1st Rule Of Poker

Another Beginner poker lesson for some of you. If you play bad cards you are more likely to get bad beat on the river. That’s because your hand often reaches its full potential where other players may have hands that have more outs.

People who like to play lots of little cards will be forced to draw for straights. Sometimes they even flop them, however so many people play flush draws that if one comes on the river your straight is no good. Some people call this a bad beat, which it may be. But maybe you should have never been in the hand in the first place.

I write this because I think it was my problem today. I played a number of hands that were playable hands but maybe not from the positions that I was in, or with the size of the pot. Other players then had position on me and were often able to either out play me or take advantage of their position by not allowing me to maximize my profits. Missing these bets has the same effect as losing small pots. Its money that should be in my stack but because of my play its not.

While at the table one thing that really bothers me is when players who play all the time cry out loud about their “luck” and start to take it out on others at the table. Especially when they would be so critical of others doing the same thing on any other day.

Here is what happened, I was playing in a game with two ladies on each side of the table. They both play almost every day and are both over 50. They are what I would call poker friends, that is they are always friendly to each other but would never do anything together outside of the casino. Well one woman starts to get a bad run of cards and because of this she is noticeably playing on tilt. Too many hands and calling down too much. So its actually her fault that she is losing, but all she is doing is very quietly commenting on how the lady at the other end of the table was “such a bitch sometime” “why is she still talking” The other woman did not hear a word of this one being in the 2 seat me in the 5 seat and other in the 9 seat. But I could hear every word. Slowly getting tired of hearing it I usually wont say anything because I am more then happy to let someone like that lose all their money. But she had already lost two buy ins and made a trip to the ATM and had almost lost all that. What finally set me off was when she said “I wish she would just shut her mouth” so out of the blue I said “ I wish you would shut your mouth” not happy she said “ I wasn’t talking to you” I said “ I was talking to you” not wanting to make it a huge deal I didn’t say another word, although she did.

My point here is that if you play all the time you should have more class and understanding of the game to focus your anger somewhere else. Or even, god forbid, go home. To badmouth other players for being in a good mood should never be allowed at a table. People go there for two reasons Fun and/or Money. If you are almost broke and are bringing down the table, Its time to GO.

In my previous post I sent a woman on tilt This is how; With 5 limpers in the hand other then me in the big blind. The flop is 4 - 3 - 3 she is first to act and bets. Everyone folds to me with an 89 clubs. So I call her with full intentions of raising her on the turn. The turn is the 10 also giving me a club draw. So I do check raise her really only afraid that she hit the 10 with an A 10. She would have bet the A Hi thinking she was winning. Unfortunately for me she calls, but of course I make my club draw and beat her in the hand. She says that I am really lucky and I say I don’t really think it was luck. She goes on exclaiming how she had a pair, never telling me what pair she had. And making sure not to say anything until her cards were defiantly in the muck. So I figure she had a pair of 2’s. Any other hand she would have said the pair she had. If that was the case I could have hit 20 cards to win the hand. That gives me about a 43% chance to win the hand, and in my book she should have folded the 2’s on the turn. I would also like to note that I had not talked to anyone in almost an hour and was playing one of my tightest games of poker in a while. I guess my mistake was that I underestimated her level of tilt. If I knew she was going to call me down even with a pair of 2’s I should not have called the flop. But after the turn comes out I would call it a winning play. You can let me know what you think about the play I can fill people in on more details if needed. I was just happy to send her head spinning.

Ok well I am trying to get some more people to read my blog and to do that I am trying to get some people to link to me. I found a site called http://www.pokerblox.com they have a number of blocks that you can purchase to advertise on. But the nice thing they do is that they allow people with personal blogs to use a few free squares for free. They also have a blog http://50outs.blogs.com/ that they keep updated. Its sponsored by Katja Thater who is on team pokerstars. it’s a good read and many people should check it out.

