Tales From ATLARGE, or How to Play Your Hands Blind

For the seventh consecutive year, I had a blast attending ATLARGE, an annual gathering of poker players and poker-playing rabble-rousers, held every March in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Three official ATLARGE tournaments make up part of the event, but it's the unofficial stuff that makes the weekend what it is. (Rumors of my drunken karaoke performance have been greatly exaggerated.)



One tradition of ATLARGE is the pink-chip game – a $7.50-$15 hold'em game played with pink chips worth $2.50 each. The Taj Mahal spreads this game only during ATLARGE. A tradition within this tradition is for me, and several other worthy "gambooling roolers," to raise and reraise without looking at our cards while we're sitting in this game. It's the most fun I have playing poker.



The best humor we get out of this game might be from the local players, the ones who have magically stumbled upon the game and think they've found a gold mine. Of course, the locals have found a gold mine, but it amazes me how they botch things up trying to take advantage of it. I think in observing the people trying to win money in the pink-chip game (and, by the way, through sheer dumb luck, I am safely ahead for my career in the pink-chip game), I have realized something. Most players don't know how to think about poker. Instead, they memorize which hands to play from which positions, and hope that's enough to get them the money. Let me back up and explain what I mean, using some pink-chip game hands as examples.



Hand No. 1: An ATLARGEr raises from under the gun before the cards are dealt. This is commonly called a "straddle," but straddles aren't live in Atlantic City, so it's just a blind raise. The only way to be sure the blind-raiser will have the chance to raise again is if someone reraises. So, of course, after three players fold to me, I reraise without looking at my cards. Everyone knows I haven't looked at my cards. The cutoff and button fold. The small blind folds. And the big blind … folds!



People have read that they should play very tight when facing a raise and reraise. But that advice is meaningless when facing two random hands. The big blind should probably call with a hand as weak as 10-8 offsuit, which has about a one-in-three shot against two random hands. It's possible the big blind folded correctly, and it's possible the small blind folded correctly, but it's highly unlikely that every single player at the table folded correctly against two random hands. Still, you might give my opponents the benefit of the doubt on this hand, as they all might've had trash. But wait until you read the next hand.



Hand No. 2: I open-raise without looking at my hand. Once again, everyone knows I haven't looked at my hand. I get only one caller, and he's two to my left. The flop comes queen high, and I bet. I still haven't looked at my hand. My opponent calls. He has only eight chips in front of him, and the big bet in this game is six chips. The turn is a low card, and I bet again. My opponent goes into the tank. The player between us repeats several times, "He hasn't looked at his hand!" as he stares at my opponent incredulously. My opponent finally … folds!



In case you missed it, the two salient aspects of this hand are that there is still one card to come, and I haven't looked at my hand! I don't remember the exact board (I had some alcohol in me), but let's say it was Q-7-6-4 with two clubs. My opponent was getting about 4-1 on his money. Sure, if he had 9-2 offsuit, he was about an 8-1 dog to a random hand and he folded correctly. But any hand you might think of that he'd call the raise with preflop is getting the right price on the turn. J-9 offsuit? Only a 3-1 dog. K-2 offsuit? Less than a 3-1 dog. Clearly, my opponent's thinking didn't go past, "I don't have anything, so I have to fold." But poker is about a lot more than what you have. Incidentally, I looked at my cards after I won the hand, and I actually had flopped top pair with a Q-3!



Hand No. 3: I'm in this hand with another ATLARGEr and a third player who's trying to win money. A bunch of money has gone in preflop and on the flop. Both of my opponents have looked at their hands by now. I still haven't. On the turn, the guy playing for real checks, the ATLARGEr bets, and I look at my hand. The board is K-7-5-4, and I find K-5 offsuit. I raise. The first player three-bets. The ATLARGEr thinks for a while and calls all the bets cold. I call, and end up losing to the ATLARGEr's straight on the river. The other guy tables his hand, A-J offsuit!



When your opponents are playing like lunatics, it's a common mistake to turn into a lunatic yourself by raising and reraising at every opportunity with a hand like A-J unimproved. We ATLARGErs had shown no signs of ever folding, so for A-J to reraise the turn here would've been crazy even if we hadn't looked at our hands. He had only about 20 percent equity against two random hands at that point. But we had looked, which means A-J's play was even worse. In this case, A-J put in his three big bets while drawing stone dead.



Hand No. 4: My friend Kevin raises blind from under the gun and I reraise blind from the next seat. The same opponent who had the A-J in hand No. 3 caps it, and only Kevin and I call. The flop comes J-9-7. Kevin and I check, the other player bets, and we both call. Neither Kevin nor I have looked. The turn is an 8. Kevin and I check, and so does our opponent. Now we feel good about our random hands, so when the river brings a 9, Kevin bets and I raise. We still haven't looked. The third player calls two bets cold, and Kevin calls. I ask the third player what we have to beat, and he says, "Just nines and deuces," as he rolls over his pocket deuces.



At least he had the right idea in this hand. He clearly didn't have the equity to bet on the turn against two random hands, so he checked. His river decision was actually an extremely close one, as he was getting about 7-1 on his money and was about a 7-1 dog. So, I don't really fault his call there. As one of the guys holding a random hand, I was certainly hoping for a fold.



I roll over one card, and it's a 7. I'm in the lead! Kevin rolls over one card, and it's a jack. I'm in trouble! I roll over my second card, and it's a jack. I've got a shot to chop! I need Kevin's other card to be a 7 or lower. Kevin rolls over his second card, and it's an ace. Kevin scoops – he counterfeited me on the river! We exchange high fives, because, hey, it was exciting, and we both made two pair with random hands.



ATLARGE. I'll be there every year.



Matt Matros is the author of The Making of a Poker Player, which is available online at http://www.cardplayer.com/.