Friday, February 8, 2013

I Don't Think That's What They Mean by "Aces Up"

Last week, Prudence and I were playing 1/2 at the Venetian and saw something rather unusual.  I don’t know the exact details, but I think I’ve got the gist of it. 

I was on the other side of the table, and Prudence was in seat 3.  The players involved were in seats 1 & 2.  This was all preflop.  I don’t remember who raised first, but there were a couple of re-raises and then Seat 1, the younger of the two players, put out a stack of about $100.  Seat 2 announced all in.
Both of the players had pretty big stacks, let’s say they each had over $300 when the hand started.  So seat 1 thought about it for awhile.  I got the sense he was going to call when seat 2 suddenly just turned over his cards. 
They were two Aces.
Yes, that’s right, he showed the guy his hand before the guy had decided whether to call his all in, and he had two Aces.
With that, he said to the guy who was still deciding what to do, “Is it worth it to you to call?”
Now, two things here.  First, the dealer did not tell the guy who exposed his hand that what he had just done was a no-no.  This surprised me because, in most poker rooms that I play in, even in a cash game, even when it’s heads up, it is strictly forbidden to expose your hand on like that.  And this was clearly not an accident.
Yet no warning came.
The second thing is….WTF?  I mean seriously, WTF?  There was no indication that these guys were friends.  I’m pretty sure they didn’t know each other from Adam.  And yet this guy was telling the player who had put out a $100 stack in the most blatant way possible, “Don’t call.”
It is my understanding that the object of poker is to take as much money as possible from all the other players at the table.  Had seat 1 called, seat 2 would have been getting all his money into the pot way ahead of any possible hand seat 1 had (unless seat 1 had the other two Aces, in which case they’re even—but if he had the other two Aces, that’s a snap-call).
Aren’t you supposed to be thrilled if another player wants to go all in against you when you have two Aces?  Isn’t that the ideal situation?  True, you could still lose.  Suckouts happen.  Aces get cracked all the time.
But why would you do anything to dissuade someone from calling you there?
So, was the guy being nice, or just ultra, ultra conservative?  Was he the nit of all nits?
Anyway, seat 1 stared at the rockets for a few seconds, said “fold” and turned over his hand.
Of course, he had the dreaded pocket kings.  As I said, I’m pretty sure he was going to call if the guy hadn’t shown the one hand that was better than his.  I mean, wouldn’t anybody shove there with kings (before the Aces were exposed, I mean)?  Even I would have.  Yes, me, the guy who hates pocket kings more than the Lakers hate the Celtics.  Well, maybe Willie wouldn’t have shoved there.  Willie is the only player I know who’s good enough to fold Kings.
Either seat 2 was too nice to be a good poker player, or too scared.  If you think getting a hundred bucks off the other player when you were well favored to stack him is good enough, why are you playing poker?  I mean seriously, if you’re not happy to get all your money in there with AA, you probably should find another game.

19 comments:

  1. Rob, what I really want to know is if Prudence used the Dreaded 'V' word during this poker game? Woody

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    1. No, Woody, Prudence did not udder the "v-word" on this night. In fact, it's been months since I've heard her say it. Maybe she's forgotten how to say it?

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    2. "Udder"? You really need to work on this breast obsession of yours, Rob.

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    3. Thanks, BuzzedSaw. By "work on" you mean CULTIVATE it, right? Because just yesterday I was having lunch with Luv Malts and she pointed out to me this woman with the tightest pants I've ever seen on a living, breathing woman. And she wore those tight pants incredibly well, if you know what I mean, and I think that you do.

      I whispered to LM, "Screw tits, I'm now an ass man."

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    4. Hmm....I recently did a post title, "She has the greatest ass of all time." At the time, I had no idea who the guy who said that was talking about, but after yesterday, I'm pretty sure he was talking about the gal LM and I saw at the restaurant yesterday.

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    5. As a guy, I find nothing wrong with your appreciation of the female form, but I was intending to point out an apparent Freudian slip in your use of 'udder' instead of 'utter,' in the vein of the recent 'venerable/vulnerable' event. Was GAOAT spotted at BSC?

