Let's Be Honest

The thing I hate most in this world is a liar, im talking about the type of person that is a complete stranger to the truth. Some people would say that it is pretty ironic that I play poker for a living. However it’s my general belief that to be a successful poker player one must be honest with themselves. Constantly lying to yourself about how unlucky you are is a very poor way to improve your game. A great example of this is a session I was in a few weeks back at Monte Carlo. It was a lively Vegas Friday night and I was in a pretty loose 1-2 game. There was a young kid in the game who seemed to be a novice to the game. His dad who was playing in another 1-2 game behind us kept giving him instructions about how his son should play. “Tight, Tight, Stay Tight” His dad would say. The Irony in that being that pops seemed to be a loose cannon, you could hear him at the other table drinking and laughing it up, in fact it seemed like there weren’t many hands that Pops missed playing. The kid must have inherited his dads confidence because for a little over an hour he had a good run, but he certainly wasn’t playing tight. He won some small pots and built his stack. Then he doubled up after baiting a euro into calling an All - in bet on the river with a paired board and 3 spades. The kid won nearly $200 on that hand and it looked like it was going to be a good night for him. During his run we got mixed up in small pot and I folded post flop. The kid brimming with confidence looked at me and started talking a little smack, nothing disrespectful just the kind of cocky bravado you would expect from a young novice. I told him he could have all the small ones I would keep the big ones. He chuckled until a few hands later we got mixed up in a big one. I had about $350 to start the hand and the kid was down to around $125. As I always do I straddled on the button for $4 the kid limped in along with 5 other players. I looked down @ KK. I decided to raise it to $28 to thin the field. The blinds folded, the kid called and everyone behind him folded. The flop comes down 8s-7d-4d. Not the greatest flop for kings but I’m probably still ahead. To my surprise the kid led out for $10. This seemed like a funny bet so I decided to raise for value and I made to $30 to go. The kid called and the turn is 3c. The kid checks and I decide to ship to shut any draw out. The kid tank calls and the river brings an Ad a Pretty bad card for my hand unless your opponent is a complete fish that called a preflop raise and two streets on this board holding no Ace or no Diamonds but this is Vegas and as sure as I’m writing this the Kid turns over J-8 off for top pair I show my Kings and scoop the money effectively ending his night. As he makes the walk of shame back to his dad’s table his dad starts asking him about how he went bust. “ I got my money in with top pair” He said. “What the other guy have?” asked dad “ I don’t remember” “TWO KINGS” I shouted across the room making sure pops heard me loud and clear”. “He didn’t raise with two Kings? Asked Pop “DID” I shouted back. “It was a small raise” Said the kid “7X THE BLIND” I hollered back. After a little more father son talk about poker the dad came over to me and said “Thanks for letting me know about that I had a suspicion he wasn’t being honest about all his losses”.