The Poker Pejorative

Apologies, but I don't have much to say these days.

I'm only playing VERY occasionally, when the mood strikes or when I get caught up in some televised poker that inspires me to play.

The infrequent times I've played have been very successful. I don't recall any down sessions, although some of the profits have been very slim. Well technically they have ALL been slim since I'm dealing with such a small bankroll.

But playing small stakes really makes it fun to loosen up the playing style. The 25NL cash games are really fun when you call 3x and 4x raises pre-flop with garbage (but with potential) hands. Suited Two-Gappers (the gapped tooth hooker, according to Pauly), The Waffle House (24h twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.) etc.

It's a profitable exercise because the donkeys will ALWAYS pay you off if you hit, or you build image for later if your bluff gets called. In this session I made a call on the turn with 95s (double gutted/flush draw) and connected for a straight on the river. I had shown such bad hands down and a willingness to bluff on the river that I got paid off by AQ unimproved. Yes, Ace High paid me off with his whole stack. It takes quite a bit of work to set up a player so that he will pay you off like that.

The player that's going to pay you off is usually easy to spot at the tables though. He's the one giving lessons. He's doing all the talking, telling people how they should have played hands.

I guess it's a testament to my style of play that it is almost IMPOSSIBLE for me to play at a 25NL table for more than 15 minutes without being called a poker pejorative of some kind. I always play this up to the hilt, usually with a "sorry, this is my first time playing" or "is it really rigged? Because I don't want to play a site that's rigged." Always the noob. Please tell me more. I need your help, and value your opinion.

It's always more fun when they take the bait. Logic is fun like that. Does it hurt more when they get felted by what they think is a noob? Do they google my screen name and see my blog and think "maybe he's not a noob?" Or do they see my blog and think "He really was a Donkey!"

Funny thing is, either way they're correct.