Poker - "You never call that bet."

This evening, I'm going back to Dave's poker game in Buena Park. It's a fun game - I like those guys. They're good people, and pretty good poker players. They realized very quickly that they don't play like I do. "Captain Tight-ass", they call me. They are astounded when I fold my small blind, rather than call the minimum bet with just the big blind left to act. Naturally, I think I play just enough hands, and that they are way too generous when it comes to calling bets and raises.

Our last session could possibly have been a breakthrough for me. It was just 4 of us on Sunday, which is usually a tournament. They talked me into playing a cash game instead. Over the last two months, I have been "in the money" in 7 out of 11 tourneys, but my cash in/out ledger for cash games is in the red. In addition to that, I know that my tight-but-aggressive style is best suited to larger tables. In a table of 9, you need to be very selective in your starting hands. At a table of 4, you'll be waiting all night for good hands if you keep the same selection criteria. Two strikes against me - cash game and small table.

On Sunday, I was facing Dave, Tommy and Kida. Dave is the biggest bluffer of the group. If he's the preflop raiser, he'll throw some chips out there every betting round with no hand at all. It can get costly to call Dave all the way down if you're wrong. Tommy is the wild card. I love playing against him, as he will call bets and raises even when only a few cards in the deck will help him. I never fear when he's got a big stack of chips in front of him. Patience and smart play whittle him down. Kida, on the other hand, is probably the most dangerous player in the whole Buena Park crew. He is not afraid to raise anybody, sometimes without a hand to back up his aggression. He has no fear when he's on chip lead. He also knows I will fold if I think I'm the underdog. During one memorable session, he would not call my preflop raises. He would fold, or reraise me. After a few of these, I was a little disconcerted, and he kept doing it for the duration. After some thought, I realized I will have to go back over the top of him, probably with an all-in, to back him off.

The seminal moment came early in the evening, maybe the 4th hand. I held 87 offsuit, and the flop was 865, all different suits. I was in the hand with Kida, who was the preflop raiser. (Yes, I stood a raise with 87 offsuit. It was cheap, and these three raise with all kinds of hands.) I bet a modest amount in relation to the pot, a dollar I believe. Kida raised to $3. I called, believing Kida could have something like AK. He's bet like that in the past. Turn was a blank, a 2. Wanting to show Kida I wasn't taking a stab on the flop, I bet another dollar. He went over the top of me, all-in. We play a $10 buy-in game, so I think I had another $5 and change to call.

Something about the situation was a little odd to me. I just knew he didn't have an overpair to the board. I figured my call might be a loose and reckless, but if I hit another 8, I'd have trips. A 9 or a 4 also made me a straight. Ten outs to make the best hand, if I didn't already have it. And I thought it was time to take a chance for once, just to show them that I could.

So I called, and the look on Kida's face was priceless. But was even more important was his comment. "What?!? How can you call that? You never call that bet." And he actually had me beat, with two pair, 6's and 5's, though I could tell he expected me to fold and win the pot before the river card. But the river card was a 4, making my 8-high straight the best hand.

That I made the call wasn't good poker. Even with 10 outs, I was a huge underdog, less than a 25% chance to make my hand with one card to come (though I wasn't aware I had three more outs, with another 2 making my two pair higher than his, 29% for me to win). It was important because it showed the guys that I was trying to change my predictable table image - that I wouldn't always fold under the pressure of huge raises, even when I had a weak hand.

And the fun part - I kept them off-balance all evening. I called Dave and Tommy down to the river, more than once each, when I had a decent hand and the other was bluffing the whole way. I also made a few bets on the river, holding absolute bupkis, and scooped 3 or 4 pots that I would not have won in a showdown. I was the preflop raiser with KQ suited, and nothing hit, but I kept betting at it. Just when I was about to cut my losses, my river bet won me the pot. And the hand I showed everybody was 85 suited. I put in a bet on the turn, when I had an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw. The river didn't help me, leaving me with an 8-high. My river bet won it, and I was so pleased I couldn't help but flip them over as I stacked the chips.

We had $70 in play between the four of us; I bought in for $10, and the other three bought in, then had to rebuy once each. I cashed out for $42, a huge chunk of the pie. I like those guys, but I don't want them to be able to predict what I'm going to do so easily.