Tommy Angelo

Just about everything Tommy Angelo posts on 2+2 is pure gold. He writes as if he has a secret that nobody knows. Here's his latest:

Artichoke Joe's NLHE. Folding is extra easy in this game for me because it is so much fun to watch.

The cast:

Player A, a regular who exerts Olympian discipline when he is ahead, sitting for hours without changing mood or stack size. If he takes a big beat that sets off his sense of injustice, he routinely flairs up his chips at the next reasonable opportunity. All regulars know that he does this.

Player B, not a regular. He is a poker player who rarely frowns and who enjoys full gambling pleasure as he routinely and enthusiastically accepts long odds allin headsup as bettor/raiser or caller.

Player C, a regular who doesn't do very well in this story.

Player C took a break. When Player C left the table, Player A was into the game for $2,000 and he had $3,000 on the table, and player B was into the game for $6,000 and he had $3,000 on the table. Player B had given indications of quitting soon, but Player A had not seen them. Player B was playing tight, but wound tight. He was ready to accept his current status of -$3,000 as his final tally for the day, but he was also ready to get even, or even stucker.

While Player C was gone, Players A and B played an allin pot. The money went in on the turn, when Player A had the best hand. Player B had five outs and he got there on the river. So now Player A had no money on the table and no faith in justice. Player B had $6,000 on the table and he was looking around for empty racks. Player A, pissed, bought $6,000 in chips. (Cash does not play.) Two hands later, Player C quit. Player A was exploding inside. He folded the next couple hands and I watched his bits fall back to earth and collect themselves. By the time Player C came back to the table, Player A looked fine at first glance, sitting behind his 6K stack, arranged in his usual way. But he was still plenty scattered inside.

Player C sat down and he saw that Player B was gone, and the usual question came to his mind which is, What happened? Did Player B leave with chips? The answer can usually be found without asking, by looking at stack sizes, and listening to the occasional after-murmurs that take place anytime anyone quits. This time there were no murmurs for him to go on, but he didn't need any. Because Player A’s stack had gone from $3000 to $6,000, Player C drew the obvious yet wrong conclusion that Player A had busted Player B, when actually it was the other way around. The next obvious yet wrong conclusion that Player C drew was that Player A would be locked down extra tight, when actually Player A was likely to head into one his little furies if the cards gave him a nudge.

Player C was into the game for $5,000 and he had $5,000 on the table. He took the big blind and he got pocket twos. One player limped UTG for $20. All the others folded to Player A on the button. Player A made it $200. To Player C, this meant Player A had a big pair. Not ace-king, not a medium or small pair, and not suited connectors. It isn’t merely decent poker for Player C to put Player A on a big pair here and not budge from that read. It would be impossible poker for him to do otherwise. It would be like you going all-in UTG on the first hand of the WSOP, and everyone at the table thinking to themselves, yeah, he must have 7-2 offsuit. That’s how wrong it would be for Player C to put Player A on anything but a big pair here, not because of this raise he made on this hand, but because of a dozen years of other raises just like it, never without a big pair, except maybe just maybe during one of his little tilt spasms, which this obviously wasn’t one.

Player C called the preflop raise, and the limper folded.

The flop came 3-4-5 rainbow.

Player C checked and Player A bet $300. Player C called.

The turn was an ace.

Player C checked and player A bet $500. Player C made it $1000. Player A moved allin, a raise of $3000 more. Player C called instantly and turned over his low straight, expecting Player A to show pocket aces. Player C might have even been thinking that he had tilt odds on this hand all the way from before the flop, that if he could crack Player A real good on a hand, that Player A might steam off some chips in the afterbath. Just one problem. Player A’s tilt was not starting. It was ending. He rolled 67 for the unbeatable untieable.


Tommy