I do lots of searches and have a number of ‘alerts’ for phrases that interest me and I have found myself reading the blog; Poker, Fishing and other Vices. He seems to be a guy that plays a little and reads a lot online. What I like best about his blog is that he recently decided to post some legal information about online poker. He is a lawyer, and so he has some insight into this area. Anyway I just thought some of my readers would also like to read what he had to say. Just don’t forget to come back :-)

Well this will sum up my day. WARNING: BAD BEAT STORY After not winning a hand larger then the blinds in hours this is what happened. Three other limpers and I am in the BB with K5 hearts. I have almost lost my daily buy in so I wanted to play the hand extra cautious. The hand comes out K Q 2 so I check to see how others act. I want nothing to do with getting stuck in the hand for two bets. And happy to get a queen to bet or call me on the turn if nobody has a king. The flop is checked around and the turn is a 4. Making two Diamonds. I lead out with a bet the first two quickly fold and the button looks at me for a while. I almost turn my hand over because I just want to win one hand, but stop myself because I know I need to maximize all winning hands if I ever want to get even. He thinks for a while and calls. The river is a 2, pairing the 2’s. I bet out thinking that there is no way this person would have called me with a two and want him to pay me off with a bad queen or a mid pair. He actually says, “ I feel bad, so I wont raise you. I think I rivered you” And turns over 2-3 suited.

I said well that’s a sign. I didn’t pay my small blind and got up from the table and went home. Then went for a long walk for a long walk with my dog to burn off some energy. Oh well yet another day full of bad plays and bad luck.

Well so often I write a post after I play. And most of the time when I play well I play all night and only on the days that I lose my buy in do I have time to write a post when I get back. So I am most likely not in a good mood, or there is nothing positive to say. So today I thought I would write a post about what I do before I go and play.

First I try to get there at a time where I know I wont have to wait a long time to get in a game. Nothing is worse for your game when you need to wait hours to get in and then don’t get a hand for hours. So if I have to get up earlier or what ever I need to do that’s when I want to get there. You will find that all the regulars usually show up at the same time. Now not always but they are usually better then the average person.

I set some goals before I leave my house. First I make a target for how much I want to win. Make it reasonable, I usually modify this while I play on how good or bad a game is. But most important I make a limit on how much I can lose. This I almost always stick to because I only bring that amount of money. Now I know for myself I play much worse when I am down, as do most people. So I always bring about 1-½ buy-ins to the game. I can always go back tomorrow, but if I lose more then I can win tomorrow it will effect my game tomorrow also.

Most important I only go and play if I think I am going to win. If I think I am going to lose before I get there, most likely I do. Now if you are in a big slump this can be really hard. Sometimes you will need to drop down in limits and play your best game possible, its good practice and will build your confidence with less risk.

Over confidence is almost as bad as negative thinking. If you think you can win every hand no matter what your hand is then you are going to play to many hands and most likely get involved in to many losing hands.

Each of these topics could go on for a while I just thought I would write a quick post before I left. But now I am running into getting there later then my target time so I got to go.

Well This mornings blogging made me late. I Missed the first game and then had to wait about an hour and a half to get in the second game. Over all it was a successful day, but not as big a win as I wanted. I also could have played longer but its Friday. I got to have some fun some time. So I wrapped up a small win and I am going out.

Good luck all you weekend players.

Ok, Well yesterday I played 8 hours. Which is about my target time. I start to get a little tired around 6 hours but can usually hold my game together for 8. That’s no breaks other then bathroom and a 5 min walk if needed. The nice part about the way I played yesterday was that I was very focused on playing well. I was able to make a lot of lay-downs that I think saved me a LOT of money. One may have been to a bluff, but it would have been very costly to call it down and it would have only been a semi-bluff so he would still have had outs to beat me. Anyway, I have a hand that you can all discuss. I think I have made up my mind but I would like some input.

