Years ago I saw a poster of two scruffy vultures on a barren tree limb overlooking a desolate landscape. One said to the other: “Patience my ass, I’m gonna kill something!” I took that to mean there are times when patience works and there are times when one must sally forth and kill something (so to speak)…meaning take action. Poker is like that; there are times when patience pays off and there are times when forceful action is needed.
My sweetie and I were headed to L.A. (that’s Lower Alabama to you Yankees) when we stopped at Binion’s Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Miss., to try my hand at Southern Hold’em. The game had just begun when two players flopped the low and high ends of a straight flush. All those in the room playing the same game received a jackpot share – $1,278. The trip was paid for and I played perhaps 10 or 12 hands at most. I was in Fat City and still had most of the weekend to go.
I played live action for the next 4 hours and netted a grand total of $6. It darn near drove me nuts – and that for me is just a turn around the block. Up $20 – down $15 – up $10 – down $20…it went on like that for hours. When time came for the tournament I was ready to go. I entered the $150 No-Limit Hold’em tournament, receiving another 5,000 in chips for a $10 dealer appreciation add-on. As a side-note, I’m in favor of this as I’ve seen players cash yet stiff the dealers who worked so hard throughout the event. That to me is being cheap and totally without class.
I made it a little more than half-way through the tourney until my Pocket 10’s were beaten by Q – J offsuit. So a little dinner at the Burger Bar with my sweetie and off to our room… “After all, tomorrow is another day.” [Since I’m way down south in Dixie as I write this, I thought I’d throw in Scarlet O’Hara’s final words from the movie Gone With The Wind].
The final day of our stay – Sunday – saw only 16 players sign up for the 2 p.m. tournament where Saturday’s 4 p.m. event had more than 80. Perhaps it was the last weekend day prior to Christmas causing the low turnout or all the football games on the tube, so I decided to play live action for the afternoon. Since the Bronco’s performance that game was less than stellar, I really had to focus on the poker.
A $2-5 No-Limit game was barely above a “limp-fest;” meaning 8 or 9 players seeing the flop was common. If anyone showed the least bit of aggression toward the pot just about everyone would fold and the winner would rake in a small stack consisting of blinds. It was not a way to make a killing but time and again I did this – didn’t matter if I had a hand or not – and they would lay down their hands. I was ahead about $300 after three hours of play; it was then the poker gods looked down at this poor sinner and decided to test my mettle. I went absolutely card dead; and when I tried to steal blinds and pots, someone would wake up with a marginal hand, call, and win. This went on for around a half an hour before I realized what the poker gods had done. So I changed gears and tightened up…a lot.
After more than an hour of the “Tighten Up” and exercising patience (refer to the vulture story above), I looked down at Pocket 6’s from early position. I decided I was going to “kill something” with that hand, and it was going to be them or me. I raised and, I swear, I got 7 callers. Still amazed I saw a flop of 7-6-2; the leader checked so I made a ¾ pot bet and got 5 callers. What could they have? The turn brought a 5; now there was a numerically coordinated board out there. I bet half the pot and got four callers. An Ace on the river didn’t help my digestion much but I figured it was ‘do or die’ time and I went all-in. Two callers. My set held up as the others mucked their cards facedown. It took me the rest of the session to stack those chips.
Poker is strange and funny like that; one must exercise patience when things are not going your way and then there are times when action must be taken. The key is recognizing the time for each of those possibilities…while thinking about poker.
