9.2.09 Very Liberal of Me

The dealer nudged me in the arm and told me "it's on you, brainchild". I suppose I deserve things as this due to my constantly needling of the dealers at my local card room. I have become friends with many of them and they do not hesitate to take the opportunity to give some of it back.

I looked at my hole cards and saw the AQ. This is a very good starting hand, depending on your position at the table. Since I was not paying attention to the game I took a quick second to glance around and see who had bet. No one else had decided to enter the hand. I was in the small blind and everybody else had folded around to me.

Normally, in such a situation, with such a powerful hand, I would raise the big blind forcing him to either fold or commit more chips into the dead pot. He would fold here nearly every time, unless he was a kook, at which time he would call and hopefully lose his full $100 in the hand.

I took a good look at my opponent in the big blind. He had longish, almost hippy-like hair. He was wearing thick rimmed glasses with very thick lenses. I took a quick glance around at everyone else. I showed my AQ and mucked the hand pushing my two dollar small blind towards the dealer for her to take it away as the rake for this particular hand. You see, in Florida, the casinos and the state gets theirs on EVERY SINGLE HAND whether we want to play or not.

My opponent, in the big blind, commented to me that it was "very liberal" of me to give up the play of the hand like I did. Now, I don't know about any of you, but where I grew up calling someone liberal is tantamount to having sex with their mother. It may be really funny and cool, but it is certainly frowned upon by most people.

I said "Liberal"?!?!

"Well, not liberal in a negative way" he said as he sheepishly smiled at me to gauge my reaction.

I smiled back to him and as the dealer started throwing the cards to the players for the play of the next hand I added "I would consider myself more of a Libertarian. I mean, If I had to choose a party I think I would most closely align myself with the Libertarian's".

There were a few of the players who raised their heads and gazed at me, almost like they knew that was not all I was going to say on the subject. I was not there to disappoint, so on I drolled.

I dryly added "I'm the kind of guy who wants the government out of my business unless they are paving a road or training the army to defend my home". It was rather quiet after that one. I stopped talking because the play of the hand was in progress. I had folded my cards so I sat back and watched as the young kid in seat 8 snapped off the older gentleman in seat 4 as the six of spades hit the river completing the kid's flush.

Nobody was saying much and as the next hand was being dealt out I stated "I suppose they can get rid of the sewage, and maybe pick up the trash also." No one said anything. I quickly added "The government, I'm talking about."

That got a few laughs as some of them remembered what I had just been babbling about. I never said poker players were the brightest group of guys. Maybe they were all enthralled with the game at hand and wanted nothing of my political nonsense. I get that reaction a lot.

We continued to play on and I actually made a few hands and was building a nice stack. The table was fairly passive, as noted by their lack of any opinions on apparently anything except this poker game. I still tried to get them to open up a little bit.

I piped in during the deal of one of the hands "I guess we have to have universal education as well. I mean, you can't really deny someone an education just because they come from a destitute family, can you"?

Nothing.

No one said a word.

Never the defeatist I trudged onward. "I suppose we need a Police Force and Fire Department too." Still nothing. The dealer kind of looked at me and smiled. This conversation was not going anywhere.

I laughed out loud because even I was realizing how much money "my government" was spending, and the number was going higher and higher as I tacked on public services for all. "Wow! I'm spending money like a drunken sailor. I suppose that's what happens. Government just keeps tacking things on to their annual budget and before you know it the country is broke, busted, and looking for Wally to secure them a loan"!

That got a round of laughter. One guy added "That'll save us!" Wally is one of the guys who plays notoriously loose and wild poker and in the past has been known to need to borrow a few dollars here and there. He is a staple of the poker room in Jacksonville, and nearly everyone knows who he is. Finally, a reaction of some sort from these guys who were about as bland as a saltine cracker.

