Look, I don’t mind a little banter. Let’s make that clear. I said as much to Tommy when he singled me out as I sat down at his table. We play in the same Omaha high-low table on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I usually sit to his left, and he’s a chip shuffler with Southern drawl that makes me worry he’s a private investigator or bail bondsman from Mississippi, and I have a missus from Mississippi who might just hire a private investigator to track me down in every poker room in the Gulf Coast. Luckily, I’m not out on bail, so I hope he knows that. Sometimes his chip shuffling confuses me into thinking he acted with a check, inducing me to act out of turn. In Omaha high-low, I raise more than average, which is something he complains about. When I sat down at the same table for the tournament, he commenced to a taunting and a griping about my propensity to raise. In Omaha high-low raising before the flop is not always an advisable move, but in Texas Hold’em, it’s an important part of any winning strategy. It’s rare to see a pot without any raises before the flop in no limit Hold’em tournaments. Thus, I welcomed his reproachful banter, telling him I didn’t take it personally, and I hoped he didn’t either. We battled until we had to be reassigned tables. I was off to a descent start, zigging and zagging, and tripling my stack in the process.
Eventually, we found ourselves once again on what would eventually be the final table. I was under the gun, with a 9-10 of suited diamonds, and raised to 5,000 with the blinds 1,200-1,200-600 I had just over 30,000 in chips. Tommy had roughly 12,000 and went all in. Former World Champion, Tom McEvoy, once said to be a good Hold’ Em player, you had to not only figure out what your opponent has, but you also have to consider what your opponent thinks you yourself has. Taunting Tommy had voiced his concerns about my incessant raising. Hence, I could only conclude he put me on a weaker hand with which I was trying to steal the blinds. He would have been correct. Since I had him out chipped, I was willing to go with the conclusion that he didn’t have me dominated, so I called. He turned over something like Ace-8 suited in clubs. I declared, “Two live cards.”
The flop came Jack-Queen rainbow, giving me a double ended straight draw, meaning I had 14 outs. I liked my chances to eliminate Tommy, but I missed, and doubled him up. A few hands later, I was in the large blind. Tommy had just completed his turn in the blinds. From late position, he raised all-in.
When I’m in the blind I do what I describe in the poker action in my book The Trained Ghost Gimmick when my main character has to play Hold’em against a Choctaw evil spirit to save his own life. I won’t look at my cards until the action is up to me, so nobody can get a read or tell on what I have. Thus I waited til the two players between us folded before checking my hole cards. I looked down and saw two Aces. So I also moved all-in. When it was heads-up I flipped up the Aces. Tommy flipped up his pocket 3’s. I liked my chances until he flopped a 3. I was left with 8 black chips in the small blind. I had an Ace-6, so I put the last 2 chips in after nobody called except for Tommy. He had a pair of 5’s, I think, but I never improved. I finished 10th place, and I congratulated him, gave him my card, and told him to check out my blog, because he would be the topic of my next article.
He had told me earlier while taunting me, “Go ahead put me in your next book.”
I did just like he said. I added a character named Tommy Carlos to my new book the very next day, but I made him a Yankee in The Reenactment Gladiators. Tommy doesn’t sound like a guy who would be cool with being labeled as a Yankee. While I did write an article about a newbie who pissed me off a few weeks back. I am not going to be critical of Tommy for beating my aces. Luck is a part of the game. On Wednesday, I took 3rd place after outdrawing multiple hands that dominated me. I got lucky then. Friday night, I was lucky to wake up with Aces in the large blind. He out-lucked me on the flop. Here’s what’s important. It’s so much better to bet instead of calling. When you bet all-in, you have two shots at winning. When you call, you have only one shot. On a bet, they might fold. On a call, your only chance is to have the best hand. So why do I bet or raise so much? Because I prefer to have two shots to win. Tommy was the better, so it turned out better for him.
Aces have an 81% chance of winning against all hands. I hear people gripe about losing with Aces all the time. I had to research this for my ghost book, but you need to read, listen, or watch, because Aces do play a role in the book. That’s why there’s Aces on the book cover, for these trained ghosts play poker, drink beer, and the evil spirit plays guitar as he sings karaoke. I can’t recommend folding Aces, unless you’re playing to save your life against an evil spirit.