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Message: [QUOTE="SuperDonk, post: 1277581, member: 59300"] [b]I had the Nuts and didn't know it[/b] I had never played poker before but watched it on TV. I decided it was something I would like and could be good at. I did play backgammon and had read a little bit about it, so I wasn't unfamiliar with gambling basics. A few years ago I bought a basic book for beginners called Ken Warren Teaches Texas Hold'em and read it cover to cover. The book had extensive examples for practice, but I just read straight through it. Then I stocked up on caffeine pills and took a drive to Atlantic City. It is the only time I have played live poker. I played for about 18 hours straight and won about $250 at $2/$4 limit poker. In the middle of the night, there were few people at the table. It was mostly me and another guy, who I'll call the Jolly Raiser, and others who floated in and out as the night wore on. I played mostly alone against the Jolly Raiser for about 3 or 4 hours. JR had a strategy that I did not pick up on right away. If I checked, then he checked. If I raised, then he raised. He did this with a smile on his face and while making voluable happy talk and jokes with the dealers. In limit poker, you can only bet or raise a total of 4 times. But every time I was in the pot alone with the Jolly Raiser, he made a point to remind the dealer that the 4 raise limit is not in force during heads up play - the message was really intended for me. He never lost his smile and projected an air of confidence; the implication was that he would raise me to the end of my chipstack every hand. I was losing confidence and folding hands for a long time. At one point, a large, drunk guy who was built like an offensive lineman sat down at the table. He looked like he barely knew how to play and was fading in and out of consciousness. I was finally dealt a good hand against JR and I flopped a big full house; I didn't realize it was the nuts. I bet, so of course he raised and jocularly reminded the dealer that there was no 4 raise limit. After a few reraise-rereraise-rerereraise... etc., I got cold feet and called. On the turn I raised and reraised a few times before calling; JR reminded the dealer that there was no 4 bet limit in heads over and over again, all while smiling. I was scared that I was throwing my chipstack away. On the river, I raised again, so did JR. I reraised and so did he; he started his mantra about no 4 bet limit in heads up; I reraised some more until about half of my chipstack was gone and I finally called - that was the dumbest thing I ever did in poker! The drunk offensive lineman who was barely conscious looked like he had passed out, he was leaning over and resting on an elbow, but was watching through slit eyes. I turned over my cards. He said "Full house! Why didn't you reraise?" Then he passed out and fell off his chair (no joke!). I think I broke even against JR, but he left with a lot of money that should rightfully have been mine. If I had followed closer one of Ken Warren's lessons, which was about reading the board and recognizing the nuts, I would have bankrupted JR. Hope you enjoyed my story. It still pains me to think about it. I didn't play any poker for about two years after that until I signed up for a PokerStars account last summer (I played again this summer - but now school is due to start next month and not be able to play much at all). [/QUOTE]

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