Eternal Shame

I am not a good poker player.

Sure, I've been able to scratch a living for half a year by taking money from the retarded chimps that inhabit the online poker world, but that is by no means enough to convince me I'm good. I'm getting there though, and every once in a while something happens that reminds which side of the line I'm on.

This hand will haunt my dreams for many nights. I'm posting it here as a monument to my eternal shame.

When this hand was played, I was 3 hours into a session and down about $1500 4-tabling $15/30 on Party. The games were insanely good, even for a Saturday night, and my luck had been insanely bad so far, putting my Zen-like patience to the test.


Some idiot raised in early position, and I reraised him with

A♣T♣

which I won't always play that way, but this guy was very loose and aggressive and wild so I wanted to isolate him and see a flop heads-up. Everyone else folded, and he called. The flop came down:

9♣ 6♠ 3♦

He bet out. This meant I was probably winning, because he'd probably try to check and raise if he had a pair. I raised and he called. The turn was the

2♠

He checked again, and called my bet. The river was the seemingly harmless

6♥

so I was surprised that he decided to bet out. I replayed the hand in my mind and decided that he must be bluffing, because I believed there was no paired hand he would have played the way he played the flop. Once I determined he was bluffing, I also had to face the prospect that he could still have me beat with an Ace with a better kicker. So I decided to raise, figuring he might fold AK, AQ or AJ.

He rocked my world by quickly reraising. As soon as it happened, I stopped thinking clearly.

I stared at the board:

9♣ 6♠ 3♦ 2♠ 6♥

What the fuck could this guy have?? I had bet and raised at every opportunity, and he'd have to think I had a big pocket pair. He couldn't think I'd actually fold here. But I still just couldn't imagine he had a good hand. I'd seen him bluff several times, but I had also seen him give up on a bluff when it was obvious it wouldn't work. But damn this river 3-bet was so quick that it felt very very weird. As the timer was running down, I considered capping for the same reasons I had put in the first raise, but finally convinced myself that I wasn't thinking clearly because I was having a rough session, and that capping the river with no pair was too crazy. I folded.

He showed

J♠7♠

to taunt me as he scooped the $382 pot that should have been mine.

Looking back on the hand, my reasoning and my play was absolutely perfect until I raised his river bet. Even that river raise could have been good, but I never considered that he might 3-bet me. My reason for the raise was that it might force him to fold a better Ace, but I should have thought back to preflop and realized that he would have probably capped AK or AQ, and maybe even AJ. So without much chance of him having a better hand than mine that would fold to my raise, I guess just calling would have been better. There aren't many players who would put that reraise in on a total bluff, and with that paired board and the strength I had shown, I just never imagined he would reraise bluff.

The lesson for me is obvious - be prepared. My failure to consider what I'd do if he 3bet cost me a huge pot, which was a complete disaster, and especially painful on a night like this one. If I had thought about the possibility of him 3betting, and if I had realized that he would have reraised preflop with better Aces, I would have concluded that since I'd fold to his 3bet that I should just call his river bet. God I wish I could have pulled the trigger on that river cap...

I'm not a good player, but I'm getting close.