Here is the background that may effect the play. I have not had a hand in a while and finally get QJ spades on the button. There is one limper and then a raiser. I respect the raise but for some foolish reason I call it. ( I would like to say, you should never call a raise like this with QJ. If you don’t respect his raise maybe you should 3 bet but calling is not the best play, folding probably is. ) Anyway the flop is Qd, 7d, 7s. The limper checks and the bettor bets. I still think I could be losing so I just smooth call, so does the limper. The Turn is a small blank. The limper checks and the raiser bets again. Now I am not sure if he would bet AK on the turn with how weak I have played the hand he may think its good, but I know he wont 3 bet if I raise him. I don’t think the limper would have a 7 that early and I want the Diamond draw to drop, maybe the AK also. So I raise the turn. Thinking I would need to call the river anyway, now ill just check it if either calls. Well the limper 3 bets, the raiser disgustedly folds, and I quickly fold behind him. The limper for some reason shows us 78h for his trips. I don’t think he plays a lot and don’t really respect the skill of his game. But I have also not been playing with him for more then an hour. So that’s just the background hand.

The very next hand I have KK. The same two players limp and I raise. The flop comes out Qh, 7c, 4c. He makes a noise like humph. Then he checks to me. So I make my bet and he insignificantly calls. The turn is a Qc. This would be known as a death card for my kings. It pairs the top pair, and makes the flush draw. But after he checks again I bet to protect against a 4th club on the river. I don’t have the King of clubs. He is about to throw in the 4 chips to call but with a very slight hesitation declares RAISE. Now I ponder this for a bit and all the hands I can think of him having are: Set on the flop, Weak Queen, Flopped a club draw, or he has Just the Ace of clubs. Now with out the Humph and Paused raise I would have folded quickly. Anyway in the end I determined that it was just one of those hands where I was not going to call two big bets and hope he didn’t catch another club or the Ace on the river. So I folded. But this time he DIDN’T show his hand. If he had had a full house, maybe the set, or even the flush, I think he would have showed it again. Instead he lightly placed the cards down so that the dealer could take them. That’s the part that still has me thinking.

Let me know what you all think.

Ok, Well today I decided to redesign my blog. Now I know very little about Cascading Style Sheets, Templates, Modules, XHTML or what ever else I need to know. So basically I went online and tried to find something to reed up on the info. Well I found too much stuff. I was over whelmed with stuff and it just gave me a headache reading it all. So after a break, I went back to trial and error. I finally figured out how to change the colors. Once I got that figured out I was able to design a new image for the top banner. Its not great yet but I wanted to put something together to see if I could get it all working correctly. Anyway, It took me a while to figure out how to get it to show up online. So after a full day of working on this thing this is what the result is. I have a little more work to do, maybe edit the top image so the text at the top is more clear, but I think it’s a little better then before.

So obviously I didn’t play any poker today. If you have come here today looking for poker stories, Sorry, check back tomorrow night. I am planning a full day of poker. See some of you at the tables.

Ok, So I got up early and got to the card room just in time for the 2nd to last seat on the new game opening up. One of the end seats that I like also. It looked like a great table, lots of tight passive players, My favorite. The over all day was a good day, and won a full buy in in about 6 hours of play. So I got home at a good time and took my dog for another long walk. Which I guess I really need to do more because just before I started this blog I split a pair of pants right up my ass. I don’t think I have ever done that. I’m not a fat person 6’1’ 200lbs. Anyway it might be enough to keep me exercising. I have gone 4 days in a row now so just another 26 more to go. (I was told once that it takes the brain 30 days to develop a habit)

Here is what I ran into today. Poker and morals. There were two instances that I thought were interesting and maybe people would like to weigh in on them. First Looking at someone’s cards. Now I don’t mean leaning over and looking, but if a player happens to be showing you his cards, do YOU look? Most of my friends say YES. Flat out no questions. I would have to say not usually. We all play at a limit where its your responsibility to protect your cards. But I really feel like I am cheating, although its not if they are flashing them. Also I would never want to be caught by another player and lose respect. I take pride in being a respectable honest player. I also find that if I only get a quick glimpse of one card I try to use that to my advantage and out play them. Unfortunately I don’t know what the other card is and sometimes it could be anything. What I have found is that I have more practice at playing without seeing the cards, and so usually seeing them has only brought me very little advantage. What I usually do is tell the person that they are showing me their cards. If he is a nice person I will try hard not to look and maybe even warn him again. If after that I see his cards, then honestly I do look. Although I would rather not. I know this is just for live play, but anyone else not look?