We continued to play on, dealer after dealer, half hour after half hour. My chip stack continued to grow and I was feeling confident again. Everything was going smoothly. I was looking forward to 6 PM so I could head for the house and start dinner for my apparently lovely family. It always amazes me how good everything can seem while I am winning at poker.

I received my second card from the dealer and looked down to see AK off suit. This is a pretty good hand. the game had loosened up during the day and I was sure someone would raise. Judging by these guy's ranges for the cards some of them raise with I was planning to re-raise with my AK and either take down some dead money or play the hand against one opponent.

No one raised. Almost everyone simply called the five dollar big blind. I think seven of us took the flop.

There should have been alarm bells going off in my head at this development. When looked at from an outside point of view it is easy to see that if I flop any kind of a hand with my AK it was most likely going to be a one pair hand. Albeit, it would be the best one pair hand, with a very powerful kicker, but one pair hands just usually do not win pots with seven players. That's just the way it is. Everyone knows it and I am far too experienced to make such an amateur mistake.

Make it I did though as the flop came out A-6-3, rainbow, meaning three separate suits. Three people checked to me and as I went to bet an Asian fellow two seats to my left throws out some money. I looked at him rather crossly and continued my bet. "Let me bet this for you" I said as I slid twenty dollars into the pot.

People bet out of turn ALL of the TIME in this poker room. Sometimes they do it to gain an edge, and sometimes they are just clueless and oblivious to what is going on around them. Usually, they are overvaluing their hand and do not want other people to play. Looking back on the situation today, and noting what ultimately happened, I see now that I was overvaluing my OWN hand.

This hand was getting away from me, and I was not happy that this very good starting hand was potentially in for a big fall. The hippy to my left called the twenty, and then the Asian went all-in for ninety-five dollars.

Everyone folded and it was back on me. I discounted the hippy's hand and assumed he would fold. Now what does the Asian have? Well, I didn't really think about it. This is problem number two with my play if this hand.

Problem one was getting into trouble when no one else raised pre-flop and I was unable to narrow or "thin" the field. Problem two was not taking enough time to realize I was beat here and needed to lay this hand down.

I did not, however, and when I called, and the hippy folded, the Asian immediately said "two pair", and I wanted to puke in my cup of now cold coffee. I did not improve and I lost a pretty good sized pot. I played this hand just like a freaking liberal. I wanted to spread the wealth, I guess.

These are the mistakes I have been making of late. They are basic. See, I have basically two rules in this poker room. One, they will not fold, so do not bluff unless I am sure it will work. Two, if they bet big they probably have the goods unless I have recently seen them bluff in a past hand.

I did not see this guy bluff in a recent past hand. In fact, I did not see this Asian do anything out of the ordinary. I should have taken a minute and figured it all out. Actually, I shouldn't have even needed a minute. This scenario was obvious, or it should have been obvious, to even the least accomplished player.

I'm sick to my stomach today and there is no Public Option medicine to cure it. When I make a mistake at work I don't get written up, and I don't get reprimanded. Usually someone will be telling me how they would have done the same thing and I just got a bit unlucky to lose that one. Yeah, right, thanks buddy. Your telling me it wasn't a bad play is NOT going to make me play this way all of the time. Nice try.

No, when I make a mistake at work it usually costs me a couple of hundred right out of my paycheck. Maybe some of you can understand how strongly I feel about those who have a cushy jobs, with tenure, their only fear is possibly having to work past their scheduled 4 PM quitting time. Some of them mentally and emotionally take years off from work but continue to get pay raises and vacations. I'd like to see them bring that attitude to my job.

I'm not bitching about my chosen profession. I'm whining about people who whine about their chosen professions. Corporate America made me hate my life, so I quit and struck out on my own. It may turn out to be a stupid move, but it was MY move.

The government can kiss my ass. Amateur hour is over. It's time, today, to make some bonus money. No more write ups and reprimands for this employee. Besides, I have tenure.

The Libertarian in me loves it.

Codsey out.