One of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies goes like this -
Frodo and his hobbit friends have returned to the Shire after a 13 month long harrowing adventure battling evil in the land of Mordor. They return mostly physically unscathed, but mentally they have been battered and bruised, some of them (Frodo) beyond repair. They have been to Mordor and seen the face of true evil and they will never be the same.
So they gather together in the Green Dragon pub, and as they sit down a rowdy bunch of hobbits enter with an enormous pumpkin. The pumpkin's presumptive owner is very proud and polishes it lustily, glaring at Frodo who gets in his way.
In the scene you can read the farmers mind - "Can't they see that this is important? This is a prize winning pumpkin after all!"
The hobbits just give a reflective smile to each other and toast their friendship. They, unlike most of the hobbits in the shire, can see the big picture. The world is a vast place, full of danger and wonder, and until you step out into it, you really have no idea.
Until you have been to the mountain top, a giant pumpkin seems really important.
It's all about perspective, and even though I have very little in the world of poker - I am a thoughtful enough person to recognize that I and most of the players in card rooms I sit down with, have no idea what it is to be a true professional in the sport.
So when, at Hollywood Park Casino, I look across at a loud mouthed grinder, who seems intent on letting the whole poker floor know that he is the table captain by God - all I actually see is a giant pumpkin.
Most of the arrogant players I've encountered are as self-important and delusional as that hobbit farmer, and have no idea how much more they have to learn about the game.
At my table in the World Series of Poker there was a bit of a chatterbox, who was maybe a four out of ten on the douche scale - who berated a player a bit who slow played his aces and got out flopped and lost his stack.
At this the chatterbox, who wasn't even in the hand, couldn't help himself and made a snide comment that actually contained the world "donk" in it. The berated player simply smiled and wished everyone else luck as he left. He then reappeared a few minutes later at the first break, up on the stage accepting his WSOP bracelet for the previous day's 10K H.O.R.S.E. event.
Fabrice Soulier, the "donkey" in question knows a pumpkin when he sees it, and he doesn't even bat an eye when it pops up at the table. I would like very much to follow his lead on this, since I see a fair amount of pumpkins at most larger events I play in.
One was the other night in the LAPC, he was seated on my left.
In small chit chat I had ascertained that he was a recreational cash game player. As a douche he was strictly minor league, maybe a 2 or 3 out of 10 - but I have to admit, his arrogance did tilt me a fair amount and probably led to my implosion on the last hand before the break.
But let's back up.
Earlier I had nearly tripled up in a three way pot, that believe it or not rattled me quite a bit.
Blinds were at 50/75 (an odd level to be sure, it gave the SB irresistable odds on every limped pot).
I was steaming from a long run of rag cards coupled with the fact that the table entire, douche included, seemed to be very passive and very soft. I knew if I got some ammo I could take control, and with only 3K chips to start with that I had already spewed off a bit, I was itching to get my 2300 stack in.
I was in middle position, utg limped, as did utg+1 to my right. I looked down at K5cc, which as we all know is a trash hand - but I rationalized a chunky three bet (from the limped 75 up to 300) because there had been very few of them so far and zero from me. Also, the players who had re-raised had taken down their pots pre-flop. That was really my plan here, though in hindsight I recognize that I didn't really have much of a plan if I got flatted.
And that's just what happened with the button, a weak female player that I had tangled with and won a pot with a bluff earlier. There are more than a few problems with my questionable re-raise, but the biggest one is that there were so many players in front of me yet to act. I'm lucky that it was only the button who stuck around.
But also, though the blinds and the utg player folded, the utg+1 called. Utg+1 was probably the biggest fish at the table, I had him pegged as a classic super passive home gamer. He was a level 1 station who had won a couple of big pots just by being stubborn and either hitting or calling off light with the best hand. He had me well covered. I covered the button by just a bit.
The flop came KK6 rainbow. Yahtzee.
I had already made up my mind, and I think I was correct, that I was never folding with this board, not in most tournaments, but certainly not in a 1000 player event for $65 with a shot at 30K in first place money. Most of all, I only have 1400 behind with roughly 1200 in the pot.
