Celebrity Poker Showdown in New Orleans
I say "hang out" because whatever it was that I did there - I bought three bottles of Dom Perignon for the players at the table and sat in on the $2-$5 blind no limit Hold 'em game - I would not exactly want to call it playing poker. Sometimes, it's not easy for me to play low-limit poker and maintain my focus.
I guess I need something meaningful at stake before I bring my A game. Sitting behind mewas my CPS co-host (and former "Kids in the Hall" star) Dave Foley. I was trying to give Foley a lesson, but mostly I'd hear myself saying something like this: "You really shouldn't play the 6-3 off suit for $20, but I'm going to anyway." In other words, I was employing the strategy of playing almost every hand, which is not a good idea if you plan on staying at the table for very long. The following situation illustrates what can go wrong when you play every hand. Before the flop, a gentleman raised it to $30 to go.
I was in the blind with Q-8 off suit and decided to call $25 more. What was I thinking here? Q-8 is a pretty weak hand and the raise was pretty big. The problem with Q-8 is that even if I were to hit my queen, I could run into an opponent with A-Q or an overpair. Well, the flop was Qd-4d-4s, I checked, and my opponent bet out $50. Now I was pretty much forced into calling, since I had top pair, and my opponent could reasonably have been betting a pocket pair, like 7-7, or a flush draw, like Ad-Jd. The turn card was the 4c, making the board Q-4-4-4. At this point, I figured I was pretty much in there like a bear! I mean, it would take an overpair (K-K or A-A) to beat me. Of course, if my opponent had Q-Q or a four in his hand, like A-4, that would beat. But if he had A-Q, or any queen, I had him tied, because we would both be playing Q-Q-4-4-4. So this card pretty much sealed the deal for me. I checked, my opponent bet $140, and I asked for a chip count.
It was determined that he had another $370 left. I felt that a fold at this point couldn't be the right move, and I stand by that decision. I felt I had no choice other than to move him all-in. After all, calling this bet wasn't the right play, because if he was drawing or bluffing I didn't want to give him a chance to hit a card. For example, he may have had A-K, and calling here would have given him a shot at hitting an ace or a king.
May 9, 2006
Posted By Nancy Lenz
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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