Interview With The Vampire
There's a poker player in our casino that I strongly suspect may be a vampire.
Jack is somewhere north of 60 years old, around 6'3", lean and lanky, with black, slicked-back hair, and a long, craggy, pasty-white face. Jack ALWAYS wears a black leather jacket and black tinted glasses, the ones popular back in the 70s, where the tint is darkest at the top of the lenses, growing progressively lighter towards the bottom. I've never seen Jack in the casino during the daylight, he's always there at night, and gone before the sun rises. When he walks, he just sort of glides. Nothing moves but his legs, every other part of him remains absolutely still. He sits at the poker table for hours on end, not saying a word, virtually motionless, moving as little as possible as he throws out his bets and rakes in his pots.
Jack is probably the most feared poker player in the casino. More often than not, he's perched in a high-limit game, studying the other players at the table from behind his huge stack of chips like a vulture eyeing a bunny rabbit with a broken leg. I've dealt to him pretty frequently, but, truth be told, you don't learn an awful lot about someone's game by dealing to them in a casino. You're only there for 30 minutes at a time, and you just don't see them play enough hands to pick up much. As the dealer, you also have a lot going on in keeping the game running smoothly and efficiently, and don't have much time to spend studying players.
A few weeks ago, I went in the casino to play. As is my habit, I walked around the poker room for a few minutes, looking the games and the players over to see where I wanted to play. I saw Jack sitting in the 8 seat in a 1-2 game, something he sometimes does while waiting for a seat in a higher-limit game. Better yet, the 9 seat was open! I went to the kiosk and asked the player coordinator (my buddy Travis) if I could have the seat. I got it. Travis and another floorperson, Jonathon, teased me about "going after" Jack, but that wasn't it at all. I saw this as an opportunity to learn from a player who is MUCH more advanced than me, in a game where we were playing for my stakes, not his. Normally, if I wanted to play against Jack to try and learn something, I'd have to sit in a 2-5 or 5-10 game; whatever lessons I learned would cost me a lot more than they would in a 1-2 gane. I also wasn't going to pass up a chance to play with Jack AND have position on him, which I thought would help me limit my losses even further.
It didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. Jack was called for the 2-5 game less that 30 minutes after I sat in the game. There was one hand, however, where I learned a lot.
I was on the button. The player is second position limped in, as did the player in seat 5, a young, aggressive player who didn't show much knowledge of starting hands and position, and who bluffed at a lot of pots. It folded around to Jack, who raised to 7.00. I folded my rags, as did the small blind. The big blind and the two limpers called, and the flop came:
Ah Js 5s
It checked around, and the turn came:
Ah Js 5s 7d
The first two players checked, the aggressive kid in seat 5 bet 10.00 into a 29.00 pot. Jack studied him for a moment and called. The other two players folded, and the river came:
Ah Js 5s 7d Jd
The kid in seat 5 bet 50.00 into a 49.00 pot. Jack thought a second, then tossed in his call, saying:
"Let's split it up."
The kid turned up:
Qh 7c, Jack turned up:
8s 7s.
The kid and another player both made derisive "How do you call with THAT?" comments as the dealer split the pot, but I thought I knew what had gone on, and simply said:
"Nice hand.", tapping the table.
A little later, I saw Jack off the table and asked him about the hand:
"Ok," I said, "here's what I think. You saw only two limpers in front of you, and a medium suited connector is a pretty good hand when it hits, cause no one can put you on it. You raised to fold me out and get the button, fold the blinds out and narrow the field, and disguise your holding in case it hits."
"When you found yourself facing three opponents, instead of two," I continued, "and when an Ace came on the flop, you decided to check yourself when they checked to you, just in case one of them had hit it and was being tricky. When the kid bet on the turn, it was a weak bet, and he reacted to that 7 falling. Since that card didn't complete any flushes or straights, he'd either hit his kicker for two pair, or had simply caught the 7. You called, rather than raised, because you still had no information on what the other players were going to do. You also knew if you were right about his only having a 7 and an 8 came on the river, you'd win the hand, and if an Ace, a Jack or a 5 came on the river, you'd probably split the pot (he wouldn't have if an Ace had fallen, the kid's Queen kicker would have played, but there was no way for Jack to know for sure what his kicker was,)."
I finished by saying: "So, when the Jack came on the river and paired the board, you knew it would probably be a split pot if he had a 7. That big bet meant he didn't want a call, so you could be pretty sure he didn't have an Ace or a Jack. Am I right?"
Jack looked at me for a second, then drawled:
"This ain't no poker school."
"Hey", I said, "I'm just trying to learn something."
"I give poker lessons right there", Jack said, pointing to a poker table as he started to walk off, "one hand at a time."
I guess he's a little tired of questions from people like me. I'm actually pretty excited that I've come far enough in my learning process that I could recognize what he'd done and why.
