Why Gamblers are Such Degenerates

I am currently reading Victoria Coren's excellent book, "For Richer, For Poorer:  A Love Affair With Poker".  She is a superb writer as well as world class poker player and I highly recommend this book as a great read.  In it, she tells a story that pretty well encapsulates our gambling/poker compulsion.

Jim and Tom are best friends.  They play gin rummy together every night for twenty years.  One terrible day, Tom confesses that he's been having an affair with Jim's beloved wife.  Both men are in tears.  The wife is in pieces.  She has fallen in love with Tom, but she also loves her husband.  What is to be done?

Eventually, Tom has an idea. 'Let's put the whole business in the hands of fate and decide it with a game of gin rummy.  The winner gets to be with her forever.  The loser promises never to see her again.'

'Good plan,' says Jim, blowing his nose and brightening up. 'And to make it interesting, let's play for $10 a point.'

See what I mean, you found that very funny you sick fuck.

Vegetarian Thanksgiving

  note:  we did not serve this!!

We had a whole passel of family here for Thanksgiving.  3 grand kids, 2 kids, spouse and a dog.  The inn was definitely full.  I like to think that I have a fairly sizable house but it sure shrinks with this many people.  One family is vegan/vegetarian so we made the executive decision to honor their food choices and not have a turkey this year.  Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being a turkey stuffed with a duck and chicken and squab served to me with a side of bacon as I am floating in a pool of gravy, and 1 being in Oliver's orphanage being served a small portion of gruel, I would have to call it about a 7.  I do love dressing and the other side dishes and really did not have too much turkey craving.  It is ultimately all about family and being thankful and the other good stuff more than just the food.

So, Friday poker was an o.k. experience as well.  I had run into the poker organizer earlier that day and she asked me to deal table 2.  I like the idea that I am not going to get stuck, tempered by the fact that my chances of final table go down 20% or so (previously discussed).  Ended up about 11th place out of 35 players.  A decent showing but definitely would have done better had I not dealt.  There is something about gambling when you know you are going to be stuck on the table for an indeterminate amount of time if you get knocked out early.  It really sucks.  So, a couple of pots were passed by me that otherwise would have been played....and won...and eliminated the player who later got me with his 10/10 vs. my KQ suited.

For the 2nd week in a row, the high hand was dealt on table 2.....same high hand (different kickers), quad aces.  She played it very well, ultimately taking a big pot vs. 3/3 with 3 aces on the board.  I note that this is one tricky player, also slow played pocket aces earlier, limping on the button. Personally I hate the play as definitely could have lost a ton of chips on the 3/3/6 flop and betting by the blind.

Playing Some Worst Hand Wins

I will have to admit to being a luck box last night.  Getting it in bad on multiple occasions I was indeed fortunate to make the final table.  It seemed like all night long the best hand would get crushed on the river.  Here are some examples:

Playing the 6/8 in the un-raised big blind, the turn card put these out:  2/3/4/5 with 2 clubs.  It gets bet by the small blind.  I call.  The turn is a king (clubs), and the small blind bets bigger.  I call.  He turns over the A/x of clubs.  Unreal.  He made the dumb end of the straight on the turn but his flush draw would not have folded (he claimed) had I raised...which I thought briefly of doing.

The first hour was a virtual bloodbath on my table, with huge pots and big swings in chip stacks.  The very good player to my left got spanked twice with his pocket jacks, then I took a huge pot from him with my flopped set of 3's vs. his J/10 two pair.  I ended up knocking him out when I shoved my J/8 (yes j/8) into his AK on a button vs. small blind (what the heck was I thinking?).  I managed to river a straight....worst hand wins.

At the final table I was in the money with 6 players remaining and short stacked.  I saw J/9 of diamonds UTG and shoved my 4 or 5 Big blinds.  The player to my left shoved his big stack and I knew I was in trouble.  Yep, aces.  Oh well.  The dealer seemed to delight in bringing the river card to bail out the worst hand and he did so with a straight for me.  Now doubled up I again got it in bad with QJ vs. A/7 suited.  Not a problem as the turn gave me an open-ender and the river brought the ace for my broadway straight.

As they say, what goes around comes around and my turn was definitely coming.  A player had just eliminated someone by rivering an ace on her AJ vs. 7/7 so when I shoved from the button with KQ and 10,000 in chips (blinds at 1/2,000), she "naturally" called with 7/10 of clubs.  The turn brought a gutshot straight draw on top of a flopped flush draw and the river was a club of course.  Worst hand wins poker at its finest.

