If Pro's Were THAT Smart.....They'd Tell Us To Play Higher Limits, Surely!

Sometimes “pro” doesn’t exactly mean smart! Of course by this post, I’m only half serious, but I still thought I’d point it out. When all the pro’s write their books, or hand out a “pro tip” in the adverts between poker programs, why o’ why do they always say “only play at limits you feel comfortable” or (my personal favourite from Gus Hansen) “stick with the Aces and the Kings, the rest is for the pro’s” LOL. Surely if we all did that, there would be no such thing as a “fish”. I thought the point of fishing was to throw out some bait, and wait for it to bite. If I ever get to the stage of what I’ll dub “commercial pro” you’ll see me saying, “the only way to win big, is to play big!”, I’ll become the most successful poker player of all time!

Just Unlucky??

Gettin down to the final table of a 45 person $5.50 multi, not doing so well in chips, and I'm in the small with Jc7h. Flop comes down 7c5c4c. Four people are seeing the flop, so I'm thinking it's quite likely someone has a high club that I shouldn't give a free draw for. So I bet the pot, and receive one caller from early position. Immediately I assume he has 2 overcards, one being the Ac. The turn is the Ad, and I check feeling beat. He checks behind me. At this point I figure he knows his got a lock on the hand, it's obvious what I have, and his hoping he'll pick up a loose bet on the river (after all it is a $5.50 buy-in). The next card hits and it's the 7s. All of a sudden, I'm sure I'm winning, and with my short stack, a little more than the total pot, I push hoping he see's the bet as a desperate attempt to win with a busted hand like a 6 or high card flush draw. To my short-term happiness he does entertain my all-in with a call, and flips AcTc. I'm out before I really got going (no hands above A-J out of position the whole time) and I'm left feeling if I had any other choice?? The best place to put this question is here, so do help! Was the last bet the only real time I could have found out how bad I really was?

My Worst Bad Beat Playing Poker

The worst bad beat….that’s a toughie! I’ve had some bad ones, but the absolute WORST was about 2 hours into a tournament on William Hill Poker, holding pocket JJ. I have one caller to me left, so his got me on position, a situation I don’t enjoy when holding JJ. Anyway, the dealer produces Ten Ten Jack rainbow (all different suits). Me being first to act, and having the hand crippled checks (a play I wouldn’t do now, as I almost always follow up with a continuation) to this player I had down as relatively weak. He bets out, I don’t flat call here, I pop it over the top trying to get at his ego, he pushes all-in and I gladly call. At this point, I’m expecting him to show a Ten, for trips, yet shows AQ, which at this point starts claiming in the chat box “I thought I could get you off, lol” etc. Any guesses to what the next two cards could possibly be to beat me? The turn was another Ten. Then at the speed of light and the fastest hand action in the history of online poker, the dealer throws down ANOTHER Ten, and starts giving my chips to my opponent! Yet to realise the monstrosity I have witnessed, I wrestle with the Dealer for the pot, at which point he tells me in an extremely monotone voice, “Four Tens, Ace High”. Motherf@{!$r.