night happened on Friday. Not once, but twice that night the final board was a royal flush. The first time it was a royal flush in spades saving a guy who was all in and way behind for the entire hand to that point. The second time there were like 6 of us in the hand all meekly and passively checking it down Both hands were dealt by experienced dealers who claimed they didn't remember ever doing that before.
Sometimes it is next to impossible to keep quiet, I understand.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I try to give some sort of really bad faulty logic for my decisions like "Well, I put you on a flush draw and thought my deuce was good"
I usually don't respond at all and prefer to just quietly and happily stack my chips, but this dude really rubbed me the wrong way and pushed just the right button to get me to speak up. It was just something about the way he said it.
ReplyDeleteReading this just makes me smile in anticipation of returning to the poker tables of Las Vegas... In the past I used to be bothered more by what I would consider unnecessary confrontation, but now I'm much more likely to snap off a witty reply to the geniuses of the world. At the very least, a thank you and a smirk when told that I played the trip deuces hand well... ;)
ReplyDeleteSome people are just grumps. Best to ignore them, but hard to do, I admit.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that the same guy I beat with the trip deuces won a hand later on where he chased a gut shot straight draw and caught it on the river. In my most friendly voice I said, "Nice hand, sir." He happily said thanks. (I guess in his mind chasing a four outer is okay. Chasing 14 outs is horrible play.) I replied, just as friendly, "I was kind of giving you a hard time. You know...returning the favor and all?" After that we were best buds...brothers in arms.
ReplyDelete