A while back, I picked up tennis star James Blake and two of his friends to take them over to Bay 101 - in San Jose - for some poker action. The night before, in the second round of the
SAP Open, Blake had lost. I told him that I thought he was one of the fastest players on the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) tour, and I was surprised that he had lost. Blake told me that his opponent had served flawlessly, and that he (Blake) had flown in from the Czech Republic only three days earlier - after notching a successful
Davis Cup match win for the U.S. - and was feeling pretty tired. In my last column, I related how Blake had busted me twice and then bluffed me in a poker session a few days earlier.
When I arrived to pick up Blake and his friends, I was pleasantly surprised to see that actress Shannon Elizabeth was with him. Elizabeth knows her way around a poker table, and she has spent quite a bit of time on the poker circuit. In fact, when we walked into Bay 101, the first thing that we saw was a
Shooting Star World Poker Tour poster with Elizabeth's picture on it!
We decided to play spread-limit hold'em, with $3-$5 blinds. Spread-limit is basically no-limit, except that the most you can bet is $200 (per the local laws of San Jose, California). Also, the max buy-in is $200. As the game progressed, Elizabeth was having a great time, but she was a bit annoyed at Player A - one of the players at our table - because he kept moving all in. If the pot had $30 in it, Player A would bet his last $170. And he was moving all in quite often. When you have a player at your table who's moving all in too often, it really does disrupt the flow of the game. No one can call a $30 bet into a $30 pot with a drawing hand, like a straight draw or a flush draw. It makes you commit all or nothing, and in the case of calling with a drawing hand, the wise choice is nothing (folding). Thus, Player A was forcing us to fold an abnormal number of hands (which makes playing hold'em more boring, and therefore less fun), with not much benefit to himself. Yes, he was winning a lot of pots, but they were all small ones, and they were won with great risk to his stack, as the following hand will show:
In first position, Elizabeth made it $15 to go with K-Q, Player A called from the button, Blake called from the small blind, and I called from the big blind. The flop was Q
8
6
. Blake and I checked, Elizabeth bet $35, and Player A moved all in for $220 or so. Blake and I folded, and Elizabeth insta-called (a poker term meaning that she called very quickly, which also indicates she was very strong). The next card was the 5
, followed by the J
. Most of the straight draws (10-9 and 9-7) and the flush draw (a heart) had hit, as well as a dangerous-looking jack, which meant that Q-J would now beat Elizabeth, as well. It didn't look good for her as she flipped over her K-Q, and politely asked Player A, "What do you have?"
Player A replied, "That's good. I have a queen, as well, but with a ten kicker."
I think that Elizabeth was especially happy to bust Player A, because his reckless style was disrupting the flow of the game and annoying her.
Blake then said, "Remind me not to annoy you!"
Let's take a closer look at this hand. I like Elizabeth's opening raise of $15 to go with K-Q, although $20 to go would have worked just as well. I don't mind Player A's $15 call with Q-10 on the button. On the flop, I like Elizabeth's bet of $35 into about a $60 pot. Some pros would say that she should bet more on the flop in order to protect her hand from losing to a drawing hand, but I like the bet, as it lures people with weaker hands into calling, and it sends a message that she's weak. I do not like Player A's stack-off (poker slang for moving all in) with Q-10. I would prefer that he called the bet or made a smaller raise, like making it $80 to go. When he stacked-off here, the first solid indication he had that Elizabeth was strong was when she insta-called, and by then it was too late, as he already had all of his money in the pot. If he had made a smaller raise ($80 total), and then Elizabeth had stacked-off, he could have folded his hand, saving himself $140. For the record, Elizabeth is now proficient in movies, television, tennis (she was a tennis champ in high school), and poker!
Remember this: If you stack-off and get insta-called, you may lose, because an insta-call generally indicates strength.
