Wine and Roses and No-Limit Hold'em

Yet another attendance record was set this year at the mammoth Las Vegas Regional Bridge Tournament, held annually in mid-June at the Riviera. And for seven days, about a thousand bridge players flooded into the casino before and after the bridge sessions. I, of course, frequented the Riviera's poker room, which had been moved since my visit last year to a more central "open-air" location with more table space. And now they spread no-limit hold'em.



No-limit hold'em is clearly the current rage, probably due to all of the TV coverage and Internet poker. The Riviera has two $55 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournaments every day, and spreads $100 buy-in no-limit hold'em live games in addition to several limit games.

While playing live-action no-limit hold'em, I crawled in with red pocket treys from under the gun. In four-way action, I tried to look disinterested as two black threes and the 5 hit the flop! Both the small blind and the big blind checked to me. Of course, I checked, because I certainly did not want to narrow the action here. Unfortunately, the fourth player, who was usually rather aggressive, also checked.



The turn card was the A. Perish the thought that someone had made a flush! And even aces might bet. But no – the small blind and the big blind both checked to me. Should I make a bet here?



Maybe, but probably the best scenario for a big score would start with the aggressive fourth player taking action. So, I checked. I felt much better when he tossed a green chip ($25) into the pot. The small blind called and the big blind folded. What should I do now with my hand?



Although there is much to be said for merely calling and hoping for a big score on the river, I raised a mere $25 because I was fairly sure that they both would at least call, and I therefore would harvest at least another $50. Indeed, they both called, after stopping to think a bit.



The river was a disappointing brick, so it was likely that neither of them improved. Then, the small blind pleasantly surprised me by going all in with a $110 bet. It looked like he had been slow-playing a flush. The opponent sitting in the last seat who had led with $25 on the turn had about $300 in front of him. So, should I raise here?



My thinking was that if I raised, the last player would certainly fold unless he had a good hand. And if he had enough to call a raise, he might raise if I just called. Also, if I called, he might have just enough to call. So, I merely called.



He thought for a moment, then called with his aces with a jack kicker. The bettor had chosen a bad time to bluff with only the K. So, I probably eked out about as much as I could on that hand.



But wait! When I showed my four treys, the dealer said, "Hey, you just hit the high-hand jackpot," and proceeded to count out the deck for the "eye in the sky." Then, they brought me $180, the current level of the quads-or-better high-hand bonus. Hey, I like this game.



Another hand worthy of note occurred several days later in the same no-limit game, which, to my way of thinking, featured a highly aggressive player with a large bankroll. I picked up the A K under the gun and just crawled in. After two more crawlers, the aggressive player made it $25 to go. Both blinds folded. I decided to call and see if either crawler would call, and both did so.



With about $110 in the pot and four-way action, the flop came A 8 7. Acting first, what should I do with my A-K, having about $250 in front of me? The two crawlers each had about $150 and the aggressive player had well over $500.



I thought that I probably had the best hand, but I was fearful that the 8 7 might give someone a good draw. So I decided to make it too expensive to draw and bet $150, which would put either crawler just about all in. They both folded, although one thought about it for a while.



The aggressive preflop raiser also thought for a while and then called. Since he didn't raise, I put him on an ace with a lower kicker. The turn card was a deuce, so I went all in with my remaining $100 or so, on the theory that my opponent would certainly bet if he had me beat (and I would have to call).



He slowly called and we tabled our cards. I was delighted to see that he had merely an A-5. So, now I was a huge favorite to bring home this $600-plus pot. But the last card was a 5, and he jumped for joy! Hey, sometimes I don't like this game.



We all have learned that if we get unlucky, it is quite possible to "win the battle, but lose the war." It was another successful operation, but the patient died. So, all no-limit hold'em players must be resigned to occasionally tasting the bitter "agony of defeat." But however cruel it gets, we also know that it is the long-run bottom line that counts.