White Belt Poker

After complaining about anti-social players a few days ago, I think it’s only fair that I mention that I actually played at a limit table last night where I had a really pleasant and funny discussion with one of the other players. He caught be pressing too hard with aces when he’d flopped a set of jacks that I didn’t give him credit for. He bet and raised just enough to convince me that he didn’t have the jacks and trapped me very skillfully, extracting as many bets as possible from me. I don’t really mind if a good player catches me like that, because there are some hands that are going to cost you money if you look to extract the best value for them.

So I said ‘nicely played’. There was some mutual respect there, probably after he’d seen me trap another player in a similar way with a flush a few hands before. He’d spotted a fellow grinder who was looking to move up, so we chatted about how tough it can be to grind away at the lower limits for a while and wished each other luck as we left the table later.

So it’s another example of how poker can be cyclical. For every obnoxious prick who wants to upset the table, there’s a someone else who’s funny and engaging.