Poker Report...

[The following is mostly written by me, for my own benefit, to reinforce lessons learned while they're still fresh in my mind. I post it here only in case others are interested in reading it.]

I went and played some neighborhood poker with work-boys last night. It was a lot of fun, and fun to hang out with some nice people in a non-work setting.

We eventually got around to actually playing poker. We decided to all buy-in for $20, playing $.40/$.80 limit hold'em (blinds of $.20 and $.40). Experience ranged from lots of free-money online play (me and another guy) to people who knew the rules, to people who were totally brand new.

And so we started playing. I won a small pot or two early on, and was satisfied with my play and moderate winnings so far. But it changed pretty quick. An early hand killed me: I had AQo, and the flop comes A-2-8 rainbow. I'm feeling pretty good right about now. Bets and raises and a couple callers. Turn comes another A. I'm loving life. Me and another guy (who's brand new to the game) bet and raise each other some more. Everyone else folds. River comes a blank, and we bet out. I flip over my ace, and he shows me a pocket pair of 2's for the full house. Brutal. I didn't even see it coming.

Another killer: I had 56 in the big blind, and flop comes 559. Bets and raises, etc. Turn comes a 9. Me and another guy bet and raise to the max. River is a blank, and we cap it again. I show a 5. He shows (wait for it) 9. Ugh.

Over the night, my $20 dwindled to about $8. A couple big beats and lots of chasing cards a little too far. Things turned around when I got JTo and raised pre-flop. Got lots of callers. Flop an inside straight draw, kept betting and raising, and made the straight on the river. Big pot. Won the next one, too, and one or two more after that. Look down and see that my $6 has grown to $26. Not bad. Win the last hand of the night, and push my chips up to $30 for a net of +$10. Fair enough.

In retrospect: During the evening, it's frustrating to watch people who don't know what they're doing playing and winning hands with the "any two cards can win" theory. This, in addition to a casual atmosphere of "hanging out", makes it hard to fold hands. It's like: "I want to play and have fun, I don't want to sit there and fold all night! Also, look at what cards are winning!" This is bad. This is no. This fosters bad play. I've read about this. I know it. But it's still surprisingly hard to avoid when it actually comes around. And there's something to be said about playing for the thrill of it, and gambling on hands that are unlikely to win. It's certainly fun, but it's fun and losing. I believe it's possible to have fun and still play solid poker. And if I had my choice between hanging out, having fun, and winning, or having fun, hanging out, and losing, I'll take the former.

Looking back, though, the experience poker players (3 of us) all came out ahead (approx: +10, +10, +32). The inexperienced players either were even or lost (approx: -0, -2, -5, -10, -18, -20). So in spite of the fact that people would win random pots, in the longer run, experience paid off.