Overall I have no reason to complain as I cashed for $90 plus dealer money from table 4 and like I said, got lucky with the worst hand several times.   

Sometimes I Can Be Such an A-Hole, But AJ Really?

Yes, Virginia, Dr. Phil can sometimes be a flaming A-hole.  I know you find this very hard to believe given my otherwise gentlemanly behaviour.  So, last night at the Wheeler game we had a smaller than normal crowd due in part to the big tournament at Pendleton.  With only two full tables, I dealt table two.  Chipping up early I then managed to give most of them back with an unfortunate missed flush draw and generally poor starting cards.  Survival is sometimes the key in tournament poker, and I managed to knock the short stack off with my KK (best hand I had last night) to get us down to 8 players (another player knocked off table 1 at the same time).

The final table was alternately kind and cruel to me.  I won a couple of pots and doubled up through Robert, the chip leader on a coin flip....me with the over cards AQ vs. 10/10.  Side note on Robert, he is such a fricking luckbox.  He knocked the dealer out with his 9's full on the river vs. her flopped trip 6's.  He was almost eliminated early when he lost an all-in, left the table because he thought the other player had him covered (3 chips left) and was called back.  Lesson learned, never call a player back when they leave the room.

My flame-out occurred when I found J/J in early position with 5 players remaining (paying 4, no bubble).  I shoved and am called by AJ.  He flops an ace to take a big chunk of my chips.  He would have had 1.5 feet out the door earlier when he called a shove with nothing and caught a miracle king on the river.  Anyway, I said something along the lines of, "Really, you called a shove with all your chips with AJ?  What hands do you believe that you are ahead of?".  So, some discussions happened about that.  Later, the short stack doubled up through the big stack with AQ vs. AJ and I said, "See?" That said, not that crazy about AQ either but definitely a shove from 3 blinds stack.

Our lucky AJ man finally was eliminated in 4th place.  We played a while longer and when I won a big pot from our chip leader we were all about even so it was getting late and time for a chop.  I earned $240 plus $25 in tips for a net win of $225. I was pretty happy to finally book a win.  It has been too long.      

There's One In Every Crowd For Cryin' Out Loud

I was not planning to deal last night but when we needed a table 4 dealer I raised my hand. Unfortunately, as I had not planned to deal a bloody mary seemed like the logical pre-game warmup drink.  So, slightly impaired I struggled somewhat dealing.  A player who was new to me but familiar to others at the table quickly pointed out any errors.  He was a jerk.  He also was a betting maniac.  Examples:  I call a pre-flop $200 raise with my 9/10 suited.  He re-raises to $400.  I am the monkey in the middle so I fold.  The flop is 10/10/7 and he makes it $1000.  The original raiser folds and he shows his monster 7/5.  Crap.  This was a major opportunity missed for me.  At the break the whole table commiserated on how much we hated playing with this guy.  His stack swung wildly, but he was way ahead.  I was determined to wait for the big hand and chip off his stack.  It did not happen on our table and we went separate ways when my table broke.

When the final table formed, there he was again, 2 seats to my right.  He continued his aggressive -pre-flop action and again his chips swung.  I lost a huge pot to him in the big blind vs. his small blind (The player between us had busted out) with my 9/7 vs. his 9/10 on a k/9/x flop.  Folding was out of the question to his shove as I had seen him bluff too many hands.  I later recovered the chips when he raised big and I came over the top with 4/4.  He actually folded I believe based on my earlier very tight play.  He said he had an ace but a poor kicker.  Eventually he did bust out and I survived to the bubble where my AQ suited fell to a pair of 4's.  I had raised and the donkey (unnamed), re-raised all-in with his 4's.  Got my bubble money and a small profit from dealing.  

Best of Luck

While flying to Vegas last month I happened upon an article in their flight magazine.  It was titled, "Best of Luck, Why good fortune isn't just a game of chance".  I would like to recap a few points in it as I think it can apply to poker and other areas of your life.  I have always been fascinated by the concept of luck (and frankly have never thought of myself as a particularly "lucky" person especially at the poker table) and the part it plays in our lives.  Notwithstanding my recent unbelievably lucky win of a new car, I refuse to buy lottery tickets as I don't believe that the odds favor winning.  Yet, someone has to win don't they?  And why shouldn't it be moi?