The second moral issue I had today. Was that a older man +80’s was dropped off at our table by his daughter (older woman also) and she said she would be back in two hours. He bought in and proceeded to lose hand after hand. He was calling down with anything but he never got lucky and won. He lost three buy ins in the first hour and 15 minutes. Then all he did was stare down the hall at the escalator hoping that his daughter would come back soon. I found myself praying that he would win just one hand. He was directly to my left so on my big blind he and 5 other people limp into the hand and the button raises. I have QcJc and call. The flop is Ac 10s 7s. The old man bets the flop and including the preflop raiser 3 others call. I wanted to fold my hand but really couldn’t. Even though I was going for the gutshot, at 13:1 the odds looked right. Now One of my outs was possibly dead because if a spade comes my straight might not be any good. But that was covered by my implied odds. For the one small bet I could win a min of 22. If someone had flopped a set, the implied would be much more. Anyway the turn was the Ks and the old guy bets the hand out (with AK) and one other person calls it down so do I. If it wasn’t the old guy I would have raised the river. But I knew only he would call and I really didn’t want to take his money. It felt like taking money from my grandpa. So the straight was good.

So As this shows I have a soft spot for people who seem like they are in way over their heads and need the money they are losing. This is a really bad trait for a poker player, but I think it keeps me separate from the mean old people who go to the casino every day, not just to play poker, but because they have no friends anywhere else. Its even worse when they have no friends in the casino also. These are a few more problems that I never had playing online. Good luck at the tables everyone.

First I would like to say thank you to all the new blogs that are linking to me. And any comments you are posting. I have been blogging for a little while now and it’s a lot more fun when it is more of a discussion rather then a one way comment. Instead of playing poker today I have been reading and reading and reading some more. Looking for good blogs to link with, and you guys are the best of what I have found. So thanks for writing your blog and thanks for reading mine. If you are new to this blog and have your own blog, feel free to drop me a comment maybe we can link up as well. Please real blogs only, not commercial or mostly affiliate sites.

I had mentioned this before it think but didn’t really talk about it much. One belief that I have is that you should never go all in if you can help it. That’s both for NL and especially Limit Poker. Now in no limit games obviously if a person has more chips and is above the table max there may be nothing you can do about it. But you should always buy in for the max, or for limit, have more then enough to cover a full hand of betting and raising. The reason for this is you cant protect your strong hands and you don’t get value on your draws. The worst thing to do in poker is to put your money in when you are behind. That is exactly what you do when you go all in on a draw. If you make it you don’t get the value of betting or raising after you make the hand.

People also play you differently when you are almost out of chips. Now the problem with this is you don’t know if they are just playing you differently or if they really have a hand. It adds variables to the hand that makes it harder for you to play correctly. I know that I also tend to lose extra bets when I am almost all in in a hand. If I only have two more bets left on the turn I may raise, part tilt, part because I think it’s the right play. If I wouldn’t raise with a full stack then it probably not the correct play. Anything that makes you play different the perfect, should be avoided.

For NL tournaments and live play are very different. In a tournament you are going to go all in because you have no control of your chip stack. If it is a rebuy tournament they you should always rebuy the first hand so that you have more chips then everyone else. This way you will get the maximum value out of every hand that you play.

If you don’t have any more money to bring to the table and you don’t have enough to bet out the hand I always quit. I will play until my blind, but wont post again. Sometimes even playing those few hands to my blind I get all in syndrome. That is where any hand I play I plan on going all in even if I just have over cards. That’s horrible poker.

Well this is a lesson that I think most people know, but if you didn’t, or don’t agree, let me know.

