The Third Barrel

So, I can't sleep right now, most likely due to the Twix bars I consumed at dinner time tonight (it's unfair that something can something be so good at the time, yet be so bad on a longer time horizon), which got my mind racing about a life lesson I kind of learned playing poker last week.

I was playing my usual tight-conservative style, before picking up JTo in the BB, a few callers enter the pot, and I check, bringing a Q86 rainbow flop, leaving me with a gutshot (any nine that comes on subsequent streets improves my hand to a straight, which likely would win), but not much else, thus rendering my hand fairly weak (I'd guesstimate a 7-to-1 underdog to win at showdown). I check, and then the final caller who was the huge chip leader at the time stabs at the pot with a modest bet. I decide that he's trying to steal the pot (betting with nothing) and then put in a stiff raise and everyone folds (check-raising is usually a fearsome sign of strength in no-limit hold'em), but the initial caller fearlessly calls.

Now, being a conservative-type person in some ways (especially monetary ones), I'm usually inclined to give up in the face of a player unwilling to fold to a stiff check-raise, yet when the turn came a meaningless 3, I had this weird out-of-body experience. I decided I wasn't going to give up and I fired the second barrel, another stiff bet into the pot, which garnered an immediate call much to my chagrin.

Realizing that I've already bet about 60% of my stack in a hand where I had absolutely nothing, undoing the past two hours of careful, disciplined play, I'm in slight shock as the river is an ace. While my mind is stunned that I played so out of my character and best judgment, I also realize that the ace is a good card for me, in that it might scare my opponent into folding. Further, I'm kind of too puzzled by my behavior to be nervous or stop now. So, I fire the third barrel and push in the rest of my chips with jack-high, and much to my amazement, my opponent folds a paired queen, despite the fact that he was getting about 3-to-1 pot odds to make the call on the river, and had a very healthy chip-stack.

So, I showed the bluff, which was a lot of fun (well, not quite as fun as bluffing one of the poker dorks) not to rankle my opponent, but because everybody was so surprised that I had the guts to play like that and it contributed to everyone's entertainment for the night. I ended up winning the tournament (which luck of course played a substantial part in), but it wasn't until last night when I realized how profound that three-barrel bluff was. Although my behavior was like an out of body experience, and I still can't understand what willed me to play in such a manner and why, I also learned that doing something out of my character and narrow rationality worked. Further, my initial action and premise was totally wrong, as I only check-raised because I thought my opponent was stealing (in fact, the opposite was true - he had top pair!), yet it worked out very well in the end.

The moral of the story is that doing something different, stupid and/or risky might just be for the best if you stick with it. One might find rewards and dimensions of your personality that you didn't know existed. Yes, I'm talking vaguely because I'm not sure how I'm going to enact these principles in my "real life" next. I'm working on it, though...