Fancy My Idiocy

One of the things that I like to do on the blog is give information to the people who play in my poker home games. For the rest of you who don't play, I apologize for the following bit of jargon and degeneracy, but you knew what I was when you came here, so...

I'm at Harrah's Chester last Friday night, having finally secured a seat -- in a freaky coincidence, the exact same seat as the last time I was there -- after waiting for 90 minutes. They really need to expand the size of that place, and fast. Anyway, I'm up a little, getting no cards but playing tight and making a few successful bluffs from position since I'm playing maybe one out of every ten hands. In the big blind, I'm dealt 7-6 suited, and I'm happy to check it against three limpers in the big blind, since I'm a middle stack at a table filled with people who make me nervous. It's one of those games where you don't get too cute, because everyone here looks like a lifer, and you've got the feeling that any advantage you might have on the table is luck. And frankly, money's not real great right now (click on more ads, please), so I'm not getting too loose with my chips.

The flop misses my flush draw and puts two diamonds on the board, but I do catch bottom pair with no straight draw. It's checked around, again to my happiness, and the turn is highly interesting... because it gives me two pair, but also completes the diamond flush draw. I minimum bet the turn, and get raised an equal amount by the button for about half of the pot. The other two players fold. I think it over, and get the following:

a) If my opponent did hit the flush, he might have a baby, and could be bluffed out if another diamond hits the board. Given his past play and his pre-flop limp in early position, that's the hand I'm putting him on -- a baby diamond flush. If he had a big one, he would have checked my raise, and hoped to keep one of the other two players in the hand.

b) If the board pairs or the river is one of the remaining 6s or 7s, I'll have a house against his flush, and should be able to get paid. Potentially for a lot.

c) Given his betting pattern, he could easily have a missed draw here, or hit his Ace-Rag low kicker, which means I'm actually ahead in the hand. That's the fun part of limping from the big blind; it's just tough for someone to put you on a hand.

d) The price is only about a tenth of my stack, and my gut is telling me to see the river. Stupid gut.

So I call, and the river is another 6, which gives me the boat. It's not quite the nuts, but it's as close as I'm going to see tonight, and there really is no hand that I can put him on that is taking the pot. Do I check it and hope to trap a big bet, overbet it and try to look like a thief? Or just try to look like I've hit trip sixes (The Hand Of The Beast), and that I'll pay off his flush.

I'm thinking way too fast about all of this. And I'm certain that he'll raise, and don't love the check-trap option... so I minimum bet it again. Then I watch with disgust as he just calls the $5 chip, turns over his baby flush and nods happily at my full house, since I'm saved him an awful lot of money that he would have called. Worst $50 I've ever made, really, and the kind of "won" hand that makes you feel worse than, say, a good lay down.

In that moment, I know everything else that's going to happen the next hour of my life at this table: cold cards, missed flops and slow bleed as the Poker Gods punish me for my Fancy Boy Play Syndrome. of trying to find a middle way against a good player when the only play is push or trap. I should have just taken my chips and left at that moment, really. And it's one more painful lesson for later, which is...

When good things happen to you, don't overthink them, or assume that the world is doing advanced calculus with you. Had I the ability to replay the hand, I should have gone for a pot-sized bet, which probably gets called. Hell, maybe even a full shove gets called there, and this blog would be much, much happier.

But instead, I won my middling pot, and ended the night with a middling payday. I'm trying to be OK with that, given how it extends the casino visit winning streak to four, and adds a little more to my best year ever on the felt. Nobody plays perfect, after all. And as always in poker, your biggest opponent is that fish in the mirror, the one I have to shave every morning...