January 7, 2005

  • When poker gets personal

    People enjoy poker for a variety of reasons. Some play for the fun of competition, or
    the thrill of gambling, or the camaraderie of spending an evening with
    the guys. But others play for more sinister motives.

    Here is a hand from last night's home game. No-limit holdem,
    blinds $.05/$.10. I raise to $.40 with AQ offsuit. I have $10 in front of
    me. I buy in for lots of money (compared to the blinds) because the
    game is more challenging that way. Also, it makes me feel like a big
    man.

    C, with $2.40, calls from the small blind. L, with $3, calls from the big blind.

    The flop is 522. They both check. I probably still have the best hand,
    so I bet $.50. C raises to $1.50. Not good, but I might still call him
    and hope to get lucky.

    L
    calls the $1.50. Now I know I'm toast. I fold.

    The turn is a blank, C checks, L goes all-in, and C calls. C has a
    5 for two pair, fives and deuces. L has 62 of hearts for three of a kind, deuces. L wins.

    It is shocking that L played
    6h2h for a raise before the flop. He is a very tight player, and there is no way he could expect to make
    a profit playing that garbage.

    Me: L, I can't believe you called with six-deuce!
    L: I did it so that I could bust YOU!

Comments (8)

  • Hey, what's wrong with playing a suited 4-gapper?  "Sometimes you have to take a chance, even if it costs a lot to call because the payoff could be huge."

  • Gus Hansen, is that you?

  • Just for you jackdeuce, I would always play my 62 against you. along with the J2 ofcourse.

  • Choboard, I rarely play J2 anymore. These days I get beaten by it more often than I actually play it.

  • I think that "L" has decided to use that squeeky clean tight image and now handles more trash than a sanitation engineer, he just never gets called down.

  • What did L have?  Something-5 and called the ante, while down $10-$2.40?  Sounds like both L and C were so far down that they figured they'd make their last stand here and hope they got lucky and if they didn't then they were ready to call it a night.

  • Uh, that first question should be "what did C have"?

  • C didn't show his hand, but he said he had 5x, which I believe given the action and the fact that he is an honest guy (I think). Calling with 5x in his spot is loose, but not as surprising coming from him; C likes to play tricky hands and gamble it up. For him, it's not about a personal vendetta.

    Our home game is played cash-game style, not tournament style. That means that

    1. blinds never increase
    2. players can buy in for any amount they like (and in fact L and C both bought in for around $3 to $5, so their stacks were not particularly short. Only two of us bought in for $10)
    3. players can leave at any time with the money they have at the table (so they don't have to try to win all the chips, as they would in a tournament)
    4. players can rebuy at any time (so going bust is not a big deal, and in fact people often rebuy a couple times before the night is over. It's unusual for anyone to go home before the game ends)

    Under these conditions, having 24 times the big blind is plenty of money. Even in a tournament, that's enough money that they can afford to wait for a better hand.

    In a tournament, they would be much less likely to make those calls, since going broke sucks. They would stick to big-card hands where they could expect to flop a decent pair and get all the money in. The desperation point kicks in when you have < 10 times the big blind.

    Last thought: if C had a hand like 65 suited, then he has a profitable call if he has like $.20, just based on the money that is already in the pot. It's not a profitable call if he has $2.50. But it might be a profitable call if he has $10, since there's a slim chance that he can win a huge pot. However, you prefer to be in late position when you're playing suited connectors, and to put in less than 3% of your stack.

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