Dr. Richard Wiseman, a professor at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K. wrote a book called The Luck Factor.  He summed up a decade-long study about the nature of luck, which, he wrote, can "make the difference between life and death, reward and ruin, happiness and despair."

He claims that luck is not random and while some folks seem to lead charmed lives "There must be something causing things to work out consistently well for some people and consistently badly for others".  He believes it is possible to enhance our luck.  How do we do that?

1.  Opportunism
This has to do with seeing what is there, rather than just what they are looking for.  This was illustrated by an experiment involving reading a newspaper and counting photos.  Participants were asked beforehand to describe themselves as being lucky or unlucky.  The unlucky people finished the task in around 2 minutes.  The lucky finished in seconds.  Why?  A half-page announcement on the 2nd page said "stop counting there are 43 photos"  The unlucky missed this as well as a 2nd message that said "stop counting and tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $250".  According to Wiseman, unlucky people tend to be more anxious, which reduces the ability to notice the unexpected.  That is how the "luck" into $250.  Lucky people recognize chances, and they maximize them.
I suppose that is one reason I won the car.  Many people walked by the advertising sign with the car contest.  I noticed it, read it, and entered it.

2.  Otimism
In generat, optimism breeds good fortune.  You have to believe that you are lucky.  The article recounted a story from the 2002 Winter Olympics regarding Steven Bradbury, a speed skater from Australia.  I won't go into the details, but basically he just hung in there as the slowest skater and hoped for a collision of the fast skaters so he could go ahead.  It happened and he was the only skater left standing.

3.  Intuition
Lucky people make lucky decisions by being open to hunches and following their instincts.  You know about those times at the poker table when you go into the tank.  The phrase "think long, think wrong" comes back to bite you.  I am not a big advocate of impulsively shoving your chips, but sometimes that first instinct is the one you need to listen to.  Poker is a game of reads at times and we are all much better at it than we realize.  Our Darwinian instincts have allowed us to survive by the tells of enemy and friend.  We need to listen.

4.  Resilience
Lucky people tend toward a positive spin.  Instead of dwelling on bad fortune (thinking about your bad beats), imagine how it could have been worse (you lost half your chips, but still have a tournament seat).  Wiseman calls it "denying fate", an attitude that he says "transforms bad luck into good".  We all want to believe that we can change our fortunes, and Wiseman's principles suggest we may be able to influence them.

So, that said (and thanks to Brad Herzog, who I have both paraphrased and stolen sentences from), go forth and be lucky!!!!

Link to magazine, read the article here:

http://issuu.com/southwestmag/docs/10_october_15?e=18825507/30828238

Tripped Up On Final Table

It has frankly been too long since "Mr. Final Table" has made a final table at the Legion tournament. So despite the distraction of dealing, which I have not done for a couple of weeks, I managed to get to the table with a decent pile of chips.  On the route I knocked a couple of players out which is sort of unusual for me.  The first was super sweet as I had turned the nut flush vs. a small flush and we got them all in.  I missed an earlier opportunity to stack a couple of players when I folded my A2 of diamonds to a rather large (for that stage of the tournament) pre-flop bet.  It made me sick to see the three diamond flop and tons of 2 way action.  The winner of the hand eventually had most of the chips on the final table and would not have made it there if I had played a little looser.  But, as I have said many times, good decisions are good decisions and have to be separated from outcomes.

At the FT I scored the first knockout with my AK vs. a small pair.  Sliding into the money (paying 6, no bubble talk), There were 5 of us left when I was dealt K/10 two under the gun.  I like K10, and not really a premium hand to shove with, but only 5000 chips left and blinds going to 1000/2000 next hand.  So, decided to shove and hope.  The next player to me pretty much insta-called with AJ suited.  So, getting my money in bad was delighted to see a 10 on the flop.  Not out of the woods, but another 10 on the turn had my heart soaring like an eagle!!! (this is where I would normally interlace my fingers and make a flying gesture with them....like an eagle flying....get it?....never mind).  I did not really pay attention to the river with a lock on this hand and neither did the dealer as she shoved me the pot.  Not so fast says the other player as he points out that the river card put a third diamond on the board to go with the two in his hand.  Hmmm, nut flush beats trips I suppose.  But, happy enough to finally cash ($98 less $6 tip).  My tip money should cover most of the buy-in, so a very righteous win.