Concentration

3 MAR 06

My concentration has been off lately. Perhaps it’s this damn cold. I’ve been playing solid Level One poker, which is to say, I really only paid attention to my hand.

Case in point – At 10/20 I have KJ in middle position and I raise. I get reraised by the cutoff. Four players see a flop of Q 10 3. With an up and down straight draw I check (see, I don’t always lead out with a drawing hand). Cutoff bets and gets four callers. As the dealer is getting ready to burn and turn, an EP player says, “Pair the board!” The cutoff stares him down as another 3 come out. EP player checks after getting what he asked for. Cutoff bets again. I call, and the loud mouth EP player folds.

River is an Ace. Sweet. I have the nut straight.

I check. Cutoff bets. I raise.

Cutoff reraises.

Shit. Review the hand. Ummm… shit. Cutoff reraised preflop.

I’m forced to call the reraise to see his full house.

So this is what Level One feels like.

I never want to feel that way again.

Fortunately, there was a donkey at my table who paid me handsomely with his AK on a board of A A 2 3 6, when I had the full house with A2. He capped the turn and was going to cap the river. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention again, and thought he called my reraise on the river. He was actually about to reraise when I showed my full house. He folded without even calling, and I lost 2 big bets.

For the night: 4 hours - four dollars profit.

Dollar an hour, baby!!

Final thought: This is from Scott Adams' Dilbert Blog.
The sentence for attempted murder should be the same as the sentence for successful murder. Otherwise we’re just rewarding incompetence.