Rookies

It seems like many tournaments have a few players who kind of wander in off the streets and decide to play poker.  Since our Friday night tournament is mostly regulars they are easy to spot.  Dealing table 1 last night I had one 2 seats to my right.  He entered virtually every pot, whether raised or not, and would call to the river most hands, busting some bluffs or catching lucky.  He even limped in with aces in a multi-way pot which is probably one of the most dangerous things you can do.  Yet, they held up to his beginner's luck.  I lost about half my stack to him while playing A/8 in an unraised big blind.  The flop came 9/9/8, and when checked to him he made a 200-300 bet which I called.  The turn was another 8 which he also bet 300, and which I called.  On the river, I bet small, 200 into him as a "blocking" bet as I wanted a showdown but not for a lot of chips.  He flat called and turned over....9/2 unsuited.  Wow.

His luck continue with really crappy hands and even inspired another player to start playing crap, which they also won with.  We had a total of 42 players and I managed to make it to #10, the final table bubble.  Very short (one blind plus 100), I shoved from the button with 6/6.  The small blind (aforementioned inspired player) who had the chip lead called with k/4 of diamonds.  A four on the flop and runner runner diamonds put 2/3/4/5 on the table making my straight but losing to the backdoor flush.

My point about rookies is this.  First of all, they play way too many hands.  Second, they never raise. Third, they seldom recognize the nuts, and fourth, they call too much.  Another rookie near the final table with a good stack failed to shove with his AQ suited, letting the inspired player play the unraised blind with a crap hand, only to lose with top pair vs. 2 pair that would not have played to a raise. They just flat out do not know how to play!!!!  However, this makes them dangerous as they also will never fold to a bluff with any pair, overcard, or ridiculous draw so they are essentially unbluffable and often run you down when a more prudent experienced player would wait for a better spot.

While the rookies often accumulate big stacks through luck and great cards, they also are a virtual goldmine when you are strong against them.  The frustrating part is when you cannot get in a hand against them and instead watch them donk off to another player..