Tilting

I had an interesting night at the Bellagio the other night. Another young player, who I've seen there before, noticed I won a few hands with cards along the lines of Q3o, and he decided I was a loose raiser and that it was his mission to take advantage of this. Instead of simply taking note of this and taking advantage of my supposed weakness, he decided to announce to me and the table that the next time I raised to $30 he would reraise me another $70. He repeated his intentions at least half a dozen times in the next half hour.

Now, this is a guy who uses as a card-protector a lighter in the shape of a hand with its middle finger up that says "fuck you, fuck you..." when you turn it on. Much of his personality coincides with the sentiment of this lighter. He's actually not a bad player usually, but on this particular night he went on major tilt after seeing me win a few medium-size pots with poor hands. It's true that every once in a while I will throw in a raise on a whim. Essentially, I'm trying to stealing the blinds and the limps, but it also keeps me interested when things start to get a little dull, and makes me very unpredictable, I think. I don't think it's particularly profitable to do this except that it keeps me interested and will occassionally put another player on tilt.

Anyway, at one point I raised to $30 with T5s and Brian, which is his name I think, called me from the big blind. One of the limpers also called. The flop came 25J and Brian bet his last $30. There was a fold and I called the $30 because the pot was now about $125. Brian had 850, and I won.... this was the point at which he decided to announce that he would be raising me whenever I raise. "I've seen you play before. I know how you play." I take note of this but decide not to change my strategy, which is to raise with my very strong hands, and occassionally with not-so-strong hands. Brian later says that he was down $1400 on the day at this point, which is really a lot for the $200 buy-in game that we were playing.

Anyway, several hands later I get KK in middle position and raise, as I normally would, to $25. There had been one or two limpers in front of me. Three to my left Brian pushes all in $160 with QQ, and the next guy calls with about $75 left, and I call the $160. Anyway, I lose the main pot but win the side pot as the other guy catches his flush with AJs.

The next time I raise I have JJ and raise to $35 in early position. Brian raises, and everyone else at the table, who have all heard Brian's earlier threats, is unafraid. Five people are in on the flop for $118 each. Flop came AT8 and I fold to a $100 bet... AJo wins, and Brian says he had KJ.

Later, I have KJo and decide to raise to $35 to try to steal the blinds. True to his word, Brian raises me to $115. Everyone fold this time, and I decide to call. I have another $240 in front of me, Brian has me covered. Flop comes QT4 and I go all-in (which I now think was a bad play, since Brian is not going to fold many hands here, since he is tilting and thinks I am hyper-aggressive). He calls with AA and I lose my stack. Ugh.

I left an hour or so later without any money. Brian has about $1800 in front of him at this point. Bad outcome, but a very interesting night for me. I think I played okay, but got unlucky when Brian caught AA on a hand I decided to raise, and then I caught a straight draw that didn't make it. I'll let you know when I encounter Brian again.