Tale of a Struggling Friend (LC)

[jk3a]

I have a friend who I play poker with at the casino from time to time. Lately his results have been very good in the 2/5nl game and his interest for poker has increased. He said to me last week that he's interested in starting to play online since I do. Last night we were at dinner with some of our friends and he made the following comments.

I asked him how is online experience had been, and he responded with he can't beat the game because he can't "read" anybody. I tried to keep a straight face and explained to him that he just hasn't learned how to read hands yet, but it will come. He responded with, "Yeah, I guess so, I can read people, but not cards." Again, I almost lost it. Later that night, I met him at the casino.

I ask him to tell about some hands online that he struggled with because he couldn't get any reads. He gave the following example. 9 handed 100nl on STARS. He coldcalls a middle position raise with QJs. Flop comes J42r. Villain bets, he raises, villain calls. Turn J. Villain bets, he raises, villain calls. River x. Villain checks, he checks. Villain's AJ is good. He tells me he could've folded that live. The hilarity ensues.

He sits on my direct left during the live game we're playing. One drunken station limps, I raise from BTN with god knows what to isolate, he calls from the SB, BB calls as well. Flop A98 w/ club draw. He leads out for $25 into about $85. BB calls, giant station btw. She's taking A2o to showdown for sure here. Turn K completing flush draw. He leads $50 into $135, she calls, River K. He bets $100 into $235. I start to think sweet he must have a big hand, I know he's gonna get paid off here. BB minraises and I become more excited because they still have several hundred behind and I know he's gonna get it. He turns to me frustrated, lifts his cards up and mucks QQ face up. I almost fell out of my chair.

I later ask him if he was bluffing, and his response was: "I had two queens." Later on the drunken station at the table goes all-in for his last $20 or so. My friend calls as does a limper. Flop AA6. Check, check. Turn 2. Limper bets $25, my friend quickly makes it $100. Limper folds. Drunk has AQ and my friend mucks 99 after the river bricks. He turns to the limper and says, "Did you fold an ACE!." The entire table laughs.

I can't help but inquire about his decision. Were you bluffing I say? He says that he figured he had the best hand. I say right, but why did you raise. He says, "I don't know, why would you not raise." I told him that generally only better hands will call and worse hands will fold.

He says to me, "Good point, I think I'm not really understanding the little stuff yet."

[SpecT]

i liked this story

wat a noob

[MortenTA]

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i liked this story


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[Unknown Soldier]

live poker is easy

[aislephive]

Pretty much everybody that I grew up with that I played poker with is just really bad at poker. They don't know why they do what they do, they just do it.

Poker is a ton about intuition which really can't be taught. I mean it can to a degree, but a lot of stuff you just have to "get" relatively easily. When I look at hands on 2p2, I almost always understand somebody's thought process for why they did what they did even if I don't agree with it.

I try to go back to when I first started playing poker and remember if I was really bad. All I can remember is the 2003 wsop and thinking that all of the pros at the final table were amazing. Now I can't even barely watch poker on TV because the play is so bad it drives me nuts.

[Unknown Soldier]

I'm exactly the same AP. i remember being sooo impressed at some of the "expert plays" (really bad bluffs that happened to work at the time), and hellmuth "dodging bullets" haha


intuition gets you to another level, but w/o the game theory approach to the game, intuition won't get you too far; elezra playing nlhe is a good example.

[Fletcher19]

haha good story

i love the old 'i can read people but i can't do that online' statement

[Nielsio]

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Lately his results have been very good in the 2/5nl game

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Given the hands that you described, this baffles me.

[Kermit]

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Lately his results have been very good in the 2/5nl game

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Given the hands that you described, this baffles me.

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ever play live 2/5?

[rakes.a.beach]

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He says to me, "Good point, I think I'm not really understanding the little stuff yet."

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nice.