Reversal of Fortune

Some nights, you can do now wrong. Some nights, you sit down at a table to sling come cards and chips with a few friends and you just sense that it's all gonna go your way. Some nights, no matter how far behind you may be, you know that it's all going to work out in the end.

Me? Oh hell, no! I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about Crazy Nate. Friday night Nate took almost five hundred imaginary dollars out of my home game, which is ridiculous when you stop to consider that it's a $.25/.50 game. At one point I looked down at the $200 sitting in front of me and thought I was doing pretty good.

Then I realized that I was $400 into the game. By storming back to finish the night down $160, I decided I was a winner. Just because I wasn't the biggest loser. Nate caught every ridiculous thing he chased, including two rivered gutshot draws for pots worth well over $100 each. And once he got chips, he played the table bully as well as anyone I've ever seen. It was truly ridiculous.

One of my great joys in my home game is to watch the faces of people that have never played with Nate. He's an old dude, 78 to be exact, and he's played poker for ever. And it's probably never been very good poker. But here are a few things to understand about Nate.

1) His entire game is predicated on making you fold. Therefore, he could teach Brunson a thing or two about aggression with trash.

2) He doesn't give a shit about the money.

3) If he calls a bet on the flop, there's practically no bet he won't call on the turn or river. He will chase whatever he is chasing until 9th street if you let him, and he will not lay down middle or top pair no matter what. He will sometimes lay down an underpair or bottom pair, but don't count on it.

4) If he raises preflop, he has an Ace. It may have a 3 kicker, but there's an Ace in the hand.

5) Unless he has pocket Aces, in which case he will limp.

6) He also limps with Kings.

7) He also limps with 8-4 offsuit.

I asked him at one point after he took down a pot by hitting his gutshot on the river to crack my flopped two pair "Nate, do you call an all-in on the turn if I bet it?"

"Yup."

He was sincere. My all in would have been over $100 into a $25 pot, and he would have gladly called it.

We couldn't be upset with Nate for having a good night, because he frequently loses $200 a week in the game, but it certainly didn't feel very good to give it all back to him in one night.