The Other Side Of The Three Outer

Ari Gold: Let's hug it out, bitch.

"Entourage"

I have only just got into the first two seasons of Entourage, and I have committed myself to jumping on this bandwagon. What a great show, and Jeremy Piven owns his role like no other.

Poker has been a weird beast of late. At a live game on Friday night, I folded before the river for 5 hours before finally having a decent hand, and of course I got murdered on that one. If was really cold cards, and nothing that I could do about it. I had one playable hand in that first five hours, AK that I folded pre-flop when there was some action and I didn't like the look of it. Turned out to be the right decision in the end after seeing the board offer me no help and Queens take it down.

I was down to $27 from my initial $50 buy in, when there was three people calling raises in front of me on the big blind, and I had JJ. This is not a favourable position, so I decided to go all-in and try to get heads up with a weaker pair or maybe a strong ace. I got all three to call, and no re-raise so I figured I might be in good shape. Maybe under-pairs or maybe they all have Ace-something and are stealing each others outs.

The flop is dealt, and the first card is a Queen. While it is still an overcard, it's probably not too bad. Obviously an Ace or King would be worse, but I figured I might still have a chance here.

Player one raises, player two pushes, player three calls and player one pushes all in over the top as well.

Yeah, maybe my jacks are no good. Turns out by the end the three hands I was up against were AQ, AQ and QJ. Before the flop (disregarding flushes and straights), there were 2 aces and 1 queen that could out-flop my jacks, so basically a three-out chance against 3 players. That's a pretty good situation to be in when short stacked and all-in I think. When the queen came however, I of course only have one out which is a shit situation to be in anytime. I was forced to rebuy as the two players with AQ split the pots.

My second buy-in fared a little better, and when I folded post-flop on the last hand of the night I had reached exactly break even. Considering the five hour fold session, I guess this is alright. It was perhaps the first time though that I really didn't enjoy the poker side of things. The table banter and everything was fine entertainment and I could think of a lot of worse things to be doing with my Friday night, but the actual cards were driving me crazy.

Online wise, the games have been much kinder. I have a really good habit of winning my first hand sitting down no matter what. On one particular 25c/50c NL table I was up 60BB after winning four of the first five hands. And in the first time in ages, I stuck my money in the middle when behind and pulled out a win! I haven't sucked out in what feels like ages and I didn't feel an ounce of guilt over it. With multiple runners, I paid the BB from middle position because when I sit down to play I don't want to wait four or five hands to get in on the action, and since I play tight some people see this as a sign of loose play – someone who can't wait to gamble and needs to see the action. Anyway, I always post the blind no matter what seat position I am in.

I was dealt 82o, and being un-raised got to see the flop. 889, and happy days methinks. I call the small bet in front of me and so does everyone else, and the turn is a harmless looking 4, but it is the second spade so I decide that if anyone if looking for that last spade they are going to have to pay for it. $8 should be enough, and then the player in late position kicks it all-in for $22. Everyone else is out and I curse myself for thinking I am beat, but maybe he has just a nine or an over pair. I call, and he has A8 to have me out kicked and in trouble. The river is my suckout 2, and I take home the pot.

I've always wondered about the players that seem to have continually beaten me with less than 5 outs – how they justify their wins to others and how they describe their mad skillz. How can that person go on and tell everyone about how good they are when in reality they had a 6% chance to win and were for all intents and purposes out played? Today my friends, that person is me. I had the pleasure of being the luck box for once, and how do I justify it?

In the Friday night game, I lost to a 3-outer of sorts and the pot was over $110. On Saturday I scored a 3 outer and the pot was $62. Even it that short time span, you can see how guilt doesn't enter into it.