Now, if only I could DO it ..........
Jack is somewhere north of 60 years old, around 6'3", lean and lanky, with black, slicked-back hair, and a long, craggy, pasty-white face. Jack ALWAYS wears a black leather jacket and black tinted glasses, the ones popular back in the 70s, where the tint is darkest at the top of the lenses, growing progressively lighter towards the bottom. I've never seen Jack in the casino during the daylight, he's always there at night, and gone before the sun rises. When he walks, he just sort of glides. Nothing moves but his legs, every other part of him remains absolutely still. He sits at the poker table for hours on end, not saying a word, virtually motionless, moving as little as possible as he throws out his bets and rakes in his pots.
Jack is probably the most feared poker player in the casino. More often than not, he's perched in a high-limit game, studying the other players at the table from behind his huge stack of chips like a vulture eyeing a bunny rabbit with a broken leg. I've dealt to him pretty frequently, but, truth be told, you don't learn an awful lot about someone's game by dealing to them in a casino. You're only there for 30 minutes at a time, and you just don't see them play enough hands to pick up much. As the dealer, you also have a lot going on in keeping the game running smoothly and efficiently, and don't have much time to spend studying players.
A few weeks ago, I went in the casino to play. As is my habit, I walked around the poker room for a few minutes, looking the games and the players over to see where I wanted to play. I saw Jack sitting in the 8 seat in a 1-2 game, something he sometimes does while waiting for a seat in a higher-limit game. Better yet, the 9 seat was open! I went to the kiosk and asked the player coordinator (my buddy Travis) if I could have the seat. I got it. Travis and another floorperson, Jonathon, teased me about "going after" Jack, but that wasn't it at all. I saw this as an opportunity to learn from a player who is MUCH more advanced than me, in a game where we were playing for my stakes, not his. Normally, if I wanted to play against Jack to try and learn something, I'd have to sit in a 2-5 or 5-10 game; whatever lessons I learned would cost me a lot more than they would in a 1-2 gane. I also wasn't going to pass up a chance to play with Jack AND have position on him, which I thought would help me limit my losses even further.
It didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. Jack was called for the 2-5 game less that 30 minutes after I sat in the game. There was one hand, however, where I learned a lot.
I was on the button. The player is second position limped in, as did the player in seat 5, a young, aggressive player who didn't show much knowledge of starting hands and position, and who bluffed at a lot of pots. It folded around to Jack, who raised to 7.00. I folded my rags, as did the small blind. The big blind and the two limpers called, and the flop came:
Ah Js 5s
It checked around, and the turn came:
Ah Js 5s 7d
The first two players checked, the aggressive kid in seat 5 bet 10.00 into a 29.00 pot. Jack studied him for a moment and called. The other two players folded, and the river came:
Ah Js 5s 7d Jd
The kid in seat 5 bet 50.00 into a 49.00 pot. Jack thought a second, then tossed in his call, saying:
"Let's split it up."
The kid turned up:
Qh 7c, Jack turned up:
8s 7s.
The kid and another player both made derisive "How do you call with THAT?" comments as the dealer split the pot, but I thought I knew what had gone on, and simply said:
"Nice hand.", tapping the table.
A little later, I saw Jack off the table and asked him about the hand:
"Ok," I said, "here's what I think. You saw only two limpers in front of you, and a medium suited connector is a pretty good hand when it hits, cause no one can put you on it. You raised to fold me out and get the button, fold the blinds out and narrow the field, and disguise your holding in case it hits."
"When you found yourself facing three opponents, instead of two," I continued, "and when an Ace came on the flop, you decided to check yourself when they checked to you, just in case one of them had hit it and was being tricky. When the kid bet on the turn, it was a weak bet, and he reacted to that 7 falling. Since that card didn't complete any flushes or straights, he'd either hit his kicker for two pair, or had simply caught the 7. You called, rather than raised, because you still had no information on what the other players were going to do. You also knew if you were right about his only having a 7 and an 8 came on the river, you'd win the hand, and if an Ace, a Jack or a 5 came on the river, you'd probably split the pot (he wouldn't have if an Ace had fallen, the kid's Queen kicker would have played, but there was no way for Jack to know for sure what his kicker was,)."
I finished by saying: "So, when the Jack came on the river and paired the board, you knew it would probably be a split pot if he had a 7. That big bet meant he didn't want a call, so you could be pretty sure he didn't have an Ace or a Jack. Am I right?"
Jack looked at me for a second, then drawled:
"This ain't no poker school."
"Hey", I said, "I'm just trying to learn something."
"I give poker lessons right there", Jack said, pointing to a poker table as he started to walk off, "one hand at a time."
I guess he's a little tired of questions from people like me. I'm actually pretty excited that I've come far enough in my learning process that I could recognize what he'd done and why.
Now, if only I could DO it ..........
posted by Sean at 7:21 PM
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