Poker Hands... Run Good (Bachelor Party), Run Bad (Wedding), Run Away Part III

Okay let's get to the poker part of things. After the Bachelor party had ended, which consisted of one adult establishment and some drinks afterward some of us wandered over to Harrahs. I had a good chat with one of my friends who I hadn't seen in months. Then in not the clearest state of mind decided to play poker which is often a mistake though it is usually more easily made by logging on to my computer and looking at sites like https://poker.bwin.com/texas-holdem-poker.

I sat down and decided to embrace the image I was portraying. I sloppily dumped my chips into a haphazard pile in front of me and kind of relished when the dealers would tell me I had to stack them. Thank you for the Texas Holdem poker tips, I thought to myself. I would grab a handful of chips when betting and would kind of toss them into the pot. Basically, I tried to mimic any idiot at Harrahs at 3 in the morning when he'd be better off taking a cab ride home. Not so hard to feign when reality was a lot closer to the “illusion” I was hoping to portray.

I will say this, I ran pretty good but I also got paid off just about every time. There is just something about the idiot who can’t even betsize correctly or seems to have trouble knowing his hand. I showed some bluffs and let me cards “spill” to throw people further off the scent. It got to the point if somebody was in the hand with me they’d stay to the river. It’s fun to be the guy.

Who knows how many people were buying what I was selling. I think a couple of players figured out I was a lot more sly than I was letting on and they basically stopped playing pots with me. It’s odd but in these moments of assuming another identity I can have quite lucrative sessions. I feel almost bulletproof and never stop exerting pressure. This was more satisfying then other times I’ve done this like in Vegas or in Biloxi where I felt like the table was weak enough to bulldoze as I thought they were plenty of decent players.

I know I was playing pretty well because I got away from top set on the river. Of course, I couldn’t keep it to myself and showed the guy next to me. My thinking was, if I’m wrong he’ll think I’m an idiot for folding top set and it will add to my image, if I’m right he might still think I’m an idiot and it’ll add to my image, or he’ll think it was a good play and I might get my ego stroked, which is bad if you are trying to earn money.

Turns out I was right, some guy chased a gutterball on me, and another dude had two pair. I made my typical overbet when I flopped it but they both called. When they don’t believe you, invariably you’ll get sucked out on a lot more than you should. So the fact, I was congnizant of it when it happened is a good thing.

I built up a big stack. Later in the night my loose lips and gum flapping probably cost me money. I hit my second pair on the river when an Ace spiked (giving me top two pair). I had been leading the action with my opponent checking into me. His two check-calls had me on high alert though and I was planning on checking behind on the river not wanting to deal with a reraise. The ace brought out another shovel bet of chips and the guy went into the tank for a long time.

To be continued...