Old West and Poker
The Old West and Poker
Bill Carson walked into the saloon. There was a quiet, humble air about him. To look at him you wouldn’t know there was also a strong confidence in him too. He walked over to the bar and ordered a glass of water. The bartender gave him a puzzled look and set a glass down in front of him, keeping a hold of the glass while saying “that’ll be 5 cents partner”. Carson paid him and fixed his tea.
Some cowboys were making fun of his tea, but Carson ignored them, enjoying. Carson lived perfectly in the moment. While playing poker, don’t be concerned about distractions, be only focused on this hand, this moment. Loud, noisy, mouthy players are often the worst, beware the quiet Gary Cooper types. Loud players are often big bluffers and loose. Quiet players are often solid, slow players.
Some drunk cowboy was trying to pick on Carson and rile him, even pulled his 6 shooter and stuck it in his face. Carson, not stupid, ignored him. You’re not catching good cards, it seems others are getting good hands and winning pots, getting a lot of action and increasing their chips. Ignore them, you’re waiting for good situations as well as good cards, be patient, your time will come.
The drunk cowboy slapped a soiled dove and kicked over the wash bucket, still bullying everyone around. Carson ha had enough. Absorbed in his own ego, the cowboy had then started to punch Carson. Carson was ready for this. You’ve noticed the limpers and who raises 3x BB. UTG had raised it up 3x, and 2 others called, it was now a sizable pot, you finally caught QQ on the cutoff seat, and raised the pot 2.5x. UTG folded as did one of the limpers, the last limper called with his AK.
Carson redirected the cowboy’s punch, at the same time stealing the cowboy’s pistol and using leverage, threw the cowboy through the glass plate window. The flop came AKQ, limper quickly checked, setting his trap, you bet it 1/2 pot, limper with his high 2 pair thinking you’re weak, so pleased with himself and his little trap, reraises all in, not thinking about the possible made straight or set.
You think if he had a made straight he’d smooth call, if he had a higher set, he would have reraised preflop, so quickly call, turn and river of no importance. You double up, and have won 80% of your starting bankroll and decide to quit. Patience and being in the present paid off. Often quit after a big hand or a couple big hands. Most people after a good run will keep playing and lose it all back, feeling invincible and getting looser without realizing it.
Carson finished his tea. Don’t think about how past hands turned out, play every hand like it should be played, don’t worry about the outcome or concern yourself with winning the hand, just play it like it should be played and the winning will take care of itself. Money lost with someone rivering you for a suckout is just a loan and it will come back with interest if you keep playing your hands like they should be played.
Have the attitude of nor caring about winning or losing a hand; just so long as you play it correctly, be satisfied with a pretty good win, especially when you’ve been playing for a long time and need a break. Better a small win than a big loss.
Tags: big bluffers, higher set, limpers, made straight, pair of queens, reraise, trapping, UTG
April 5th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
It is fun the way you wrote this poker tip while mixing it up with stories from the Old west, I love it. A change from the regular dry poker blogs.