Another one down

I know I said I wasn't going to talk about Poker, but I figured I would share some additional tips when playing with your friends.

Last night I was in a tournament over at a friend's house that had about 15 people in it. I was playing at the tougher of the two tables, since after 2 hours of play, nobody was knocked out from our table. The players were all above average, except for one guy who kicked my ass on three different hands since I just couldn't get a read on what he had. These players, especially in private tournaments tend to do well since people try to bully them at the wrong times. The second best player, James was sitting to the left of me, which just sucked since I really couldn't limp into any pot, without getting raised. James was constantly talking shit to the table and playing extremely aggressive. I didn't have a problem with this, so I sat there and tried to stay out of his way for a while until I could get a read on his betting pattern or something to see when he actually had a top hand compared to just two good cards and bulling out the other players. Well, this guy after everyhand seemed to tell me what he had, and how pissed he was that nobody stayed in. He even showed his cards about 50% of the time when every folded. So as I'm sitting there watching him bet pre-flop, flop, turn, and the river, he became very predictable. He was a good enough player that he would only enter a pot with a premium hand, and would tend to raise almost everytime. His next bet, if he hit something on the flop, would be the same amount of his raise, and then he would increase it on the turn and the river. If he didn't hit the flop, he would increase his bet, to try to scare everyone away. And finally if he had a monster hand, he would check on the flop and then bet heavy on the turn. In the end, he was very predictable, but it took a while to figure this out.

Anyway, I started to get a string of decent cards and I was in every pot for about 6 hands. I lost about 75% of the pots, and my chips were dwindling. The last hand that I lost, I only had Ace high, which got a comment from James to my left stating how loose I was playing. The very next hand, every folded except for me and James. I went in on the small blind with an 8-9 suited, and James raised me $600, which was higher than his typical pre-flop raise. I figured he was trying to bully me out of the pot, but he was a smart enough player that he probably still had something good. I tend to call more often with lower connectors against a pre flop raise, since the only chance I have to win against good-great premium cards is a straight or flush, so I will take my chances. The flop comes and it is 9-5-2. I check, and the guy bets $1,200. Now I know he doesn't have a pocket pair, but an Ace-X. I call. The turn shows an 8. I check and he bets $1,500. I only call. The river shows a Jack. I go all in, and he calls. He had Ace -Jack and then proceeded to get extremely pissed since I stayed in after his pre-flop raise and his other large bets. I was quiet for a short period of time, until he wouldn't stop bitching at me after 15 minutes. I then took the time (which is the biggest no no) to explain my play to him, since he was a big black man with what I thought was a tatoo of a bar code on his hand, and scales of justice on his bicep. After he didn't believe me, which is what I expected, I just dropped it and went on to busting him a couple more times. His play went down hill from there, and I could tell he was thinking too much about his bets from that point on, which made it even easier to tell what he had. That pot got me back in the game, and my explaination to him in front of everyone allowed me to take control of the table, and win several pots just out of respect. I ended up winning the tournament about four hours later, which ended my streak of 3 second place finishes.

Three things to take away from this tournament:

• Against average to slightly above average players, taking the time to study betting patterns is a must, since this is the best tell.
  
• Ego will always be the downfall for these types of players. The appearance of not being a good poker player can be your biggest advantage.
  
• A bad poker player might be the toughtest person to read. I can't seem to figure out what that person has, and I tend to be very timid against these players.
  

I know I said that I hate people who talk about specific poker hands, but I thought there was a few lessons to be learned.