Last week I suffered my first loss of the year in a live game. OH!!! BOOOHOOO!!!! I can hear you say, but it was pretty dramatic for me, and that is why I must make you all suffer almost as much as I did... did somebody say... bad beat story? Well, here it goes.... It's not so much a bad beat as it is simply the retelling of a tale that ends tragically (sure, right...).
I had a conversation with a poker playing friend of mine a couple of weeks ago regarding when one should show their hand. He suggested that perhaps frequently showing the bluff was good strategy, whereas I have always belonged to the more traditional camp -- only a well timed show is ever prudent. Regardless, he is a successful player and I am a mere skidmark on the jock of humanity, so I figured, what the heck, I'll try out his method (the experiment).
So, I am playing 1-2 NL hold'em and doing fairly well. I flopped a flush playing K,7 suited from late position, I have stolen a couple of pots at opportune times and shown rags... things are looking good, and I'm liking the new method. The internal giggle I feel everytime I show 10,3 offsuit is nice... arousing. So, with things running so well, and 5 callers ahead of me (I'm in the small blind) for $15, I come into a pot holding 7,4 suited spades. The big blind calls and I'm thinking "Perfect... 8 players... $120 in the middle... and NO ONE is playing THESE cards."
THE FLOP: 3h, 5s, 6s
I think that hit my hand a little...? Hmmmm....
Now, some people would slow play here, but with the way I've been manhandling the table and showing bluffs, I figure a middle-range, "I'm gonna take a shot at this pot on a rag board" type of bet is called for... I make it $55 to go. Everyone folds except the initial raiser, a young kid who seems out to get me. PERFECT! He has been raising on just about anything 6's and above, and I'm putting him on something like 10's or J's... oh, and he also has the big stack at the table... which I am planning to dig deep into in just a moment.
TURN: 8d
This gives me a longer straight, and unless Superboy is playing 9,7 (yes Menendez, THE NEWMAN) for a raise preflop and called for a gutter, which he obviously did not, I'm still Jamie GOLD, and about to teach this nit a lesson in loop-extraction.
I bet out again... $85....
And what in all its glory do my little eyes see?
A RAISE TO $400, the actions on me!
I call it at once, well $385 anyway,
This makes me so happy, I'm feeling so gay!
Oh, and the river, I can hardly wait!
It's another 6, and the fucker was playing 8-8.
Yes, he made a fullhouse on me... runner runner. Pocket 8's crack my straight with an openended straight flush draw. And then he says, and I quote, "I wouldn't even have called the flop bet if you hadn't been showing all those steals."
Moral of the story: My friend might be on to something. I got a guy to put $470 into a pot when I was holding the stones with a nice re-draw. Yeah, I lost, but I got exactly what I wanted by controlling the table and giving off a certian sort of image. Mission accomplished... $455 downtick... but more experimentation to come.
Max Shapiro: "They say Poker is a zero sum game. It must be , because every time I play my sum ends up zero."
No Phil....
3 comments:
first of all, lets just get one thing straight, hes NOT
playing 7-9. theres only a few of us good enough too raise with that hand.
now, for your "idea" of showing bluffs. i dont disagree with it totally. I MYSELF, do not show cards. only in rare occasions do i show my cards unless i have too.
BUT, it works for some people. lets take barnes, for example. and i have to say upfront and in BOLD print if i could, IM NOT SAYING HES A GOOD PLAYER!!!! but the way he "speeds" around, its good for him to show bluffs. for some its not good. it all depends on your game.
also, i think this had absolutly nothing to do with the guy going all in on you. he has a set. period. he called the flop with an over pair, and some sort of straight draw. im sure he counted the straight draw as outs. hes gonna call whether you show bluffs, or the nuts all day long.
it just sucks, thats all there is too it.
and YES, i intentionally used the wrong form of TO, TOO, and TWO throughout this message, just to piss you off.
have a nice day
"First of all," I said explicitly within the text that he was "obviously" not playing 7,9.... So, no help needed there. Secondly, what's with capitalizing MYSELF? Is this some sort of self-glorification method... like the stuff Mike Caro suggests -- "There is a powerful winning force around me. I cannot lose."*
Finally, the guy told me, right after the hand ended, "I wouldn't even have called your flop bet if you hadn't shown all those hands." That is instant validation for the theory. He did what I wanted, when I wanted it, based on my previous play. I was controlling the game in that sense.
Ahhh... enough's enough. Thanks for the post... feel free to reply.
Sorry, from the last post....
* Caro, Mike. The Secrets of Winning Poker. Cardoza Publishing. 1995.
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