I have been playing poker for a while. Somewhere along the way it seems like the rule one player per hand has become relaxed. The little comments about flops, the jokes about how you missed the flop or even one telling another player they can chop. If you are not in a hand you should not talk about the hand in any way. Its not only not polite to interrupt, but its against the rules. I don’t know if its just narcissism that makes players say something. Maybe its just the fact that they are not involved and want the attention back on them. I really don’t know why people joke on the river, call, call. Please stop. It hurts players in the hand and hurts the game itself. I have been accused of being a hard ass and not willing to have any fun. Fine I can take that. But why cant people just make jokes about something else, why pick a topic that is in poor taste, or at the expense of players still in the hand.

The rules are stated very simple, No player should talk about the hand in progress unless you are one of the two players heads up. That does not mean others in the hand can talk, just them. If you are not in the hand, or if there is more then one player, you should say NOTHING about the hand. If someone string bets, its not your job to call it. Let the dealer call the game.

One player per hand means that even if you see that the person next to you has a flush, unless they turn their hand over you are not allowed to tell them. Actually you should never say anything, it’s the dealers job to call the hand. People may argue that he had the winning hand, he should win the pot. That’s not true. In poker a player must make reads and determine on their own if they have the best hand. Now here comes the real hard part. If you do see someone fold a winner, don’t tell them after the hand is over. Unless you are just trying to rub it in, or prove that you are smarter then them, let it go.

Anyway, if you are not involved, don’t get involved.

I know different places have different rules, but if everyone followed these rules there would be a lot less arguments.

Something in my last post and a comment by sirfwalgman got me thinking. I wonder how many people who have played more then 10,000 hands online, have never played in a B&M Casino? I don’t know the answer to this, and suspect that it would only be people who are under age or don’t live near a casino. But even that leaves an awful lot of people in the world.

In the past it use to be that a player would learn the etiquette of poker from other people at the table. Usually there would only be one maybe two people who were new to the table. This would almost guarantee that someone out of the 9 other players would say something. Now a days, you could sit at a table where there isn’t a single person who knows that it IS NOT ok to jump up and cheer when you win. No matter how large the pot. Ever since one sweetish (I think) guy yelled and cheered all over tv, now everyone thinks its ok. I feel like if I keep this type of blogging up I am going to need to change the name to 1st rule of etiquette.

So back to my point. How many people who play online never play in a casino?

It all started out with a mistake on my part. I had not had a good hand for a while and was a little frustrated. I look down and have AQ off. Someone early raises and it is quickly folded to me, I three bet. Right after I put in the chips I think to myself OH SHIT! I didn’t really want to do that. The person who raised is a 30’s woman who has been playing textbook. There is no way she would have raised a hand less then AQ off so I know that I am behind, hopefully not WAY behind. Kind of surprised that the BB calls the three bets but he is a bad player and would call with a number of marginally good hands. I am happy when the woman does not 4 bet because I know she does not have AA, KK and probably not QQ. So at least I have outs. I also think I can get her to fold AK if she misses the flop. The flop comes out all rags two hearts. I think its 2, 4, 8. Which is not a bad flop if I can get everyone to fold on the flop. It is checked to me and I through out the bet. The woman usually bets every flop where she has top pair so I think she would have bet 9s, 10s, or Js. Both players call, the big blind calls very quickly (possibly a flush draw) and the other woman looks at me first then calls. Some reason this look gives me more confidence that she has AK. The turn is another small blank. It is again checked to me and so I throw out another bet, hoping both would fold. But confident I have a flush draw beat with AQ high and want the woman to fold her hand with my bet and the over call. I know that I cant bet the river because I would beat any hand that wouldn’t call, and lose to every hand that would call, so this is my last bullet. The BB calls quickly again, the woman stares at me, then the BB. She looks back at me, and all I am thinking is PLEASE FOLD YOUR AK!!!!!!! After a long delay she does. The river is a Jack. Which I really hate, but planned on checking anyway. He checks to me, and so do I exclaiming Ace High. The woman is mad and the BB turns over AQ hearts. Now I could have won on the river, he happened to have the only hand in the deck that I would have made fold for a bet. But its still not worth it. I actually still felt like I won. I am not sure she would have folded the turn if he didn’t call, and I still couldn’t have bet the river. So I was very happy with half the pot. Especially because I had not won anything in a while.

