 GOAT
- Where do I begin? What do I like
about poker? Many things come to mind, first
I enjoy winning money, as everyone probably
does, but poker is more than that to me.
I enjoy the competition, I enjoy the psychological
aspect of the game.
It is almost primal in a sense.
I was watching the World Poker Tour on the
Travel Channel and they were interviewing
Howard Lederer, an excellent player and
he said that there is something primitively
appealing about taking your opponents’
chips. Your opponent has a stack of chips,
and you would like to take ownership away
from him. He wants to take your chips away
from you and how you play your hand determines
who ends up with the chips.
Poker is not a game of luck. Luck is certainly
involved (ever lose to a runner runner flush?
Ever win with it?). Poker is a game of skill,
if you are counting on catching lucky cards
to win, over the long run you will probably
lose more money than you win.
Some friends and I just recently took a
trip to Biloxi to play some poker. It was
only my 2nd time playing poker in a casino,
it was a great experience. I lost money
overall, but I didn’t do horribly
in my opinion. I believe that I improved
my game. I know I made the wrong plays in
certain situations, and I know that I made
the right play in certain situations. I
came back from Biloxi a much better Poker
player than when I left.
My bankroll from my online game also reflects
that fact. I was down to my last $30 the
day I left, and today I’m currently
up to nearly $200. Yeah, I can’t quit
my day-job yet but it’s a step in
the right direction. Don’t get me
wrong, if I would have won I would have
been happier, but I have no problem loosing
as long as I teach myself, or get ‘taught’
by others.
My worst hand was the very last one I was
going to play. If I had won this hand I
would have finished the trip with a slightly
larger bankroll than I brought down. I had
been playing from about 11pm on Saturday
night until around 9am Sunday morning.
My buddy came down from the room and asked
was I nearing a decent place to leave the
game, and I agreed to leave when the blinds
got back to me. Well, wouldn’t you
know it, I’m Under the Gun and I get
dealt QQ…
Like any good poker player I raise it up.
A very loose and aggressive player 2 positions
behind me raises it again and we have 2
callers. I probably should have re-raised
right there, but I only called. Flop comes
down K 10 x. I bet, the loose player raises
and the other 2 callers fold. I re-raise
and am called.
Turn comes Q… BAM, I figure I’m
up against A/K and I just hit my set. I
bet out again and am once again Raised.
I’m still fairly confident that I’ve
got the best hand so I re-raise and am called.
River is rags so I bet out again, and once
again I am raised. Now I start to question
the strength of my hand, but there was no
way I’m folding. I call and say “Got
the straight?” Sure enough, he flips
over J/9 offsuit for a K high straight.
I think most people would fold J/9 offsuit
when I’m aggressively betting, I’d
like to think that if I would have re-raised
after the flop that I might have one it,
but the way this guy was playing he wasn’t
folding anything.
It really sucks to have your very last hand
be one where you get totally owned. That
one bothered me for a while. This guy was
a “Jackal” and I didn’t
think he would fold to anything, but I still
probably should have raised him instead
of just calling. Flopping the Set was actually
worse for me in this situation, my Q’s
would have held up if not for the 3rd Q
on the board. Live and learn.
I like Poker because it really is a sport.
It is a sport that you can play as long
as you are mentally capable. As I’m
sitting at the table in the casino an older
gentleman sat down, my first instinct was
that this guy is a farmer. I don’t
know what that means in regards to his poker
skills, but if I was to guess his profession,
I would have picked farmer, either that
or professional online poker player over
at poker
stars.net, but i knew that was unlikely.
Anyway, he was probably in his mid 60’s,
and was by far the best player at the table.
He completely confused me in hands and I
lost a decent amount of chips to him. At
the time I was pretty disgusted that I was
outplayed by someone who on the outside
looked like I should be able to beat no
problem. The more I thought about it, the
less disgusted I became.
First I know I’m a rookie, through
and through. Second, it’s kind of
cool to know that when I’m his age,
I’ll be taking young punks money at
the table. The more I thought about it,
the more I respected him and his style of
play. He was excellent at hiding his hands
and I rarely see him enter pots that he
did not win (or at least go down swinging).
I liked his strategy, he didn’t get
involved in pots where he didn’t have
a decent chance to win, and he didn’t
let you chase your cards cheaply. I mimicked
his play (as best I could) online when I
got home and have done pretty well.
So, for all you up and coming poker players
out there, if you take any advice from a
rookie like me is, always learn. Poker isn’t
just about the cards that land in your hand,
it’s about how you play. I'm mostly
playing online poker now with a live tournament
every now and then, but I can't wait to
get back to the casino and try my hand,
err hooves again.
Goat
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