Doyle's Advice
Had grown tired of NLHE and decided to play Razz poker for a while. I started at the minimum limits but quickly worked up 3 levels and took my BR from about $20 to over $400 in literally two weeks and was playing $1/$2 regularly with an 80% winning session ratio or better. One day I noticed Chris "Jesus" Ferguson at the $8/$16 table and saw all the fish that swarmed to play with him just for a story. This was completely way over my BR at the time but I thought, what the heck, I'm crushing the lower games, why not give it a stab? I plunk down $320 out of my $400 BR in one shot. My hands are shaking so badly from the thought of losing my entire bank roll that I am having trouble clicking the right buttons. I play tight, watch a bit and get involved only with 7 high or better hands for a while.
Then, I calm down and start to realize, I can play with these folks. And the worst that can happen is I would end up with about 3-4 times what my BR was only 2 weeks ago if I go bust so I start mixing it up a bit. I look like a gambler but really am mostly only playing good cards but I'm not getting any action on my good hands. Then, a big hand comes up between "Jesus" and myself. I look at the table and "Jesus" and I are showing a 5 in the door while nothing better than a T is showing on the rest of the table. The problem is, I have a 7Q in the hole so I only limp in and do not complete the bring in. It goes around the table and everyone else limps until Chris raises with a completion. It folds around to me and I call thinking I might be able to move him off the hand if I can draw to the 7 and he hits a brick or 2. 4th gives Chris an 8 and I get a 4. He's got 4 to an 8 high but I start thinking, I could beat him with my 3 to a 7. I bet and Chris calls. 5th street brings me a 7 and Chris a K. Now, I know I paired that 7 and am hiding a brick in the hole but it really looks like I have at least 4 to a 7 if not already a made 7 and Chris is looking weaker and weaker so I bet again with Chris smooth calling again. 6th street brings me a K this time and Chris a deuce. Again, I bet and he calls. He's showing 3 to an 8 and I'm showing 3 to a 7. I'm wondering if Chris will credit me for the 7 and lay down if I bet on the river. I catch an 8 which really doesn't help considering I'm hiding a Q, and a second 7 and showing a K but I decide to see if I can move Chris off the hand. I bet out. He thinks a while then finally makes the call and I have to show my Q high while Chris takes the pot with an 86, just about what I figured he'd have. It’s a fairly large pot but with no raises was not a monster and I lost about $70 on that hand.
Everyone at the table is flabbergasted at my bluff attempt. "Why are you trying to bluff a millionaire? That's Chris Ferguson!" I hear amongst other less flattering comments. I say "Oh well, I had to try once. (LOL) It's just a game." Now that hand might sound crazy but Chris had no way of knowing I didn't have anything and I looked like I could easily have the 7 high so I didn't think of it as a completely idiotic move and had other motivations from Doyle's advice in Super System as well considering the stakes and how tight the table was. Clearly even Chris was not sure as he never raised with his made 8.
3 hands later, I get dealt A25 with the 2 in the door. Everyone but one player was showing a 7 or better as well and this starts looking interesting to me. This time I complete and get 2 callers both showing 7 or better. 4th brings me a Q and the other a 9 and J. The 9 bets, the J folds and I call. 5th street is kind to me and gives me a 3 leaving me with 4 to a 5 while giving my opponent a T (showing 79T). He bets the $16 and I raise to $32 and he calls. Now the pot is getting juicy. 6th street brings a 4 and I catch my wheel, the nuts, while my opponent catches an A to improve a bad hand and still give him the possibility to draw to the 7 on the river but with 79TA showing, everyone at the table can clearly see he is dead. He checks, I bet, he calls. The pot is getting quite large now and I put my last $16 in the pot after the river and again, he just calls. I got my entire stack (except for 50 cents) into the middle of the pot with the nuts and had 2 callers briefly and 1 all the way to the end. I flip up the 5 high and collect the almost $200 pot and now my stack is well over what I had before I tried to make the move on the river with "Jesus" 3 hands earlier.
As I mentioned, the reasons for the move on Chris was really two fold. I might have gotten him to fold his 8 and I did have a draw to a 7 for at least a little while. But, I really needed to loosen the table up some, and having me trying badly to bluff the 2000 WSOP® champion had tarnished my image so badly I could raise and still get called all the way down and get paid off big when I did hit a good poker hand.
The table is stunned and gets really quite while the next few hands are dealt and after a long pause I finally type in, "According to the immortal words of Doyle, 'Ya gotta give some action to get some', right boys?" From then on, nobody knew what to think of me. I could steal with impunity and got paid off with my real hands and finally walked away a few bucks up from when I sat down which was a huge accomplishment for me considering I could barely afford the buy in at all! That was some of the best advice I got out of Super System and I'd like to think even Doyle would have been proud.
Meeply