I found a large list of poker blogs and figured that i would add mine to the list. If anyone else would like to add theirs to the list you can go to Troutblogs.com Just thought I would pass it along

I wrote a comment to a quote posted at Wagering war: A gambling diary I would have just left it there for everyone to read but all comments must be OK'ed before being published. I thought it was good and took some time writing it. So I wanted everyone to read it, since its mine i figured i would post it here just incase he did not publish it. He said "Poker will continue to be with us, for sure but I believe its Golden Age of the last three years is already over. Hope you liked it." My comment was: "I find that you can feel it just from tv. Poker was just Hollywood’s latest whore. They used her as often and everywhere possible, TV commercials, game shows, and now more movies. But now every one has had a crack at her and they are starting to have a straying eye, looking for the next new fresh piece of ass. When that time comes they will be more then happy to dump her to the side, never looking back. With high profile government regulation tries to step in, it is forcing the only reputable poker rooms out of the market. The hundreds of thousands of players now looking for new places to play, some will eventually fall into a large scheme, a fraud, a poker scandal, where thousands, millions of dollars are stolen from innocent poker players from around the world forced into hiding. That is unfortunately what I think we have to look forward to in our future. On that day everyone will be out on the bubble. "

All the shopping is done and all the presents are under the tree. It has been a busy week with very little poker. So there is not a lot to talk about related to that. I would like to wish everyone happy holidays and hope everyone stays safe and secure this time of year.

For the last few months I have been looking for a new hat to wear while I play cards. I always wear some kind of baseball cap while I play, but never sunglasses. Now I haven’t really noticed this happening but I have built up a collection of hats doing this. I usually use the same cap until it gets dirty then I move on to a new one. Well I have gone back and washed a bunch of them and they came out great, using just hot water and soap.

So anyway I was out shopping mostly for Christmas presents, but I usually buy stuff for myself also. I was in a store and I stumbled on this new hat and I thought it was perfect for the next time I play. It was cheap so I bought it. When I got it home It got me thinking about all the other things people wear at the table. Everyone seems to have their “Poker Clothes”. For some people its just a hat, some dress nice, I like to dress comfortable. I usually put something on that has several layers, you can never really tell what the temp is going to be in a casino. Now I could really care less if things match perfectly. I actually kind of make fun of the people who wear sweat “outfits”. There is one guy I know who only has three outfits and because he only comes once a month, puts on one of the three every time.

If all my clothes are clean I like to have a hooded sweatshirt. I have one that kind of bunches a little around my neck which I like incase people are trying to look at my throat for heart beats. For pants I usually have a pair of wind pants. Nobody ever really sees your pants so they just have to be comfortable. So anyway back to my point. I express myself a little in my hat that I have. I like to have something on the hat that is interesting, or a conversation starter. I stay away from sports teams , instead try to have something that symbols something. Double meanings to me are another of my favorites. Which brings me to my new hat. If you play a lot or even just read about poker online this should mean something to you

What do you think? I don’t know if it makes you laugh, but I got a little chuckle. That’s really all that maters anyway. So what do you guys usually put on when you go to a casino? Every player I know goes through some process getting ready. Do you do anything interesting out there? I thought I would throw in the rest of my hat collection for you all to see. They are of places I have been or things that make me laugh.

Got to love this town

Great card room

Who does not love the nuts?

I believe in a good offence in baseball

Everyone loves a sucker

Drove all the way around the country, down the coast, across the south, up the coast then across the north. This is one of our stops.

The other side says Grand Caymon Islands Golf Club

Boutht this at Tiger's first masters as an amateur

My aunt was on the show for adopting 13 handicapped children

Come to think about it, its kind of a little history of my life. Good luck under the tree this year.

