threw a night of "serious" poker to the wind last night...and went and played a home game with a good friend's cronies, whom i dont know. interesting to say the least. the only guy who had any experience was on my left, with a call station like i've never seen to his left. my friend, then a guy with little experience, and another call station to my immediate right.

table looks like: ME, semi-aggro, caller, chaser (my friend...lol), fish, caller.

needless to say, i have the passives on my right, and the aggro on my left...not the best seat in the house...lol. but, even the aggro was so bad, i figure i am BY FAR the best player in the room.

strategy: play tight, no Fing around with anybody, especially in big pots. it became clear after 5 hands that these guys had NO concept of pot odds to draw, what was a strong hand (calling with any pair), or what to even start with...i was in for some kind of night, and knew that there was a high probability that i need to become a "regular" in this ring to make money...one night certainly was not going to do it.

i proved myself right, too.

i got a couple playable hands (AQo was the strongest i saw all night), was treading water with my stack, and just watching the chips fly back and forth...waiting for an opportunity.

for some reason, i decide to play Q4s from UTG+1, and call behind UTG (caller) that open-limped. aggro folds, and the rest call. flop is Q 4 T rainbow...i bet, get called by the caller on my left...the rest fold. the turn was the other T, counterfeiting my damned 4!! oh well, i give up the hand, and check...call station bets out 2X the POT!!!. i figure i will show my hand to let them know i will fold a hand when the scare cards come...as these guys are soooo bad, they wont see the opportunity to bluff, this will just earn free cards. the caller shows, J5o, for a total bluff. we all laugh, and i know now that this guy can bluff and not care.

another hand...i have KTs and raise pf...no more free cards to anyone if i have something decent. flop comes A A Q rainbow, and a couple of us check...call station/bluffer is in this hand, too...(i know..shocker). i figure to be good with the K high and gutshot on a scary board, but want to see the turn before i fire just to see if a spade falls giving me more outs...remember caller isnt going anywhere to any bet. turn brings 9h...he checks, bet small, he only calls...now i KNOW i'm good with K-high, and i have any K, T, J to make the hand even stronger...10 outs. river falls blank, and i bet bigger, he FOLDS!! i was surprised. he must have had total donkey shit.

last hand of night...for me... i was getting coolered, and took a couple smallish pot bad beats on the river. blinds were going up fast...as no one knew how to arrange the structure. i get JTs UTG, and actually forgot to realize that the blinds just went up on me...i have enough to see a flop at the last round's blinds, but when they doubled, it was time to push. so, when someone said i was only half in...i said, "well, then, i push all-in...how y'all like that?" (figuring it would confuse the hell out of them.) aggro to my left calls my push (which is what i wanted because i figure the other call station calls, and that forces my friend in with great odds...easy chance to quad up). nope, the callers fold leaving me with aggro...but the decisions are done, as the chips are in. he flips up 9To!!! i have him dominated like AK over AQ. i was thrilled to see that crap. flop hits T...so i feel very good about that and i start saying, "no 9...no 9..." the rest of the table wants to see the 9, obv. and they do...ON THE FUCKING RIVER!!! ouch...i'm gone just like that. if that hand holds, like i should, i double through a deeper stack, and am in serious business for the rest of the way, but oh well, poker gods laughed in my face and completed the 3-outer at my expense.

online poker is RIGGED, my ass...home games are...lol.

heres how i know i was the better player...that didnt even phase me. i didnt feel my heart rate jump or anything...i felt no anger whatsoever...i felt no need to berate the call of 9To (which wasnt bad given his stack and 2 loose players behind him)...nothing.

however, they went apeshit. saying, how does that not bother you? and, i've never actually seen such a beat live before. or, i'm sooooo pissed for you. etc, etc.

those used to put me on tilt, but all i could say to myself was, "should have played online tonight, and made that money instead of donking it up in a room full of chumps."

but, i want to start a cash game with these guys next month...and i'll BUY THE BEER!!!

thanks for listening, if you read the whole thing.