Who Won?

Patti Beadles played 10-20 online last night. This is what happened:

Winners and Losers

I was playing in a six-handed 10-20 holdem game online tonight while I wound down for bed.

Seat one was a revolving door – about half a dozen players came through it during the 150 or so hands that I played.

In seat two we find perhaps the second worst poker player in existence. He was very passive, his raises were reliable, and he was more than a little bit optimistic about his cards. In fact, he called more than a telemarketer.

Seats three and four were relatively solid players.

I was in seat five.

Seat six was the only guy on the planet who could play worse than seat two. He would reraise preflop with hands like 84-offsuit, three bet with J8, call with anything and nothing (including drawing dead), always raised and often capped with his draws on the flop, and was just generally hemorrhaging money.

Six kept sucking out on me for a while, but eventually I got back to even and then ahead a few hundred bucks.

Three was making money, though Two drew out on him a few times. Every time he did, Three would start swearing at him. "Stupid fucker. Your going to lose all your money. Fucking moron." Two never said anything the whole time.

Four was fairly quiet, though he would occasionally make a comment like, "very nice hand".

Six, however, was cheerful even after he was stuck over $800. When he started getting close to the felt, he quipped, "I'm going for broke."

I suggested that I would support him in that endeavor, and that it wasn't personal – it was merely my job as his opponent. I would expect the same from him. He laughed and agreed.

I told him, "you're an unusual player, and I mean that in a good way. Most players get cranky and nasty when the cards don't fall their way, but you're still joking and laughing. I respect that."

"Losing all your money isn't the worst thing that can happen to you. I lost three friends today. They were killed in a fire."

His hometown was listed as Staten Island. I made a quick trip to Google news and discovered that three NY firefighters were killed in a blaze today. "Are you a firefighter?"

"Yes."

I was stunned, and made the best sympathetic noises that I could muster, followed by, "I respect that job – my hat's off to you."

"Are you wearing a hat?"

"No, but I could go grab one just so I could take it off-- I collect them." We spent a couple minutes discussing which hat would be best for me to take off to him, and finally decided on the leather top hat.

The contrast between this guy and Three was huge. Three was being a flaming asshole because he lost a single pot, even though he was well ahead of the game overall. Six was being extraordinarily pleasant and social and never said a bad word to anyone even while he was nearly four figures in the red, not to mention three friends.

I'm sure Three finished the session with more money than Six, but if I had to pick winners and losers, I'd score it the other way.

Truth to tell, I've got a lot more of Seat Three in me than is good for either me or the game in general. It's very good to have the reasons why this isn't such a good idea illustrated in primary colors.