Poker Night 186: When Smooth Becomes Bumpy

When poker players on TV talk about "limping" into a hand, they sometimes mean it as a fake-out -- entering quietly with a big hand. We tried that approach at Lil Kim's Cove tonight, and found it isn't always easy....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: Q-Q

We've barely played any hands all evening, and hold about 5,100 chips. We could raise to suggest our hand is big, but we hope to get a lot of players into a big pot. So we "smooth call," and three players join in.

ON THE FLOP: 8-A-5

We didn't want to see that Ace. But we're virtually on the button, and have the advantage of seeing what everyone else does. They check, so we bet 500. Two players call.

ON THE TURN: 3

The players in front of us check -- and we're concerned one of them might be hiding an Ace for a higher pair. This time we check.

ON THE RIVER: 5

A man across from us bets 1,000. A man to our right calls. Now we're perplexed -- and fear the Ace isn't really the issue. Or are they both stabbing at a nice pot?

"I may regret this," we say, "but I'll call."

We show our Queens -- and indeed, two pair isn't good enough. Our opponents both have K-5, and three of a kind lets them split the pot.

"You didn't bet on the flop?!" an observer wonders. One of the opponents notes we did after the flop, but not before. Perhaps we should have raised in the first place, even if it meant smaller gains.

We won a couple of pots during the evening, but enough to last far beyond the one-hour break. A push with A-7 led to our being eliminated in 22nd place, to a man whose K-2 turned into a full house.

MINISTRY MOMENT: "I'm a good person," a man to our left said to the table between hands. "I don't lie. I don't steal."

"You don't lie?!" we answered quietly.

"Nope."

We knew better -- having seen the man talk about "hitting the flop" and "having an Ace" a few hands earlier, when he really only held J-10.

"I think you did a few hands ago," we said. Nothing more came of the conversation -- but what do you think about someone who lies about lying? We'll offer our thoughts in an upcoming post.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 77 final tables in 186 nights (41.4%) - 15 cashes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF POKER TOTAL: One-table sit-n-goes - 6-10-6-3-2. Full tournaments - 68 point wins in 371 games (18.3%), 29 final tables, 1 cash.

POKER STARS.NET TOTAL: Full tournaments - 1 "point win" in 6 games (16.7%). Pretend cash games - $13,069, up $2,360.

We're counting our 83rd place finish in a 10,000 player freeroll as a point win, because we ranked in the top one percent -- much less ten percent. And the big cash gain came last Friday, when we went heads-up against a "serial pusher," and doubled up numerous times.