Don’t Play Newbies for Money!
Poker has become so popular that just about everyone and their mother is playing. I should know, I got beat by my own step-mother. I got hooked playing poker about a year ago when I saw my first Celebrity Poker tournament. The game was no limit Texas Hold ‘em and that’s been my game of choice from the get go. I started off watching lots of tournaments on cable trying to learn the game. For the sake of time they skip some stuff you might want to know, but for the most part you can learn a pretty good deal from watching tournaments on TV. Mostly though, you start off by hating Phil Hellmuth before you really start to love the guy the way people loved what Happy Gilmore brought to the game of golf. But TV will only get you so far and so I started reading Web sites and books written by all the champs, like Phil Hellmuth, Phil Gordon, Doyle Brunson, and Mike Caro. I got the game down in my head and so I thought I was ready to get my game on.
I started off dabbling a little bit online playing in some free games but it just didn’t feel the same. I wanted to look people right in the eye and bluff the pants right off ‘em. This is where limit and no limit draws the line between science and art. Limit games are all about the odds and playing the cards, not the players. But when you step into a no limit game you’re goal is to play the player. You can beat someone with absolutely nothing but you’ve got to know your opponents and how they play. Experienced players know the odds of how often certain cards and certain hands will hit. They might not know the numbers or percentages (though I bet the best do), they at least know it by gut instinct. But newbies, like I was (and largely still am) throw off the game.
The skill in Poker is learning to read people and if the person doesn’t know what a good hand is or what hands to throw down or how to react to a strong bet or someone trying to suck you into a larger pot the game gets totally out of whack. A newbie player will try to bluff with a 3-7 suited and you are holding pocket aces and so you bet strong. You’re newbie friend should have folded but instead he calls or worse, raises and you know you’re sitting on a great hand. So do you fold pocket aces or stick it out? I’ve seen this happen a few times and someone totally sucked me out and got a flush! I know newbies have to start somewhere and thankfully people let me in on their games. I know I won several hands I should have tossed but it was worth it to watch people just totally lose it when they saw what I played.
So for New Years Eve my step-mom wants us to pull out the cards and get a game going. We’re playing $2 games and 50 chips each. I was playing pretty strong and knocked out most of the family pretty quick. My brother and wife play with me regularly but they went down early on. I ended up winning one game and another brother, who is our resident poker expert, won the other. Our third game comes around and I’m hitting some pretty sweet pocket cards and got to play a lot of hands. I put most of the family out and it came down to my step-mother and me. She’s played once before and she’s still checking her cheat sheet just about every hand, but she’s hooked. She can’t stop watching tournaments and her Tivo is just about full. She’ll end up being a pretty good player if she sticks with it. Now that it’s down to just the two of us the blinds are pretty big. Stacks of 15 chips at a time and I was the chip leader to begin with. We folded back and forth for a while and then I started catching some bad breaks. She stole some chips just from me laying down after the flop or throwing down cards I know I shouldn’t play. I did manage to bluff a pretty nice stack of chips back. Then I got lucky and got my pocket aces, which I almost always play.
I started off smooth, played it cool because I wanted her to put some chips in. I was pretty sure I had her beat. I dropped a strong bet, but not so strong as to scare her off. She had the dreaded 3-7 suited and was hoping for a flush so she called. So the flop comes and she lands another 3 and two Kings hit. I just knew I head her now, I had AA-KK. If another ace or king hit she would have a really tough time beating me and I knew from the flop that a flush wasn’t possible. But she decided to bluff me with a pair of 3’s. She bets pretty strong so I counter and go all in. She falls for it and goes all in. She had a slight chip lead but if I won I could just bully her out of the game. So the turn comes and it’s a 3. I’m smiling because I didn’t think it could help her. The river comes and it’s no help to me, it’s a 5 of spades. We didn’t show the cards until the end and so we turn over the cards and she’s such a newbie that she thought she lost. We had to tell her that 3 of a kind beats 2 pair. I got totally sucked out! Come on! Anyone would have thrown down that hand.
Just remember this little nugget off advice the next time you’re playing against newbies — don’t play for money!
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