Utg+1 checked, I c-bet about 600, which of course commits me. The button, who was likely very tilted by my earlier aggression, reluctantly stuck her remaining chips in. It's what I figured she would do with a pocket pair. I wasn't worried.
Utg+1 tanked intently. Uh-oh. He has a king and for sure has me out kicked. Well that sucks, mostly because I'm never ever folding here, and only a station with no concept of pot odds would bother to Hollywood to get the rest of my chips when any decent player knows they're going in anyway.
He abruptly announced all-in, and I called fully expecting to be out kicked and hoping for a lucky run of cards to chop.
He had AK and I was all but out the door. I stood up, which I never do, and was putting on my jacket, which I also never do, when a five hit the river.
I didn't even notice that I had hit my 3 outer. He was 94% after a blank on the turn. I wasn't supposed to spike it - that would be (gasp!) like Mercier! The pot got pushed to me and I blinked in disbelief. An experienced player across from me picked right up on my bewilderment - "You won bro!"
"Oh shit." was my only response. I was now at 8500+ and well above average. I was also thoroughly rattled.
I had misplayed that hand dreadfully pre-flop, done okay afterwards, even calling off my tournament life because the numbers demanded it, but there really was no excuse for my pre-flop monkey business. And yet here I was, being hugely rewarded for bad behavior.
That's poker. I took a walk to cool off - because I was pretty mad at myself for playing so shitty and emotionally. I returned to the table, still shaking a bit, but ready to use my new found ammo to it's fullest.
So anyway - my implosion.
Instead of small balling smartly and grinding upwards, I managed to spew away much of my chips with sub-premium holdings. I even tilt-3-bet with 63os at one point, lol. I was down to 5500 and after the break we would be at 100/200 with a 25 ante. Not the worst place to be, but I was very aggravated at having bled so many chips. I had not been playing well at all.
On the last hand before the break - I defended my big blind from the minor league pumpkin on my left who raised UTG. I had KJcc. I have no problem with my call, which was for 200 more, I will defend my big blind with suited broadway cards most of the time - since with rags I relinquish it fairly frequently, I know people observe this and try to make me a target. If I have cards with decent equity I try to defend at least 1 in 4 times if I can so I don't become a magnet for bigger stacks.
Flop came low with a single club ace and another club. I checked to UTG who c-bet about a quarter of the pot.
This is another thing that had me pretty tilted on the day - an "expert" pumpkin who wanted to talk strategy with me and fancied himself God's gift to NLHE, didn't know how to bet size properly.
I called, which was a HUGE mistake. It's ship it or fold here.
He's likely got an ace or an over pair. If I shove now, he's likely to call with an ace and I'll have 9 outs, which puts me at the 40% end of a 60/40 "flip". Not great, but I could live with it. If I had been thinking clearly, I could easily rationalize a shove here.
Unfortunately I wasn't thinking very clearly; after the hand was over I erroneously concluded at the time that that my K or J or both might be good overs. If this was the case then I for sure should have shoved as he would be likely to relinquish and even if he didn't I would then be the favorite with two cards to come. This is bad reasoning - he was very likely to have an ace, and it was fairly likely, even with ginned outs, to be AK or AJ.
Anyway, I called which was terrible, and then I check raise shoved the blank turn which was also dreadful (got my money in as the 20 in an 80/20) and he snap called with a baby ace for most of his stack. A pretty bad call, but not too terrible considering my table image at that time which was that of a LAGtard on crack.
The river blanked and I was gone, he got all my chips with a naked off suit baby ace that he had raised with UTG.
He was fairly terrible - but I had let my own emotions, my own sense of importance, guide me. I had become a pumpkin on that hand.
Poker is a humbling sport for sure, but I find that lessons like these only make me better. The good news is that I am properly bankrolled these days for a $65 tournament, and I can truly look at it as a cheap price for a good learning experience.
I'm anxious to play another event that's similar in scope - you can't really do better than a 100K shot for $65. I'll have to look long and hard at the LAPC schedule, most of the remaining buy-ins are significantly higher, but if I can satellite into one of them, I think it would be well worth it.
