I had a dream that I was hitchhiking on Interstate 40 east out of Las Vegas and ran into my gambling buddy Max, who was also hitchhiking. “Where are you going,” I asked?
“Houston,” he replied. “My Ace/King should have beaten my opponent’s puny little pair. Especially in the first hand of a tournament when I shove all my chips in. However, it didn’t and that’s why I am ‘Walking Back to Houston.’ How about you? What are you doing here?”
“I lasted twice as long as you.” I replied. “The second hand of the tourney some stupid amateur called on the little blind with deuces after everyone else had folded. I pushed all my chips to the middle with the Ace/King of Hearts and he called. The board finished with all babies and the next thing I know I am ‘Walking Back to Houston’ myself. What a pair of bad beats. The odds of that happening must be at least a thousand to one.”
“Yeah,” Max replied, “about the same odds of you and me actually making it to Houston.”
Note: Ace/King unsuited is known as “Walking Back To Houston” since it is an overplayed hand that often ends up with the player who went all-in with it going broke and thus walking home.
Million dollar Hold’em tips
This is the first in a series of tips that have either won me or lost me a million dollars over my poker playing life (40 years times 40 weeks times five sessions per week times $125 per session (additional win or loss due to tip) = One Million Dollars per tip
Tip No. 1—Not value betting enough on the river. This hole in my game has easily cost me a million dollars. If I could see how a river card might beat me in one or two ways, I would not bet even though my opponent may have had several losing hands with which they would have called a value bet.
In limit poker you should not bet just because you think you have the best hand, but only if a bet has a positive river expectation. For example, if you will win 19 out of 20 times, but will only get called the one time you are beaten, then you should not bet.
IN AND OUT RIDDLE ANSWER (FROM THE LAST ISSUE)—To make the “IN LIST” the word simply had to have double letters in the spelling (as in “spelling”). Everything else was in the “OUT LIST.”