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    6. Heh heh. Yeah, I knew you were pointing out the "Freudian slip." I hadn't caught it but indeed the aforementioned Luv Malts had pointed it out to me and was somewhat miffed you commented about it before she had a chance to herself!

      I have to admit, I don't understand "GAOAT". Is this an acronym I'm supposed to know, or are you hinting about something (or someone, I guess) that you can't identify more to protect identities?

      Call me bewildered.

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    7. Indeed. I was about to post a reply having to do with udders, milk, and breasts. But BuzzedSaw beat me to it!

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    8. "Greatest Ass Of All Time". LM's name is Screwtits?

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    9. YES, doing lunch with Rob was eventful. I had never seen such tight pants over such a tight ass ... and I am not a lesbian! Whew .... although it wasn't cleavage, it was my duty to point it out to Rob. Needless to say, he was appreciative.

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    10. @LM, Yes, I am UDDERLY humiliated. I got "udder" and "utter" confused. I least I didn't get "there", "their" and "they're" mixed up. And yes, that ass was pretty damn sensational. I dunno why I didn't think of the connection with my recent blog post sooner.

      @BuzzedSaw. Damn, I should have figured that out, I'm sure I would have given more time. No, the GAOAT we saw yesterday was in Southern California, over 280 miles from BSC. Great line about LM's name being "Screw tits".....ain't the English language wonderful?

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  2. Another blogger once wrote of a similar situation. The guy wanted the guarantee of money as opposed to taking the chance he would lose to an underdog hand. Probably got burned a few times and was still licking his wounds. Yeah -- it might guarantee you money, but like you said, if you won't put in your money there you should not be playing poker.

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    1. Now that I think about it, one of the reasons it took me so long to switch to No Limit was that I could see myself afraid of situations like the guy with the AA. I had to accept the fact that sometimes, you get all your money in good and it blows up. But I can assure you if I had been that guy, I wouldn't be flipping over my hand and I would have been praying for him to call.

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  3. 1. "This surprised me because, in most poker rooms that I play in, even in a cash game, even when it’s heads up, it is strictly forbidden to expose your hand on like that."

    I'll bet you $20 that if you ask about this rule to the floor person on duty in the next 5 Vegas poker rooms you play in, at least 4 of them (and most likely all 5) will say it's fine to show when heads up in a cash game. I.e., I think you're wrong about your impression of what the standard rule is.

    2. I've seen the same thing several times. It hasn't been collusion. As Lightning says, it's people who would rather take a small guaranteed win from the fold than take any chance of losing their whole stack. Yes, it's stupid and -EV and completely contrary to the whole point of playing the game, but there are lots of those people out there.

    In fact, I told about exactly such an occurrence here:

    http://pokergrump.blogspot.com/2008/08/just-give-me-small-piece.html

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    1. Thanks Grump. Regarding point 1, you're probably right. Even where I got the idea that it was verboten, BSC, I've heard the dealers say they are confused about what the rule is on that day because they seem to change it frequently. None-the-less, that isn't the only room where I've heard the "rule" about not showing, even heads up, even cash.

      I shoulda known you had a similar story. I think that's the REAL reason you've left Vegas. There's absolutely nothing you haven't seen.

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  4. Yeah - people have a fear of losing money and thus just want the guaranteed $100 instead of the probable $300 with the option to lose $300 10% of the time (or whatever the real percentage works out to be).

    It's scared poker.
    Really Scared Poker

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    1. Thanks, grrouchie. Yeah, it's just kind of bizarre. I wonder.....if this guy has a Royal Flush on the river, does he value bet?

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  5. I've folded KK PF multiple times (online). I think I've folded KK twice live. I've also been stacked by running my KK into AA countless times.

    Up your running count to 2 people you know who can fold KK PF.

    As far as the guy who flips up the AA, lick your chops and get ready to bully him off any perceived scare cards. Go to town on this guy because you'll be able to push him around all day.

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    1. Thanks, PM.

      In fact,I know a third person who can fold KK preflop.

      Yours truly! I had a great read and did it in a tournament, and that story has been blogged about here:

      http://robvegaspoker.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-i-finally-learned-to-play-pocket.html

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