Good times at the donkey fest!

Last night was another one of those gatherings with my friends... we call it poker night but in general, there's a higher priority in drinking and joking around rather than actually playing poker. Well, before, I mentioned something along the lines of playing with a bunch of donkeys and eventually, my friends figured out that I was talking about them (though it was not in an insulting way, last time I checked). So, anyways, there was a lot of jokes about how they were donks, etc etc. The only problem (if you can call it that) is that it's not really a competitive game. So when I play, I play to have fun and I believe I only folded once before the flop. Well, as usual it was a lot of fun, I had quite a few drinks and I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that at the end of the night, I was down $35... first time I lost money in that group. Someone also mentioned that I should do a profile about each of them (like donkey #1 is gassy, donkey #2 doesn't play a single hand unless he has AA, KK or AK, etc). I won't do that but I will comment on the slight change in the makeup of last night's game.

There were 8 of us and we play $.25/.50 NL hold'em. Well, one of them was my friend's neighbor who more or less took the game seriously. Another one is a friend of ours who plays online a fair amount. And because they play seriously enough, it is easy for them to win some money because if I can't call half the table donkeys, I could certainly call them "calling stations." In general, the online guy, unless he gets unlucky, will very likely win more often than not. I mean he has to just based on the fact that he has a basic understanding of hand value, reads, and position. Then there's the other guy who will not play a single hand... maybe not quite AA, AK or KK but he certainly needs to see two face cards if he's gonna play. And his focus is too much on what he holds and not so much what someone else might have and the concept of position is not something he fully understands or believes in so he becomes relatively easy to read (I know you're reading this and this is something you should think about... this is an advice, not a criticism). One of the guys at the table wants to learn and get better and even though it's tough for him to fold hands that are clear losers, he's probably tighter (or at least more disciplined) than many of the others there.

In general, the difference at this table is that no one seems to care about what the other guy might have. It's all about the two cards they have and what's on the board rather than what their opponents can have. Which is why it becomes relatively predictable to play against them. But again, if the focus was on winning, I'm pretty sure I could dominate the table. I mean no offense but we're in a completely different league here. It's like playing a game of wiffle ball and I'm Barry Bonds. So, having said all that, why did I lose? Because I become a SUPER DONK when I play in this group. I play 100% of the hands I'm dealt, I call with nothing (like if the board is K-10-6 rainbow and I have 8-3, I might call a bet on the flop), etc. Why do I play that way? Because I don't care about winning money. Again, the focus here is more on having fun than winning.

The fun example (not so fun for my opponent) was when I had like $3 remaining of my original $20 buy-in, I decided to go all in when everyone limped into the pot... with Q3. I was called by a guy with KK and AJ... and I flopped two pair and two blanks later, I won the pot. Stuff like that happens very commonly.

Big hand of the night (and this was pseudo-serious poker) came when I limped from late position with 5-6 offsuit, when the BB (the online player) bumped it up to $2. There was one other caller (whose hand values are tighter preflop than some others but not ultra tight like our other friend described above) and since I have a good read on our online friend, I called. Flop comes 4-5-6 and gives me top 2 pair but there are two clubs on the board. BB bets out $5, next guy calls and since I know that the BB has a high pocker pair at this point, I bump it up to $10. I'm a littler concerned when I get both guys to call to see the turn. And the turn comes 7 of clubs, completing a flush draw. I wasn't too concerned about a straight here but the club worried me quite a bit. BB bets out again and then I hear "I'm all in"... for another $15+... I now know he hit his flush and the pot was not laying me good enough odds to call... so, even though it really hurt (it seems so much harder to fold a good hand when I'm drunk), I folded my 5-6 and the BB announced that he has JJ as he folds. Obviously, the winner showed his flush so I said, "let me see the river!" The river was a 5... damn, I shoulda stayed in...

But beyond that, not much poker to talk about even though we played for 4-5 hrs... and that's the beauty of this poker night, that's not really poker night.