Worst play ever

I think I saw the worst play ever on a table at TGC this weekend. I was barely in the hand, I can't even remember what I held, probably low suited connectors or something.

The flop was AKJ of hearts. The betting is pretty stiff, I folded quickly. The turn was the 3 of hearts. More betting, three players left. Last position is a player named 11maniak, but he was playing pretty calmly. The river was the 10h. Player one checks, player two bets $1 into a $20 pot and 11maniak, who just called on the turn, calls. Player one folds.

11maniak turns over the q of hearts to take the pot with A ROYAL FLUSH. I can almost understand the call on the turn, since he had the nut flush and wanted to keep as many players in as possible. But not raising in position with a RF? The only explanation I can come up with is that he didn't realize he held the RF. When I asked him in chat why he didn't bet that hand, he never responded. Either he had chat off, was ignoring me or doesn't know how to work a keyboard.

Anyway, that's the level of competition you can expect at The Gaming Club.

Another example. QQ (death hand) in early position. I raise the max (PLHE) and get three callers (!) flop is a jack high rainbow. I bet the max again, and all three call. Now I am worried about someone flopping trip Jacks. The turn alleviates those worries when the Queen of Spades falls. It's the second spade though, so I bet the pot to try and get any of the ZILLION TGC flush chasers out. One caller. River spade and I check to the one player left, who puts me all in. I call to see his 84 of spades. $35 chasing runner runner spades, 8 high. Two hands later someone catches a card on him, and he complains "You're lucky." What?!?!

I did have a wonderful freeroll on Sunday. Wonderful fun, even though I didn't finish in the money. I held 88 and made a moderate raise, called by a player named AApocketAA. Now, you might not have noticed, but anyone that has a "pokery" type of nickname in a poker room is generally a bad player. The flop was K of spades 57 of hearts. I call a small bet and the turn is a 6 of hearts. One of my eights is a heart, so I have an open ended SF draw. AApocketAA makes a big bet, and I call. An offsuit 9 comes and I bet big. AApocketAA calls, shows his KQo and says "nice catch."

Nice catch? "Good play you mean." He says "No, you got lucky." I said "Count my outs."

He didn't even know what I meant by "count my outs." An open ended SF draw is more likely to make a straight, a flush or a straight flush than it is to miss. Calling with an open ended SF draw is an AUTOMATIC move. But AApocketAA wouldn't hear of it.

I folded a lot of hands in a row after that. I even got the hammer twice. I commented that I kept getting the hammer, and one player asked me what the hammer was. I said "Doyle," I refused to call him AApocketAA because that's such a gay name and he was obviously an expert at Texas Dolly's level, "explain to WarEagle what the hammer is." His expert reply? "A hammer is what you use to drive nails into doors."

After much humiliation like this, I finally play a hand. 89s on my big blind. Doyle raises, just because it is my BB and he sees me playing tight. He wants to steal. I like playing 89s so calling the raise is easy, especially because he only riased to 600 and my stack is around 3,400. Doyle is sitting with 3,200. The flop has two spades, which is fortunate, because my 89 are spades. One of them is a King, which is also fortunate, because Doyle has a king. I check, and Doyle bets another 600. Easy chase, considering the implied odds. The implied odds are increased by the fact that Doyle DESPERATELY wants to beat me. The turn is my flush card, and I check again. Doyle goes all in. I call and knock him out. "BTW WarEagle, the hammer is a 72."