Saturday, December 23, 2006

The Sucker Instead of the Suckee

After running icky playing limit I decided to shift gears and try no-limit for a change. I've always had more success playing no-limit opposed to limit, which I ascribe to the fact that no-limit allows the artist in me more room for imagination and derring-do. Of course the truth is that my limit game sucks and my no-limit game merely sucks less. How I long for the soothing caresses of self-delusion. Poker Tracker pretty much puts the kibosh on that.

So I'm playing tonight and I'm running good, even though I had aces twice and kings once and got zero action. So I'm dealt pocket sevens and I raise. This time I actually get a caller, in the big blind. The flop comes A-3-9 and I lead out. Continuation bet, don't you know. He breaks my heart and calls.

My attention switches to the other table I'm playing when I see that the turn is a magnificent seven. I'm of the opinion that the prettiest set in all of poker are three sevens. Maybe it's the whole slot machine thing, when you hit 777 on the slots that means the money's gonna be pouring into the tray.

So I hit my set and I check it. I'm weak, I'm saying. I took a shot at the pot and missed. It's yours. Take it. This is what I'm hoping to communicate. Me and the other guy have the two biggest stacks at the table--not huge, but we're both up a tidy bit. And I have him covered by a few bucks. He bets about 2/3 of the pot. I've been infected with fancy play syndrome lately and I figure now is no time to get sneaky. I raise. He hits me with a re-raise, and I go all-in. He doesn't insta-call, so I know I'm good. He thinks, thinks, thinks...and he types "trips?". I sigh, knowing that I'm not going to get the rest of his stack...and he calls. The last card is a deuce, he sees that his instincts were correct, and it's ship-it time. Biggest pot I've won in awhile.

Of course I got silly lucky, and the guy stayed long enough for me to see via PT that he had A-3. Tsk tsk. Had he raised me on the flop I would've tossed my hand away and he would've won a tiny pot. Instead he got trappy and got trapped himself. It's the kind of play...I normally would make. Because I suck. Think I mentioned that before.

posted by Gene @ 1:29 AM   |