Friday, March 24, 2006

3/23/06 Adwaitya the Tortoise

Adwaitya the Tortoise died in Calcutta at the ripe old age of 255. That's right. 255. I think that's older than Chewbacca.

Right on the tails of Adwaitya the Tortoise is William Shatner. Happy 75th, buddy.

Poker Jason sends the Tom Cruise / Scientology / Isaac Hayes article about South Park.

Speaking of Poker Jason, he twisted my arm to, guess what? Play some poker. Which leads me to some more poker talk. For the first time, I decided to play at a regular No Limit table at a casino. Blinds are $2 and $3 and you can initially buy-in for $100. Now people seem skeptical when I say that the players are loose and terrible. Right before I was about to leave, the guy under the gun raises all in for his remaining $45. So, it's going to take a really big hand to call $45 when blinds are $2 and $3. Guy 2 folds. I look down at 2 black queens. It's hard for me to believe he has AA or KK. He wouldn't have bet so much with those hands. So I call. I figure it'll just be him and me. Next 4 players fold, as expected. Then a caller for $45. I start thinking that he might have AK. And that, if the flop rolls off low, I'll bet out big. But wait, the next guy pushes all in for $175 or so. Now I have to figure out if anybody has AA or KK. I still don't think they do. Although my table image is squeaky clean. So, if anybody was paying attention for the previous 3 hours, they'd realize that I'd only call $45 with a huge hand. Then I think that the first guy has a lower pair than I do. And the other two guys both have one ace each. Which leaves them only 2 outs (plus any king they might have). I end up calling the huge bet and go all in for $160 total. The other guy calls too. 4 way all in.

Now, take a second and think about the possible hands that the people could have. AK? AJ? JJ? KK? AA? Remember, the game is for $2 and $3 blinds. What would you call with? This pot is HUGE. (Note: Nobody has to turn over their hands in this game until after the river.) A king rolls off on the flop and I'm feeling lousy. Somebody must have had AK. The next card is a 3rd club. I'm feeling a little better, hoping for the flush. The river brings another low card and no flush. The cards are flipped. The original all in guy has 3 3. Understandable. Sort of. The first guy who called after I did. 4 4. The guy who pushed all in after that? A 4. My QQ was good. And I won a monster pot. Ask yourself this. Would you have called with 44 or reraised all in with A4 in their positions? 100 times out of 100 I would have laid them down. It's unbelievable that these people play so poorly for such relatively high stakes.

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