I Need a New Hobby
Posted on October 6, 2007 by Ching under Poker.
Friday was the last day of our Customer Service Week celebration. It was casino day at work and we had loads of fun. David manned the craps table, Joni manned roulette, Darcy manned black jack (Travis filled in when she went to meet Mike for lunch) and I dealt Texas hold’em, my favorite. I skipped lunch but I didn’t really mind because I was doing something fun. I thought I could make it through to the end of the day without getting hungry, but by 12:30 my belly was crying “Feed me! Feed me!” I had a Kashi chocolate almond bar but I opted instead to eat the rest of Joni’s fries. Why is it that when we have to choose between what’s good and bad, we always end up choosing the bad stuff?
Anyway, Brian and I went to Brint’s Diner after work. Good place to eat. The only thing I really don’t like about the diner is that they servce Coke and not Pepsi. Oh, well. Mom and dad Brubaker ended up meeting us over there. Donna had liver and onions, yuck. David had country fried steak as I did except he had fries instead of mashed potatoes. We are a lot alike in terms of food choices. Brian had some kind of chicken sandwich. Boring choice but he said it was good. My favorite part of the meal was my red beans and rice soup. It is probably the best red beans and rice I’ve had. It had kielbasa in it, which I like. It was tres magnifique!
Then Brian and I went off to poker, our usual Friday night thing. We really have to quit going at some point because neither of us have made the final table in ten weeks. Can you believe it? Brian has come close but generally I am knocked out either before break or right after. I’ve been really sucky lately. You would think that since we aren’t winning and are just pretty much give our $20 away that we would come to our senses and quit going at some point. We always say “Let’s skip poker this week,” but come Friday night we always find our way to the Boulevard Banquet Hall for the Blue Collar Poker Tournament. It’s really sad.
Last night was a particularly crappy night for me. I got knocked out in three hands! It was embarrassing, but I’d gotten knocked out on the first hand before (and they actually announced it on the PA system) so it’s not my record. And certainly not my most embarrassing moment. Anyway, on my way out to get my marketing books I ran into John (Jonathan Sanchez’ dad). I found out that he got knocked in two hands so that made me feel a little bit better. LOL. Actually, chatting with him and catching up on news about he and Suzie and Jonathan and Julie is probably the best part. We got to chatting for a quite some time that Brian had to come hunt me down. I guess he was worried since I hadn’t come back with his truck keys in a long while.
Let me tell you about my three hands, though. I was big blind on my first hand, 7s 5s. Nothing spectacular but no one raised so I was in to see the flop along with five other people. It was check-check-check all the way to the river. At the end, the kid bets the minimum of $200. I think it was mostly a position-slash-feeler bet because he was last to act (or maybe second to last), but no one had anything to challenge him so everyone, including myself, lays down their hands. Simple, easy, quick.
Next hand. I am small blind this time. Two or three people fold, the rest call. It comes back to me. I look down at 9c 9s. Nice. I raise to $800 fully expecting to pick up the pot right then. Apparently, it wasn’t enough of a raise because I get three callers. Flop is blank 10 7. I am first to act. I bet $1200. I’m thinking that if they called $800 they probably have paint and missed so my pocket nines are still good. Two guys fold. I had one caller. The turn card is a 7. I fire another bullet, $1200. This is textbook. You want to fire again because you don’t want to show weakness. I get reraised to $2400. I quickly call. This was my big mistake. I should have taken the time to think and re-evaluate the situation. Anyway, it was too late. The chips were in the middle and now the river card is revealed, 5. It is a blank, completely worthless. I don’t think it helped him but it didn’t help me either. I check because I’m worried at this point. He bets $2000. I should’ve take it for what it was, a value bet begging for a call. I should’ve folded. I couldn’t put him on a 7, though, because I felt that the raise I made preflop would’ve gotten him out. “There is no way he has a 7,” I announced, “There is just no way.” I pretty much talked myself into calling. Sure enough he had a 7. He held A 7 off-suit. I was crippled.
Next hand. I am dealer. It’s call, call, call, the kid raises to $600. I looked down at pocket nines again! The exact same hand as earlier. I should’ve gone all in but I played scared and only called. I really should’ve just gone all in right then. I think I could have taken it down preflop with no showdown. Anyway, that’s not what happened. There were four callers total, so five players still in. The flop is 5c 4c 3, I can’t remember what suit the 3 was but it was red. Big blind checks. Next guy goes $1200. The kid who raised it preflop folds his hand. Dwayne calls. At this point, I’ve only got $2800 left. To call would be to commit most of my stack. My pair is above the board and I didn’t think any of them had it so my only move was to go all in. So that’s what I did. Big blind quickly goes all in over the top of me. Not a good sign. Since he is big blind, he could have A 2 for the straight or 3 4, 4 5, 3 5 for two pair. I was toast. The guy who raised to $1200 says “There goes my draw,” as he folds his hand. Dwayne thinks about it for a long time and finally calls. He commits about $8000 more in chips on K 3, bottom pair. I would say unbelievable, but it’s really not. If you’ve ever played with Dwayne, you know that he plays based on emotion. Sometimes he will call with nothing just because he thinks you are bluffing him out of the pot. Big blind held, A 5. So he had a 5, top pair but come on. Who wins pots with a pair of fives? Seriously! I guess he was counting on his straight draw also. Guess what the river card was? An ace. Of course. I dealt it. Grrrr!
Sometimes if you make too many big enough blunders you don’t last long enough to learn from your mistakes. I made the following mistakes:
- thinking that $800 was enough of a raise to get crappy hands out of my pot; in hind sight it obviously was not enough
- getting too attached to my hand and not laying it down to the reraise; I was in denial I think
- not pausing to evaluate the situation; always take time to think and consider your options, you should take as long as you need to make the best decision
- not going all in preflop on my second pocket nines because after the pot got bigger after the flop the $2800 all in was really not enough to get anyone out
These are some costly mistakes but I learned from them. You better believe it! I will play better next time.
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