FOUND: THE WORST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD

Well kids, the search is over. After an exhaustive search of Northwest casinos, Nevada casinos, and many online sites, the verdict is in. The worst players in the world play on....drum roll, please....Spade Club!!!! I realize at this point because it is a monthly subscription based site there is therefore no real entry fee for the tournaments (well there is, but the points you need are ridiculously easy to obtain). Because everyone is essentially freerolling you get some calls which to be charitable are "loose". Here is an example from yesterday. I had been playing pretty tight and it was fairly late in the $100 daily tournament...think I was around 60th place with about 120 players left. I had a ton of chips earlier, but had taken a break and been somewhat blinded off, so I set about chipping up. (On a side note: I had knocked two players out with a preflop early position raise with pocket 5's and flopped quads!). I found my pocket 5's again in later mid position and decided to raise big to 6,000 (blinds were 800 I think) with a couple of limpers ahead of me. Everyone folded except one player, in earlier position, but after another limper and the two blinds. The flop was ace high with a couple of rags. He bet 1600 and I came over the top all-in for 10000 or so more. He hesitated for just a couple of seconds and called, showing A/10!!!!! Unbelievable!!! They were suited, but he had either no flush draw or a backdoor draw at best. I was out!

Later in the day, I went out with my pocket pair all-in vs. guess what? A10 suited. He flopped the flush. I just cannot tell you how often I see overcall all-in calls with A10/AJ offsuit and worse. I am folding AK with 3 all-ins almost every time and believe me it would lose most of the time. With that said, I have been a member of Spade Club for 3 months and have almost covered my membership with cash wins. I am looking to trim back my internet play for several reasons. First, it has not been hugely profitable for me. I played for 6 hours in one tournament and only won $15. I sort of fell on my sword cause I had other things to do, plus the wife was mad at me for playing all day...so went all-in with A5 offsuit to get it over with (called by AK big big stack). First prize was $700 and I was in 12th place (out of 2800 players). Probably could have just sat out and won twice that amount. C'est la vie.

Never Ever Play Pocket 4's

Pocket 4's are costing me a lot of money. I have busted out of at least 3 tournaments either with them, or against them. Some have involved losing races, which is just the way it goes in poker, but others have involved flopping a set, then having straights and bigger full houses develop. I had pocket 4's today in a tournament and folded them preflop against a small raise....they would have lost on the river. Last night I flopped a set, against 4/5 offsuit, who had called a $15 raise (kings), then called my reraise of his $20 raise from the kings $15 bet! He hit a 5 on the river to beat me.

My new favorite quote, "honesty is the best policy, but insanity is the best defense". Mark Twain

Some on-line Success

I have been playing mostly tournaments lately, Spade Club nightly cash tournaments. Have had some luck lately, cashing in two. I am on the weekly leaderboard in 7th place, which is the best I have ever done. Tonight was frustrating, as my computer starting freezing up, and despite 3 reboots and a system restore I could not get back onto my two tournaments. Was not doing particularly well on either one so no big loss, but it is still so frustrating.

A-Hole Danger

Well, I have been sitting myself down and giving myself a good talking to. I feel that I am starting to cross the line to become a complete ass. An example was last night at the Omaha tournament. There is a couple who plays together and I have a very low opinion of the lady's skills, but also recognize her incredible luck factor. Those two things combined make me likely to go on tilt when she beats me. I was in a pot (4 way) with her all-in for a little more than the big blind (300 main pot, 1500 or so side pot). I had raised pre-flop with a strong hand, but missed the flop and turn....we all had checked to the river....when her guy went all-in with possible straight or trips, or full house with a paired board. The other player and I folded, she showed two cards, one giving her trips, and he threw his hand into the muck without showing. I then called for the floor, since the rule is that when two players are all-in, both hands are to be tabled. Troy warned the two that they must both show cards in the future.

In telling this to other dealers and supervisors, they agreed that it was improper, since it really smacked of collusion, and that their warning would have been more severe, as in, "you do that again and you will not be playing here". I spoke briefly with the guy involved and he really was unrepentant, as if I had accused him of cheating, which I guess that I was. Where the a-hole part comes in is that she basically still had no chips, so I could have just let it slide, but because of my dislike of her playing (not her), I had chosen to make a nasty issue of it. In the future, just like calling all-ins I need to take a moment to think through what I am saying or doing and run it through a filter of "is this necessary".

On a brighter spot, I did win the tournament (chop 1st & 2nd), also hit a king high straight flush at the Moose for $200 Monte Carlo (flopped open ender with my 10/J diamonds...ace would have given me the royal for $2500) .