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Ok well I had one of those days today that you only could have lost more. First of all I had aces either 8 or 9 times in 6 hours of live poker. I think that is more times then I have ever had them in that short of a time. In the first 5 times once I raised and stole the blinds and one other time it was in the BB and I chopped the blinds with SB. I won a small pot and lost a small pot on a gutshot river (heads up) So at this point it wasn’t going well for my aces on the day, but had not shown any hands that I didn’t win or wasn’t called. So nobody had any idea how many times I had already had aces. Ok, here comes the rush. UTG limps and I raise, left of me 3 bets. There is two cold calls, BB calls and so does the limper. I raise because any draw is going to call to the river anyway so I might as well make them pay max. The flop is J,9,4 two clubs. Which isn’t a bad flop but I know that against that many other people anything could be bad. I bet the flop and EVERYONE calls. Another player says, at least nobody raised, I replied “ That’s not the type of flop someone would raise the flop” Implying that they would wait for the turn. The turn is an 7s. I bet again hoping I can get any two pair or set draw to drop. Two people call and the third (preflop cold call) raises. I think about it and determine that there is a high number of hands that he could have that I could beat on the river (I have played against him before). So I make my crying call. The river is a blank and only call because of the size of the pot. He takes the hand down with 8,10 for a straight. I am not happy but take a deep breath and calm down for the next hand.

The cards are dealt and I look down and have AA again. Always a perfect situation because everyone puts you on tilt. I raise again and the person to my left three bets again. Same two people cold call and the bb calls. The flop is K,J,7. I bet the flop and everyone calls, I bet the turn (4) and everyone calls the river is an 8 and because of the value in the pot I know I can get a lot of people to call, so I bet again. Everyone just calls. So I think I might be good. I turn over my hand and then the person who 3 bet me turns over 9,10. For a straight. I had told everyone that I had aces the hand before so they knew I was not happy. Now very steamed I fold my hand and don’t say anything, until he tries to tell me how big the pot and starts to count it for a second time trying to show me. I then say “yea, thanks” I was kind of upset I said anything, I really don’t like to lose control of my emotions at the table and go back into hiding. I fold the next hand. I seriously think about going home but I was on a 5 day winning streak and wanted to keep it going. I said to myself wouldn’t it be great if I could come back and play perfect poker, it would make for a good blog post. This gives me some confidence and determination.

On the button my first card is an Ace and I say “no?” in my head. I get a Q to go with it and there is one limper. So I raise and he is the only caller. The flop is Q high and I bet and he folds. I don’t show and win the small pot. Now happy that I had won my next hand it gives me hope that I really can come back. The next 2 hands I fold.

Then in middle position I look down and AGAIN I have ACES! There is one limper and I raise again. I really want to get paid off so I make sure to keep a good poker face. Even after the player next to me stares at me until the action is complete. The person who three bet me the other two hands calls, so does the 8, 10 guy, along with the BB and limper. The flop comes out 7QQ. Now that is either a great flop or a really bad flop. The action gets to me and I toss out a bet. Two people call. The first caller is the 8 10 guy and the second caller was the bb. Now I know there are a lot of hands that they both would have called with so when the turn is a K I am actually happy. That way I would get paid off with some hands and makes a bet worth it. I bet and only 8 10 guy calls. Anyway the river is a small blank and I bet again and get raised. I am ready to go home so first I turn over my hand and show everyone that I have AA again and call. He turns over KQ. Which is at least more of a real hand.

I would like to say sorry for all those who had to read this bad beat story. But I really had to vent a little. I guess I should have added to the title

HORRIBLE FLOPS

No Bad Beat Stories!!! I have known this rule for a long time, and until now it has been an unwritten rule among professional players. Everyone has their own bad beats. There isn’t some competition to have the worst bad beat of the day so don’t make other people suffer through the story. I know I know I just did it, but that’s why I am making the rule. Although this rule is more for talking to your friends then blogging. The only real reason that you do this is to look for sympathy from others. I hate to tell you but there is no REAL sympathy there. So be the proud MAN/WOMAN you should be and keep it to your self. For everyone’s sake

WARNING NEXT POST IS A BAD BEAT