Poker Perambulation

God we are smart. If we aren’t, well, a book or two will get us there. We learn all about implied odds and post oak bets and the check raise. We see ourselves as level 2 or level 3 thinkers – and maybe we are.

Then we sit down at low to medium stakes tables and start to implement all that knowledge and smarts. We make fantastic reads. They aren’t hard when people have and stay with a particular persona.

At my tables that often translates to a person always betting late position with a rat hand up. They often don’t vary. While they are as entitled to a concealed hand as the next guy, you have to suspect that 74 off suit that he has up might be a bluff. After all he’s the same guy that always bets an ace or high card from early position.

Betting and raising are non-events. People do it on a whim and call, call, call with a regularity that boggles the mind. They do this when the better is a brick like myself. Attention? Isn’t that something for military types to worry about? These tables remind me of a pack of fox hounds – tongues hanging out as they persist in the chase.

Overvaluing hands is a way of life. People at these tables will go to war with the damnedest holdings. Very few are willing to check medium hands that are very vulnerable. They obtain salvation at times only because the other guy is as bad or worse. All this play does is mark you and make you a slow play candidate. They win the hand and think that is +EV where it is anything but over the long haul.

Stud stuckouts are a way of life. Some are even deserved. When 60-70% are seeing flops, the pot odds becomes the green light. But, there are draws and then there are DRAWS. The guy who makes his hand using the three down for an 8 high flush may have had only that hand to draw too. That 3 to the suit on 3rd street leaves you vulnerable if that’s your only shot. You brick on 4^th and you’re 8 to 1 for the flush. So, a flush draw without some premium cards is a fools paradise. And, I see those lovely folks raising with such hands. Notes get easy to come by.

The folks at these tables are varied. Lots of Euros making up for UIGEA’s making deposits hard here. I’m often looking on Google for cities and being surprised. Its a world wide crowd. When I occasionally play in the evening, there seem to be as many U.S. players as you could wish for. The way many of them play, you know they’ve found a way to refund.

Over the weekend I posted my bankroll info on PokerStars. That is pretty impressive if you ignore the rest of the world. I hadn’t played on Stars in quite a while. I recall I threw just a few bucks on there to play one of CC’s tournaments. I know I had enough left to ship Joe Speaker 20-bucks in backing which he repaid. So, I had something over $20 and played occasionally on that. My winning there are an ‘impressive’ 10x jump — without any attempt at honesty.

Fact is, when you throw my three site together, I’m playing pretty close to break even poker. FullTilt being the nasty in the group. I’d played there almost exclusively until a month or so ago. If it weren’t for some bonus clearing, I’d be broke there. As it is, I’m down there. I’d been up a similar amount on FT and it came crashing in a series of losing session that feel remarkable but more so because it is moi that it is happening too.

ADDENDUM:

Bobby Fischer passed away over the weekend. He brought honor and glory to the states with his win of the world championship that was quickly followed by renouncing his citizenship over playing in a restricted country that exposed him to prosecution. He ended his 64 years a citizen of Iceland.

It isn’t that hard to draw a parallel between him and Stuey Unger. Both proved their genius young. Whether Stuey was the top poker player may be disputed by some but from childhood he was all but unbeatable at Rummy. Bobby was in the chess master category at the age of 13.

All that skill seemed to be wasted on both. Neither had the stable personality to capitalize on their outlier skill set. What parent wouldn’t hope their child was special and miss hoping first that they were complete?

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The last couple of days (Sun and Mon) weren’t great days on PokerStars. Those boring cards and missed draws that FullTilt usually provides. The difference seems to be I’m usually down a few buyins on FT and made $3 on Stars. I don’t know if I’m better at getting away from losers or what. It doesn’t feel different. They chase as much on both sites but, somehow, they don’t seem as nasty at Stars. I guess I’m promoting the action flop myth.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 8:19 am and is filed under Other poker. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.