The Moron Raise

I have been really killing the $25 PLHE game at PokerNow. I played until 5am Sunday morning just because I couldn't leave a good table. I even ventured into NLHE land when I found a table that was just too irresistable. I played for about an hour yesterday and had one of my favorite moments. I have 33 in a blind, maybe even the big blind. EP raises .50 to $1. This, as everyone knows, is my favorite raise. It is one of the dumbest moves in poker, yet you see it hundreds of times a day. I call it "The Moron Raise."

On a side note, I googled myself and I am quoted in SEVERAL blogs saying "min raises make baby jesus cry." I forget who I stole that from, probably Otis or Pauly, but THANK YOU THANK YOU. I have NEVER EVER gotten a response when I say it at a normal ring game. I can just picture the quizzical looks on their faces when they see it. "What's a min raise?" or "Wha? Baby Jesus?" Iggy does it at the blogger table SPECIFICALLY to annoy me.

Anywho...Of course a trey flops in a rainbow, J73. So I am in a WONDERFUL position. Ordinarily this would be a tough play out of position like that. But Mr. min raiser has alerted me to the fact of his hand strength, without getting anything for it, like ANYONE folding. So of course I check. Normally I am not a person to slow play such a small set, but I figure braniac will do all the dirty work for me. He bets out, and gets one caller, plus me. The deuce on the turn matches a club, but makes a straight unlikely. He bets even larger. It works on the other guy, but I'm stayin. River is an offsuit nine. So unless he raised in bad position with 8-10 or JJ, I'm looking pretty good. Nobody raises with 8-10, and .50 would be EVEN STUPIDER (if that's possible) with JJ. He goes all in, I call and take down his AJ with my set of treys.

This got me even from when I got beaten by some guy that called my AQo pre-flop max raise with 8-10 and called my all-in bluff when the flop came 855. Rebuy! I made a DUMB comment after the hand when I said "What a Joke" and some player, not the guy who called, said "He had you beat the whole way." I said "Really?" and he said "Well, since the flop." HE had limped in front of my raise, and dropped pre-flop, so I asked him if he calls pre-flop raises with 8-10, and he said "when the time is right." He wouldn't tell me what he limped with and dropped, but suspect it was BETTER than 8-10.

So I played for a while longer and was down $1.85 when I told Mrs. Bogey I was quitting in 10 minutes after I steal some blinds to get back to even. I never actually tried to steal them, but wow it's tempting when all you need is a couple of bucks to get back to even, isn't it? Instead I won a $70 pot.

I held AQh in the small blind, and someone made that fuckwit $.50 raise again. I called the $.75 and hoped I wouldn't regret the slow play. I'd have re-raised if I wasn't suited, but I didn't want to negate the possibility of a big hand. There were a lot of players, and I didn't think a pair of queens or aces with a big kicker was going to win this. The flop came a hope inspiring 8c9hJh, two hearts. I checked and it checked around. The BEAUTIFUL King of hearts came on the turn. I checked my nut hand and the big blind bet $2. I was glad to see someone building the pot. Two people called before me, and I just called. The river was a 7c. Perfect. I still have the nut. I checked, and to my horror the big blind checked. Had I missed a bet? Player three checked and I thought I was doomed. Luckily, the button bet $5. I raised that to $20, and EVERYONE called! BB had 45h, CO had KJ (there's my fuckwit,) and button had QT.

That .50 raise was perfect for me. It wasn't enough to get the BB to fold 45s, and kept QT in on the button. Had he raised more aggresively pre-flop, I would have won a lot less money. He might have even bet his pair of jacks aggresively if he were heads up against me, making it much harder for me to draw my flush.

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Sunday I was looking at my monthly stats in Poker Tracker and saw that my VP$IP was around 35. That's a REALLY high number for me and NL. I was trying to figure out how I had gotten so loose when some player at the table called me a "nut hugger." I'm sure he meant it as an insult, but it made me laugh. No. 1, it came at the perfect time because I thought I was playing too loose. No. 2, it's FUNNY AS HELL. I AM a "nut hugger!" So what? That doesn't mean I can't play looser when I feel like I need to. I just DON'T when I playing at tables with guys who HATE "nut huggers!" Because they tend to be laggy, which is good for both my bankroll and my rake rebate. I can't tell you how many $200 pots I have seen at $25 PLHE tables lately. It actually THROWS OFF my poker tracker rake stats, because it takes 5% of the rake and doesn't account for the max rake of $3. But I'll take my share of the $3 rake without even contributing to the pot, thank you very much.

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I ordered some card protectors from www.holdemmarkers.com and from www.pokercoin.com. They look pretty cool on their websites, and I am starting to build up a collection of card protectors. I kinda like trinkets, especially ones that have a use, no matter how obscure. I will review them when they arrive.