OK, I admit it… I’m not a straddle kind of guy. I play fairly straight forward poker, try to look for spots where I have the best hand or the villian(s) show weakness and bet hard for value.
With that in mind, here’s a funny story from yesterday…
I sat down at the 1/2NL yesterday while waiting for a seat on 2/5. I was pretty much just waiting around for premium hands but I took a stab at one pot w/JJ and lost $70 to 68 suited that had called my $12 preflop raise.
With that loss fresh on my mind, I’m now sitting with $230 in front of me and the guy to my left says “it’s your turn to straddle”. I laughed and told him I was too dumb to play a straddle and he says “just play it like the BB”. As a joke, I threw in my $5 chip and after 5 people limped in, I looked down at 8-2 off-suit and threw $25 on top thinking that big of a raise would just take the pot down.
Unfortunately one of the mid-position players call and the BB call. I mumble ‘oh sh**’ under my breath, and the instigator to my left laughs and says, let me play along as he leans over to look at my cards.
The flop comes 994 rainbow. I say with confidence, “that will work”, and bet $45, MP folds, and the BB calls. Now, I’m really sweating.
The turn is a Q, the BB checks and I bet $125 leaving only a couple of dollars in my stack.
BB tanks forever and finally folds JJ face up.
I said “good fold” and raked the pot. The instigator to my left says loud enough for the table to hear “sometimes pocket aces do hold up”. I keep a straight face but am laughing inside.
Shortly afterward, they open a new 2/5 table and call the list. Myself and the 2 other parties involved all stand up and I realize we were all three going to the same table…
Poker is certainly interesting.