Playing the fool in New Orleans

By Mark Lasser

Poker can be kind of funny. I had a chance to play recently at Harrah’s in New Orleans and faced a game that wasn’t what I thought it was.

First, I have to give a tip of the hat to The Big Easy. I love being in Denver, but when I am forced to travel, I do have to say that not all cities are created equal. The food in New Orleans is just soooooo good. I had a chance to visit both high-end fancy joints like Emeril’s and also established holes-in-the-wall like Mothers. Whoever had the idea of serving just the brown sugar-glazed crusty parts of the ham on fresh biscuits deserves a hug. So, after stuffing myself with a fried oyster po-boy, pralines, file gumbo and half a muffaletta sandwich, I went in search of some card playing action.

Harrah’s is a big casino, kind of like our Ameristar in Black Hawk. There were about 10 tables of no-limit action and three 4-8 limit Hold’em tables. Being so full, I wasn’t feeling razor sharp and decided to get in the low-limit game. I saw one table had nine players at it, all men, one young guy with a beard and eight guys who looked like their average age was 95. Perfect. I felt like playing an aggressive game and figured these rocks and nits would be fun to get really aggressive with. Whoops.

I realize after three or four hands that there are an average of six to seven players in every hand, including pretty standard button raises and pretty standard blind protectors. When I call this table loose, I mean it’s loose like baggy jeans on a hip-hop star. Down-to-the-knees loose.

I watched a hand that I wasn’t in being chased to the river by five players. By the time the last card hit the felt, the board was a rainbow of 9-T-Q-K-A. The first four players check around and the young guy with the beard who had raised in middle position looks at the board, then the other players and tosses eight bucks in the pot. OK, so he has a Jack, right? Or he figures nobody else has a Jack and he has a set or at least two pair, right? Well, all four players call. Huh? It’s unlikely they all have straights but as it turns out, none have the Jack. The aggressive young guy had raised pre-flop and bet the river with a 2-4 off suit. Awesome. The other four players all call even though none have a straight. Quadruple awesome. I think I may need to change strategy at the table.

I dump my loose, aggressive stand and opt instead for super-tight aggressive. And sure enough, this works out more often than not. My AK big slick flops an Ace and a four flush and I bet from the big blind and get lots of callers. I turn the flush, pause long enough to try to appear week, a tactic that would be very transparent to better players, and bet again getting four callers. I pray for another heart and it comes. Thank you, poker gods. I check, sure someone was chasing a King or Queen high flush. Sure enough, a middle position player bets, gets called by the late position players. I do the check raise and all but one player call it.

Now don’t get me wrong. These games aren’t about sitting down and just raking in chips. Games like this can be very volatile and require some astute gear shifting. Never bluff in a game like this or really in any low stakes limit game. Assume you will get called with high cards, missed straights and flushes that have a high pair and even ace highs. There is no such thing as a scare card in these games. Your flushes will be beaten by boats and straights by flushes, but by the numbers, these games are as profitable as they get.

Thanks New Orleans, and may your players come visit Colorado soon!

Mark B. Lasser is Denver writer and international poker player. He regularly plays in Colorado, Arizona, California, Missouri and Nevada. You can hear him talk about gambling and casinos every Friday at 5 PM on KEZW AM 1430. Readers can send questions and comments to him at ColoradoPokerMark@comcast.net.