Ask Clonie

The other night I was playing in a wildly loose and aggressive $2-$5 NL Hold’em game. With a bit more than $2,000 in front of me, I was actually one of the smaller stacks on the table. Yeah, the game was that good.

Anyway, I was in middle position when I picked up the J-Q of hearts, one of my all-time favorite hands. The under-the-gun player raised it to $40, the next player folded, the player to my right then reraised it to $100. I thought for a moment and, really liking my hand (I know, I know, J-Q suited is not THAT great but...), I called. It was then folded around to the button, who reraised it yet again, to $250. The original raiser, Mr. Under-the-Gun, folded. Action was now on the first reraiser. He called the $250 lickety-split. My turn. Now, I’m already in for $100, I have position over one of the two players, and I’m reasonably confident I have the worst hand. But I called anyway.

The flop was a thing of beauty... A-K-10, rainbow with one heart. I flopped the nut straight with a backdoor (okay wayyyy backdoor) royal flush draw. The player to my right immediately pushed all in (around $4k). I, of course, called. So did the button (also in the realm of $4K). The player on my right flipped over two kings, but scowled when the button flipped off pocket aces. All eyes turned to me and I sheepishly revealed my hand. I got strange looks from everyone, most notably the players with the aces and kings. When rags hit the turn and river, and the board didn’t pair, and I tripled up, their odd looks turned to rude comments. They called me everything from fish to donkey to some other names you probably won’t print.

In a wildly loose and aggressive game, playing tight aggressive is your best strategy. You did a common thing that most players do: Since it is a loose aggressive game you figure you should gamble it up, too. You know that you shouldn’t play Q-J suited from middle position to a UTG raiser. Even if it is your favorite hand. It is pretty, it is suited and two face cards, and if you haven’t seen a good hand for a bit, it starts to look even better, ‘cause you remember that one time three years ago when you won a monster pot with it. But you have forgotten all the times that you have lost big pots with it because you flopped a jack, and didn’t get away from it. When a player enters from early position, he is saying,” I can stand a raise.” The Q-J can’t stand a raise, which is why it is considered a late position hand.

I really don’t like your call of the 100, because of your position; but after you fell in love with the hand enough to call the 100, when it is raised to 250, and the first guy calls and doesn’t reraise with the K-K, then your call is actually correct if it cost you 150 more and there is 650 in the pot. The kings are in worse shape than you are. You are taking the worst of it, but you are sure where they are both at, and I am assuming that you aren’t going to go broke with top pair if a queen hit with all that pre-flop action. On the flop you got it in with the best of it, and that is the key to winning poker. The guy with the A-A is the one who made the biggest mistake here, because his raise wasn’t big enough to get you out.

The key to winning poker is making correct decisions. The correct decision here would have been to fold the Q-J in middle position to the UTG raiser, but the other decisions you made in the hand were right on.

I wouldn’t worry about what the other players were calling you, it is dumb that they would do that. If I had been the person with the aces or the kings, I would have just said good hand, and gone on to the next hand, because I wouldn’t want to do anything to change the way you were playing. I want my money back and if I scream at you for taking a hand that has a 16% chance of winning, when I am a 66% or 70% favorite, what kind of an idiot would I be?

The guy with the aces then posed a serious question: “What did you put us on when we raised?” I said, in all honesty, that I knew I was probably beat; but I figured if I got lucky and hit my hand, judging by the action of the game, I’d probably get paid. This response brought more donkey comments, whereby I simply began racking my chips, elated with my win (I only bought into the game for $800!).

So, here are my questions:

1) Am I that big of a donkey calling the $250 pre-flop with Q-J suited, after I already had $100 invested? No

2) Was I a donkey to begin with, calling the $100? Yes

3) If I told you I drove a Ferrari, what are the odds (implied or otherwise) of taking you out for cocktails? The odds are about one in a million that I would go out with a guy who tells me he has a Ferrari to get my attention.

4) If I check-raised by showing you the keys to that Ferrari, do those odds change in any way? No, but I do like that you gave me a poker question first then lead into this whole get-adate thing; sounds like you are a good-hearted funny guy.

5) If you’re currently involved with someone, and since the Ferrari only has two seats, and I spring for a limo, thereby allowing you to bring your significant other along (if there is someone), what are the odds of dropping him off somewhere else? If I had a significant other, then the odds of me dumping him for a guy in a Ferrari or someone who would spring for a limo, there wouldn’t be odds, because it just wouldn’t happen.

Obviously, I’d love to know the answers to all my questions, but if I’ve overstepped your boundaries, I’ll gladly settle for just the pokerrelated ones. Thanks for your help in advance. Sincerely, Jackson Kincade