The Craziest Thing I Ever Saw at a Poker Table

I've seen people go all-in blind before. Usually its a person that doesn't like to play for longer than an hour, is bored, and either wants to win or stop playing. However, this was completely different.

It was about 2 AM on a Monday morning. I was near the end of a painfully long and boring session. A kid was across the table from me. He went all-in blind for about $130. He got two callers. One had Queen-Ten, the other had Ace-Jack. The flop was 9-5-3. The turn was a King. The river was a 9. The player that went all-in flipped over one card, a 9. This gave him a set and enough to win the pot. He turned over the other one and it was another 9. Not only did he go all-in with a pretty good hand, but he wound up with one of the bast hands a person can get in the game of poker.

Grinding it out hasn't worked out much lately because I'm an idiot. An inability to protect marginal hands in order to win small pots has been a big problem. I need to win those small pots to keep my stack up so when the big hand comes around, I can win alot more.

Example: I have Ace-Queen, someone else raised, I called, the flop was 7-King-Ace. I shouldv'e bet out with the Aces. I wouldv'e won about a $30 pot. Instead, I checked. The turn was a Queen. Seemingly a good card but it was my demise I was going up against pocket queens. Now my 2 pair was up against three Queens. I lost all my chips on a 2 outer. If I had proetected my hand, I couldv'e gotten my stack up to a respectable amount.

Another problem I've been experiencing is an inability on my part to make the tough fold. A few hands as examples:

I had AQs. A guy raised on the button, and I called. The flop was Queen high. I bet $10 and was instantly raised $25 more. The guy was ordering a drink while he did this which is a big tell that he wasn't making a move. In the back of my mind I thought he had a high pocket pair. Yet, I still called with my Queens. I checked the turn, a blank, and he went all-in. He had me covered. I shouldv'e folded, but stupidly called. He had pocket Kings.

A player raised to $12 preflop. I had pocket Kings and called. The flop was 2-5-2. Another player bet out $15. The initial raiser pushed all-in for $83 total. I just knew he had those fucking Aces. I didn't listen to myself though and called. I didn't get one of my two outs and lost nearly $100 in that hand when I couldv'e cut my losses at $12 in that hand.

A player raised preflop to $10. I had Ace-Queen of Spades so called. The flop was Queen high with two rags that were Spades. The raiser pushed all-in for $35. I thought I was nearly 50/50 to win the hand with my pair and flush draw. It turns out he flopped a set of 6s so I needed running Queens, running Aces or a Spade. I did the odds at CardPlayer.com and I was only 30% to win the hand. If I want to call myself a grinder, I can't take chances as big as that. Fifty/fifty is about as risky as I should get in an all-in situation. I was pretty sure he had flopped a set yet still called the bet. I shouldv'e just let him take my $10 and waited for a better spot.

The rest of the sitting and waiting strategy worked out. I took two player's stacks in two hands but the stacks weren't that big. One was with pocket 4s which turned into a set on the flop. The other was pocket Aces against the top pair on the board. In another hand, I doubled up with pocket Queens. The flop was King-2-King. A player after me was slow playing trip Kings. The turn was a Queen, the river an Ace. I played slowly and checked into him knowing he would bet. I was somewhat lucky he decided to slowplay and I hit my 2 outer. I was also lucky the board didn't pair which would have given him a superior full house.

It's back to grinding tomorrow. Or maybe I should actually grind this time instead of grind for 4 hours with sporadic stupidity mixed in. Grinding can work but I must be painfully consistent with it. Its noble work I'm doing.