"Don't Tap on the Aquarium"

Obviously one of the truest statements in poker. We don't want to scare the fishies, right? How about when the fishies use the same phrase, only about YOU?? Here's the deal.

I wanted to play the Stardust before it met the wrecking ball, so I trundled down the Strip and took a seat in one of the two 3-6 games they had running. And let me tell you, for someone as uninitiated as I am, a quiet casino (and the Dust was nearly silent on a Saturday night) is CREEPY. So I sat down and proceeded to win the first three hands I was dealt, with a flopped top two pair, a turned nut straight, and pocket Kings that held up. So since I was raising liberally, but showing down winners, I got the reputation as the table maniac. Sometimes I'll go out of the way to solicit this image, like earlier that night at Bally's when I announced to the table that I would play every hand to the flop for the first orbit, and proceeded to cap the action twice blind preflop. But it was 2-4 and I was just waiting for my seat in the NL table, so it's kind of an excuse.

But I wasn't going out of my way to be aggressive at the 'Dust, I was just getting pretty good cards, and raising in position. Which, since we were 6-handed, meant anything that wasn't a blind. Okay, so maybe I was playing a little loose. But anyway. I'm in the cutoff with Ah8h, and there are blinds and three limpers ahead of me (the other table had collapsed, so we were 8-handed at this point), so I limp. One of the blinds pops it up, and we all call. The button comes along, too. So we were 7-handed to see the flop, and I was getting 4:1 on my money to make the initial call, and then 12:1 to call the raise. There's no hand in poker that I won't call preflop if I'm getting 12:1 (in limit poker).

Flop comes down no pair for me, but two hearts, so now I'm on the nut flush draw, or I figure I might (might) be good with an ace, but probably not. Bet in early position, I call, raise from the button, several people call, and I call. I think we finished that round of betting 5-handed, so that's an addition $30 in the post on top of the $42 from the pre-flop betting. Turn is a blank, checked around to the raiser, who bets out. Only two callers, but I'm still getting better than 10:1 on my money, so it's a no-brainer of a call. River doesn't pair the board, but does (of course) bring a heart, so I have the nuts. Check, Check, I bet, initial raiser raises. Other two players fold, I re-raise, he calls, I show my nut flush.

He makes some comment about my calling, and I remark that there was practically no point in the hand when I was getting less than 8:1 on my money, much less the 4:1 I wanted to have after the flop. He mutters something else, and the guy next to him says "Have you ever read Mike Caro's book?"

Initial raiser mumbles something else, and the expert says "buddy," and points toward me "don't tap on the aquarium."

So yes, it's now official, I'm a fish. That surprises no one.

Tags: poker, Vegas