That’s okay; I’ll take all the small ones and wait for a big hand to play a biggie.
He limped in with Q9 off from utg+1. I raised six bb from the button with KK.
He called, like he always does pre-flop.
(Catch up with Part 1 of the story here)
He Can Be My Piggy Bank Any Day of the Week
The flop was Q-7-4 with two hearts. He check-called my pot-sized bet.
The turn was a black nine. It doesn't hit a normal range, but it hits his range. "The Pig" is just as likely to have Q4 as Q9 as QJ, so I bet again.
The river was a black ten and he donk-bet close to the pot.
He does the same with all missed draws and there could be many in his range. I even beat some of his value hands, so I called.
He laughed out loud and made all of his trademark sounds intended to put me on tilt.
He will never realize that I would have won an equally big pot had he not hit his three-outer.
And that he probably could have won my whole stack had he played it differently.
Also that I'd only lost the day's profit so far from all the small pots I had picked up earlier.
"The Pig" does not care about small details like that. Because he is always right.
Fine by me; he can be my bleeding piggy bank any day of the week.
Half the Pot and Still a Happy Camper
An old man that I have never seen before sat down and played with a short stack without saying a word. Or playing a hand.
Finally he got it in after a couple of hours with AK on a flop of A-A-K.
Obviously he slow-played and his opponent complied with all his chips on the river with A2 after a king on the turn and then a deuce.
Our hero did not flinch when the dealer said “split pot” and started to divide the pot.
How could he? He did not understand English. Or poker.
He got half the pot and he was still a happy camper. But when his opponent got the other half, he came to life.
He asked the dealer what he was doing. The dealer explained.
The old man objected loud and clear, but more loudly than clearly if you know what I mean.
In Spain, in my experience, they always pounce on weakness; that’s why you always should check the turn to them.
The Whole Table Started to Laugh
In other parts of the world, experienced players will usually try to help the dealer by explaining the rules to the fish.
Not in Marbella. The whole table started to laugh at the old man, who did not understand why he only got half the pot with the nuts.
A Swede would quietly surrender when the whole table is laughing at him. Not him. The old man raised his voice and pointed to his king and then to his opponent’s deuce.
The whole table broke out laughing once again, including the dealer.
I understand the old man's frustration -- especially when the opponent who got half the pot laughed in his face.
"The Pig" laughed the loudest and was still laughing well away in the next pot.
I was sitting opposite the dealer who talked to the guy in the one seat in a normal voice that everybody could hear.
The ones not sitting to close to the laughing Pig that is. The dealer explained his take on the situation and the old man:
“He is ignorant. I could see it in his eyes.”
I Confess That I Laughed Too
In Marbella they don't abide by the concept “Don't tap the fish tank” or “The customer is always right." And they don’t care.
But dealers declaring players idiots feels a little over the top.
It was a funny situation and I confess that I laughed too; just more quietly than the rest.
But I also felt the pain of the old man. I wonder if he ever comes back?
About Ken Lennaárd:
Sweden's most controversial poker blogger Ken Lennaárd has been around the professional poker circuit for almost 20 years. Among his numerous accomplishments are Swedish Championships both live and online, three WSOP final tables and over $1.5m in live earnings. He's now bringing his singular poker voice to the English world via PokerListings.com. Look for new posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Note: Opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not represent the views of PokerListings.com.
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