Shot In The Dark: Things I Just Can't Figure Out

May 31, 2005

Things I Just Can't Figure Out

Put a musical instrument in front of me, and I can figure out how to crank out a tune sooner than later.

Put me in a foreign country, and I will figure out how to get around in the local language, at least enough to get around and eat and get beer.

But this kind of thing?:

peaking of short-stack play, my final hand was a good example, I think, of doing the right thing and losing anyway. From behind the short stack (and considerably shorter than anyone else at the table,) I held a Q-middle card. I flopped to a pair of Queens, and immediately went all in.

The guy who followed me in had a huge stack and a 5-K in the pocket...he had flopped to a pair of 5's.

Now, I admit that the look of dread when he saw my Queen was immensely gratifying to me.

And the King that appeared on the River was immensely gratifying to him. Aaaaah, if only if only.

Best hand of the night was another short-stack play. Got dealt an AK off-suit and stuck around through the flop, then saw a huge scare card (I think it was a good straight draw) on the turn which nobody bet on, and went all-in. Two guys followed me and I immediately blurted out, "I lose." But they didn't have anything either - I won with an Ace high! Woo-hoo! Takin' chips!

Lost. Completely lost.

Posted by Mitch at May 31, 2005 04:14 AM | TrackBack

Comments

Mitch,

I can help you with this.

Posted by: LearnedFoot at May 31, 2005 08:19 AM

Translation: "I got my arse handed to me at Texas Hold'Em Poker making amateurish mistakes."

HTH!

Posted by: Brian Jones at May 31, 2005 08:24 AM

Frankly the best way to learn Holdem is to play... and bring lots of money. I'll help too!

Posted by: billhedrick at May 31, 2005 08:24 AM

It frightens me a little that I understand what he is talking about. Good thing I only play nickel-dime stuff.

Posted by: Patrick at May 31, 2005 11:23 AM

1. Low on chips, he couldn't win big with one hand.

2. He played his pair of Queens well, but the other guy was lucky enough to come up with a pair of Kings using the final card.

3. His "best hand" also seems was more luck than skill.

Posted by: RBMN at May 31, 2005 11:33 AM

RBMN has it, of course. All of which explains why Texas Hold'em is a cruddy p0ker variant -- too much luck, not enough skill.

Of course, tournament p0ker isn't really p0ker. The upfront cost is sunk the moment you pay it. You never have to decide whether to risk more than points, nor can you choose to walk away with whatever you've won. After the start, the chips are just a scoring mechanism, not money, and real poker is a money game.

Posted by: Doug Sundseth at May 31, 2005 12:27 PM

Hey!

OK, yeah, my "best hand" was pure luck, no doubt about it. Going all in with a weak hand and a short stack is not going to scare anybody away, so don't do it if you can help it. I really need to improve my play earlier in the game so that I don't have to play so much from behind the short stack. Auggh.

Posted by: Brian Jones at May 31, 2005 12:43 PM

"Short Stack" used to be how I described the dumb people in my junior high math class.

Posted by: Marty at May 31, 2005 01:07 PM

Last time I had a short stack in front of me was at IHOP.

(Mmmm, boysenberry syrup!)

Posted by: MWB at June 2, 2005 10:01 PM