I haven't played poker since

I haven't played poker since my trip to Las Vegas with Stacey and her parents about a month ago, so last night I went out to Hollywood Park after work to spend a little time at the tables. After a slow start — couldn't get cards, no matter what — I raked in a couple of pots and hit a high-water mark of about $120 up. (I was playing $3-6.) This success convinced me that I was invincible, so I began to play stupid cards until I had whittled myself back down to about $20 up. Tightening up, paying close attention to my opponents, and playing well got me back to $114 up, where I cashed out after about two and a half hours of play. Not bad.

The two high points of the evening were:

• The four-of-a-kind I flopped, slow-played, and got an overkill second pair on. (A-6 in hand, flop: 6-6-6, turn: rag, river: A.) The other player who stayed with me to the end later clobbered me, when I was the only caller, with four-of-a-kind queens. Turnabout is fair play, after all.
• The large pot I took from two people who called me all the way to the river and then threw away their cards for my river bet, when I had nothing. I had been playing very conservatively for about a half-hour, and I think my read on those two paid off with the final bet. I don't think I would have beat either if they hadn't folded.

It must be about time to schedule another poker event at Casa Tidball. I've been thinking about structuring the next such get-together as a no-limit hold 'em tournament to let people try their hand at the format they've been watching (or not) on the Travel Channel and ESPN. I played a fair amount of no-limit (with only a $10 or $20 buy-in) at GenCon in the evenings, and I really enjoyed the betting structure. There's a great deal more strategy than what's involved in limit poker. And the one-fee tournament format (I'd disallow re-buys) might make those who would otherwise be intimidated by the unlimited nature of no-limit less uneasy.

---

Comments

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: (You may use HTML tags for style)