Posts tagged easy money

This post was going to start with me fum­ing on the car ride home after a dis­mal night at the casino.  But after a lit­tle reflec­tion, I real­ized the bad night wasn’t the point, it was my bad thinking.

It started with me sit­ting at a $100 NLH game. There was this drunk guy, so drunk the dealer had to help him count his chips drunk. He was sit­ting in front of a pile of chips and rais­ing every, and I mean every, hand.  It looked like easy money.  In a pro­nounced slur, he would tell any­body who lis­tened that he had racked up over a $1000 in less than half an hour.

It was obvi­ous this guy wasn’t walk­ing out of the casino with one dime of this money.  I fig­ured, why not be a pal and help him part with it.  Why wait for a great hand? This guy’s drunk, why not help myself?

I pick up a very mar­ginal hand. It’s an insta-fold against any­one but this guy. He raises and I’m happy to get it all in.  He’s happy to call.

I have him dom­i­nated.  He catches.  Re-buy. No big deal.

Soon, I’m against him heads up again.  He puts in his auto-raise.   Once again, I fig­ure I’m ahead and I call.  Turns out I’m right again, but moments later,  I’m out another buy-in.

This hap­pens a few more times.

Get­ting the pic­ture?  Of course you do. At first glance, I was out­raged I wasn’t win­ning.  But then I started think­ing about it.  I may have known where I was, but truth­fully I was barely ahead. At best, no more than 70/30.

I never con­sid­ered there was a good chance I could lose four times in a row.  In my excite­ment to take down the King of Coro­nas, I didn’t fac­tor in the grim real­ity:  he had the chips to weather the storm and I didn’t.

Big mis­take.

So now I real­ize that I didn’t even play poker that night.  I gam­bled on a few expen­sive coin flips.

And from now on, that’s not why I play poker.

Why do you play? Let me know at stories@whydoiplaypoker.net