Bad beats 2

That's the danger of limit, and it's something you've got to expect going in. You can't push people off a damn thing.

 

That's what basically happened to me, didn't realize it was pot limit when I sat down, it just Texas Hold 'em Poker, so without it saying pot limit, I just assumed it was no limit. Then I realized what a shit show I had gotten into, but I had wiated three hours to play so I wasn't about to leave.

 

Oh, I know. I just don't understand the mindset of it. I play good hands, I fold rags. Nobody seemed to realize I didn't chase straights or flushes. I didn't put money in the pot past the flop unless I had at least top pair.

In the end, it paid off. But there were a couple times in the middle of the session that I was on the verge of busting out or having to into my pocket to reload.

 

Just a couple of points I'd like to make, in no particular order.

1) It took me a long time to accept that I want to play with idiots, at least in a cash game. At first, I was frustrated by their play, particularly their playing any suited cards and then chasing their flush and then, it seemed for a while, always hitting it. However, if you want to make money at poker, you want to be at a table with a bunch of donks who play any two cards and who chase flushes. Yes, you will be stung by some terrible beats. But over the long haul, given the math of it, eventually, you will make money. And if you are patient and learn when to lay down good cards, you will make lots of it.

2) Now, that doesn't necessarily hold true for tournaments, because one donk dishing out one bad beat can knock you out. That happens in a cash game, you buy back in and get your money back. Not so in a tournament. So there, I believe it's to YOUR advantage to play a little donk-style. In tournaments, most players, even bad ones, tighten up. So I like to play -- especially early on, when it's pretty cheap -- some weird hands. I'm not talking twice an orbit, but just to mix it up a bit. You'll lose most of your limps, but: You might be the one knocking someone out on a fluke; even if you don't knock them out, you can put them on pretty good tilt; and the other players will think you are a crazy bastard and pay you off when you really do have cards.

In a cash game, you can get away with playing "by the book" poker and be rewarded for it, because most players, especially the novices, don't have the patience to wait for good cards. But without the blinds going up, you're in no hurry to make a move.

In a tournament, you don't have that luxury. If you aren't getting cards, you have to make a move. And rather than get short-stacked, I like to make some of those moves early, playing sneaky hands like 10-7 or J-9, hitting a couple of big pots, and then getting comfortable.

3) Internet poker will ruin either your marriage or your live game, probably both. It is a vicious animal.

All this being said, I went out in 6th in a big tourney last night, two spots from the money, yet again with A-K, which I've told myself I'm never doing again 1,000 times. I'm such a dumb bitch.

 

I feel your pain. My personal favorite is when you have a decent hand, say 10's or better, and the flop comes suited. Inevitably, the goober with the ace of the same suit will stay (doesn't matter what the kicker is), just to see if he can draw out his flush.

 

How about this one tonight:

I have pre-flop: K-J clubs
Donk has pre-flop: Q-6 clubs
I just call to start, four-man action. When it comes around to donk, he raises 1XBB. Next person calls. I re-raise that by another 2XBB. Donk calls.

I've got him dominated.

Flop comes
Js-3c-4c

I have him even more dominated.

He raises 2XBB ... I re-raise and go all-in, the call plus another 3XBB on top of that. We flip.

Turn - 7c

We both hit our flush ... I still have him completely dominated.

River - 5c

I have him dominated the entire way, he's making calls and raises he has no business raising and I get sucked out on a fucking straight flush on the river.

You don't play poker with donks. You gamble with them. I'm fucking sick of playing with donks.

 

What are you doing re-raising to a raise and a caller with KJ?

And his play is not as donkish as you make it seem. You're not betting enough to price him out of the hand.
He has to call 3 bets into what looks like a 14 bet pot? Not that terrible.

Yeah, he hit his one-outer to suck out. Happens to all of us multiple times in our poker lives. If you let it bother you longer than a few hands afterwards, you can't be a successful poker player.

 

It had to do with his betting pattern all night ... I rarely would reraise with that hand. It's not all that good. But he was raising pre-flop with all sorts of questionable hands (J-4u, K-6, etc.). As far as betting more, I would have, had I not lost most of my chips getting sucked out on the river by him on two other hands earlier in the night. It was just frustrating, that's all. I guess that's my point.

There was no pricing him out of the hand anyway, as had been the case all night. You get some of these players that you can't bet out of hands, who will stay on a draw at all costs, and that removes all level of skill from the game. It becomes blackjack at that point. All luck. As we always say, you want to play against that guy most times. Then he river rats you multiple times hitting that flush and it leaves you pissed off.

 

A friend who qualified for the WSOP ME on line told me how he went out. Brutal.

Early level -- I think 25-50. My friend has 3-3 on the button. One early caller and he makes it 150. SB folds, BB calls and early player make the call. Flop comes 3-5-9 rainbow. Early player checks, my friend bets 400. BB calls and early player folds. Pot has about 1,200. Turn is an A -- complete rainbow. My friend bets 1,000. BB goes all in for about 7,000. He's thinking that there is no way that the guy has A-A, or he would have raised pre-flop and he doesn't think that the guy has 5-5 or 9-9 or he would have raised on the flop. So the only hand where he's not favored is 2-4 and there is no chance the guy played those cards pre-flop. So he calls.

The other guy flips over A-4. Top pair, no kicker, inside straight draw for your whole tourney life? The only card which will knock my friend out is a 2. Which is what comes on the river.

 

So you go bust by a pair of twos and the other guy is a crappy poker player?

 

H

 

I was a bystander for this one at a recent PokerStars tournament.

Player 1 raises 3X BB, everyone folds to the BB, who re-raises, putting Player 1 all-in.

Player 1 easily calls, flipping over 9-9. BB flips over A-Ko

Flop comes a Beezelbubbian 6-6-6, giving Player 1 a nice boat

Turn is the 4c

River is the case 6, thus putting quad 6s on the board and not only counterfeiting Player 1's boat, but giving BB the more than 5k pot because of the A kicker.

Player 1 was last seen wiping the Vaseline from his ass.