Penny Lessons
By On Tuesday I got a rare perfect storm for the busy poker degenerate parent. Kids were overnight at my parents, and the wife was up north for work. With two card clubs within 40 minutes of my house and an itch to play what is one to do?
Hit up the ATM and make the time to shore up the kids’ college funds of course!
Since there was live racing going on at Running Aces, and I’ve never seen harness racing before, the executive decision was to go down 610 to 10 to 35W and make some new friends at the tables. Last winter I had the chance to check out the newest card club in Minnesota and walked nothing but impressed. The décor, the dealers, and the wait staff were all top notch. If I were to rank the poker rooms I’ve played in Running Aces would come in at #2 behind The Venetian in Vegas (of course those waitress uniforms there have NOTHING to do it of course).
The $4/$8 with half kill Omaha 8 or Better game was my first destination, sadly there was only an interest list with a few names on it. Typical for a Tuesday afternoon I was told but the itch to get some card playing in was strong. When my “main” game isn’t running my second favorite thing to do is overbuy into a $2/$4 LHE game and play lots of post-flop poker. After grabbing four racks, I headed over to table number three and was met with the usual looks of confusion as to why I needed all these chips.
“I’m here to give away money of course!” is my reply. But, not really.
Sure, I appear to be playing the part of the table clown looking to dust off a rack or two with second pair no kicker and playing 90% of the hands dealt. Drinking a few Captain and Cokes, and trying to gain conversation with the table on any topic helps with the façade. Sadly, the table contained mostly grumpy folks with no more than $40 in front of them looking to double up and leave as the starting table of 10 dissolved into sporadic people coming in and out and whittling down to a shorthanded table of five by the time the races started two hours later.
But, I got paid off after showing down a few hands early on that would not be approved in most poker books, when I hit a few sets, a boat, and flopped a flush with Q8s. Since my main goal when I play the low limits is to have fun, that mission was finally accomplished by finally cracking a smile on the regular in the four seat and walking away $13 to the good after two drinks and overtipping the dealer even when I stole the blinds (yes it is possible to steal blinds in a $2/$4 game).
The lesson to take away is, be sure to mix up your game by playing different stakes, as there’s a learning experience at any table you play at. Whether it’s playing higher or lower blinds than your comfort zone, every hour spent at the tables improves your game.
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