No Limit Poker

If you are don't know anything about poker or are just not interested in it, skip this post.


The last time I played poker in A.C., after busting out of the tourney I was in, I sat down for some 1-3 NL (I was at Bally's, and they do 1-3 NL instead of 1-2 NL there). I usually buy in for the maximum $300, even though I probably do not plan to go all-in unless I have the absolute nuts. (I don't want the rest of the table to know this, of course.) I probably shouldn't be buying in for the maximum amount I've set on my bankroll - didn't I learn anything from Mike McDermott in Rounders?

Anyway, I went through a big swing on two big hands that illustrate how great and awful no-limit cash table poker can be, and how, even when I feel like I played the hands described well, luck can either help or hurt you tremendously on any given hand of poker.

So I'm playing...

1) I'm in late position with A-10 of clubs. About three people limp in between the blinds and me. I raise $10 up to $13 total. The blinds call and two limpers call, including one who has just thrown his last $8 in. (Pot has about $60 now.) So now I'm in last position.

Flop comes 7-7-4 rainbow. Everybody checks to me. Fearful that somebody is slowplaying a 7, I make a continuation bet of $25 anyway. The small blind calls after much hesitation and everybody else folds. Now we're at about $110. I eye down the small blind and decide if he checks, I bet no matter what.

Turn is a blank. He checks, I bet $60, and he thinks for a while, then shows 8-8 and folds. Since somebody is all in, I have to show my bluff. It turns out the all-in guy had something random like Q-6 and I won the pot. I probably overplayed it but was proud of myself.

A couple of hands later...

2) I'm in middle position with Q-J diamonds. I just call $3. Everybody folds. The small blind, a tight player, raises to $13. The big blind and I call.

The flop is A hearts - K hearts- 6 diamonds. The small blind bets $10. Big blind folds. I have no business calling, but think maybe he has a middle pair or a flush draw now, and call.

The turn is 10 of diamonds. I now have the nuts and a flush draw. Small blind bets $25. (The pot was about $50). I hollywood for a little while, then raise to $75. He looks over at my stack and says "How much do you have left?" I have about $110 more. He has about $200. I tell him. He thinks for a while. In my head, I'm chanting "PUT ME ALL IN PUT ME ALL IN PUT ME ALL IN". Eventually he just calls.

River is K of clubs. Fuck. He value-bets $25. I know he's got a full house now, but I call anyway, hoping he has a hand like K-Q. Nope, he had A-K the whole time, and he takes down the large pot, more than erasing my winnings from earlier.

I Phil Hellmuth him for about 5 minutes - "do you know you only had 4 outs going into the river?, etc..." He smiles quietly. "What are you smiling about? How freakin lucky you are?" etc... He never responds. The big blind, who folded after the flop, informs me that he folded 10-10 after the flop and would've made the second best hand, and I would've lost to them both anyway if he had called the $10 flop, which he doesn't know why I did. I tell him to fuck off and we continue to play.

Moral of the story: No Limit can be brutal if you don't have a big bankroll!