Last Thursday and yesterday I told you how a Canadian chap I met in Brazil told me that the best game of poker in the whole world (as in easiest to beat) took place at Surfer’s Paradise on the Gold Coast in Australia. Armed with this nugget of gold I made a point of finding this game when I came to Aus.
So you can imagine my disdain when having discovered this game and played three sessions in it I found myself a small loser. Harrumph!
This could suggest one of three things:
1 – The Canadian was bullshitting me
2 – The Canadian was telling the truth but the game has since changed
3 – I am not very good at poker
Right now any of the three explanations could be the correct one. But read further on and I suspect you’ll probably lean towards number 3. So onto this week’s hand, where I shall be brief for the following reasons:
1 – I hate the hand and don’t really want to dwell on it
2 – It’s getting late and I’m tired after a hard days frolicking at Wet n wild Theme park
3 – I only have 40 minutes battery left on my laptop. Plugging it in entails moving to the living room of the hostel, where some lairy bell end is drunkenly holding court and every word that leaves his mouth increasingly makes me want to punch him.
Seeing as this article is turning into “lists of three reasons” for whatever needs explaining, I may as well do likewise for the three reasons I am a donkey and label them “Pre – Flop”, “Flop” and “Turn”, where I bluff every time, each time with spectacularly less success. The game is $2-5 and I have about $375.
Preflop – the grizzly old guy who is a bit lively preflop raises to 20. He gets called by a Chinese player in middle position who seems to call most preflop raises. I have made precisely one three bet all night – with KK where everyone folded. This time I get Q-10 offsuit in the small blind and I decide to try and steal the $40 that’s out there. Older grizzly guy made an amazing lay down earlier so I suspect he will lay down again. I raise to $75. He does indeed fold but the Chinese player calls the $75. There’s $177 in the pot. Heads up to the flop we go.
Flop – the flop was 8-7-2 rainbow.” Well he can’t have any of that can he?” I reason and I fire off another $75. To my increasing inconvenience he calls. Well that wasn’t supposed to happen. There is $327 in the pot.
Turn –The turn card is a Jack and none of my bluffs have worked so far. So the obvious thing to do is try another bluff. Third time lucky perhaps? Well that’s what Baldrick would do. And I’ve got a gutshot straight draw now….. why not? Do it man!
I smash all in for my last $225
He calls. The river is an Ace for 8-7-2-J-A
“What have you got” says the cheeky sod.
At this point I hear Grizzly in the corner predicting to his mate “Kings or Aces for sure”
And I flip over my Q-10. Grizzly looks dumfounded.
Why oh why did I do that? I mean of course, why did I flip over my Q-10? I ought to have mucked them and walked away. It’s the the triumph of hope over experience I suppose. There’s no way I’m ever ahead there but against all possible odds I still hoped there was some tiny chance he missed his draw and that I was ahead.
But of course I’m not. The Chinese guy has….10c9c for the immortal nuts*.
And I just gave away all my money.
* hence he is a cheeky sod, asking me “what have you got” in a tone that suggested he urgently needed to know
Guys bluffing into you when you have nuts is what makes it the best game in the whole world