Being young and tight

A healthy combination of ignorance and televised poker sure makes my life a whole lot easier.

It seems that today, televised poker is littered with one or two poker playing professionals surrounded on every side by twenty-something young-guns, re-raising with their 4-5 suited and calling all-ins with gutshots. In turn, Average Joe poker player watches this and creates his own perhaps subconscious perception of the way young guys act on the felt: AGGRESSIVE! LOOSE! INSANE!

Thank you, ESPN.

What this does for me, of course, is just… just… well, it’s just super.

I’m a tight player. I’m a very tight player. However, when I pull up a chair at the 8-16 game, staring three ninety-four year old strangers in the face, they’ve already categorized me. What’s most entertaining is how dearly these men cling to their initial impressions, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

For example, my recent 8-16 game looked very similar to my description, mixing young and old nearly equally. I sit down, and as is typical, play very few hands right away. In fact, I’d played only two hands outside of the blinds in the first hour. Then, this hand comes up.

An average player in every regard, middle-aged, too loose and certainly lacking poker sensibility, open raised under the gun. The action folds around to me in the cut-off, and I look down at A-A. Of course, I three-bet. The button folds. The two blinds, both older gentlemen, look at me for a moment and each call the three-bets. The original raiser four-bets, and I five-bet. The blinds each call, as does the original raiser, and we take the flop off four-handed.

The flop comes 2-10-Q, and the action checks around to me. I bet. Everybody calls. The turn is another 2. The actions once again checks around to me, and I once again fire. The small blind calls, and the other two players muck. The river is a 4, and my opponent once again checks. I bet one last time, and he calls. I turn over my A-A, as he mucks, flashing his 9-10.

Now, what the hell happened in this pot? How could I possibly have been paid off by that hand, showing no vulnerability at all, betting and raising at every opportunity?

I asked myself this question shortly after the hand, and could come up with only one explanation: I’m 25! A number of old poker playing traditionalists think that young players are nuts, they’re crazy, they play any two cards and always come in raising! Three-bets from a young kid like me, then, looks like nothing more than absurdity. Sure, I’ve got 9-10, let’s roll!

What’s most amazing, as I briefly alluded to earlier, is how I can prove their perceptions unequivocally wrong with an hour of tight, quiet play and be completely ignored. But the three-bet, that’s LOUD! That’s what they remember.

I’d just like to take this opportunity to once again thank poorly observant poker players, and Norman Chad.

Jacob "Jaymind" Westlin is a semi-professional limit hold'em player with a strong, sarcastic wit. Jaymind also frequently contributes to Minnesota Poker Magazine's monthly publication. Email Jaymind at jayjay083@hotmail.com