A few months ago, Artie, Mr. Luce, and I agreed to meet and go to the Netherlands. Mr. Luce grew up in Holland and needed a vacation from teaching high school, Artie was moving to Europe, and I was going to play in my favorite no-limit hold'em tournament at Holland Casino. Mr. Luce asked if we wanted to play poker, and Artie and I thought that was a good idea. I taught them the rules of no-limit hold'em, and a few basic strategies of the game.
I explained when it is best to fold, raise, or call. I also told them about the standard raise of three times the big blind before the flop. Other than that, they were on their own. After all, both have played a little poker here and there, and are quite cocky – or, as good players would say, "confident." By the way, the purpose of this column is to point out a few of my observations while playing against a couple of legitimate beginners.
We started with 20 units each, which didn't seem like much with $1-$2 blinds. My first observation was that the player on the button always called and the small blind never folded. This was the case even though two units were 10 percent of an original starting stack. They wanted to play every hand because that was more fun, and I wanted to play every hand because I figured I could outplay them. This is a problem that many players have after they have had some success. The fact is, you can't outplay people on every hand. Another funny thing kept happening: Mr. Luce and Artie both tried to fold at times when there wasn't any betting before them. This is a common mistake that many beginning players make. It made it easy for me to steal pots.
Betting was very tough for both of them to do. They checked most of the time and called if they thought I was bluffing. I am not sure the check-call is a good play when you put someone on a bluff – unless you are setting him up. Every once in a while, one of them had a monster draw (at least 15 outs with two cards to come) and bet when it was checked to him. The problem was that Artie bet one unit into a 12-unit pot with a flush draw and two overcards. This bet was not large enough to accomplish anything except get check-raised by me. I explained to them that in this situation, they should either check with a big draw to get a free card, or make a big bet of 10 or more units to try to win the pot right there. After I explained this, they moved all in on almost every hand. I ended up taking third place during the first match. After Artie won, he retired as champion and wouldn't let me redeem myself.
Change of subject: Anyone who wins an event at Commerce Casino's Holiday Bonus Tournament will receive a free buy-in for the $1,500 limit hold'em event at the L.A. Poker Classic in February.