Again I apologize for writing about poker (however this blog by me will definetely be on a lot more serious subject), but I am always trying (believe it or not) to make better poker players out of my friends.  I think Jon once told me something along the lines that he would love all of us to go to Garden or Bay and all come up big winners in the same session.  I agree with this so I'm trying to give you more insight into the game based on my observations.
 
Obviously we all know that playing with the best hand and favorite hand (yes there is a difference...and I don't mean favorite as in J7offsuit hehe) is key in low limit games.  I mean most of the time we need to show the best hand at the end to win the pot so why should we not play only premium cards?  Well an interesting situation came up when I was playing at Bay a couple of days ago.  I was in the big blind and someone raised it.  Everyone else folded so we were in a heads up situation.  Now my cards were exactly good but they weren't too bad either.  56suited clubs.  Well any other time I would fold this hand if I was up against a raise.  Even more so, Jon will tell you that the pot odds weren't exactly spectacular holding that kind of hand.  Most of time with suited connectors you want a lot of callers to pay you off if you hit big.  Thinking quickly I realized that I'm putting out one small bet (because I was the big blind) to win 3 bets plus the small blind.  Even if I was the underdog in the hand I was getting profitable odds.
 
So what?  I'm protecting my big blind.  Well the second part of my thinking is this...if the flop came out all rags I would probably have a good chance to steal this pot.  So the flop came out and it was indeed rags HOWEVER I did pick up middle pair with a 5.  The board was a 5, 3, 8 rainbow.  Now realizing this guy was kind of ridiculous in his betting from past hands I decided to check it...he paused for a bit and bet.  Does this really look like a raiser's flop?  Like I said though this guy could be holding anything...so I called.  Right when I called I saw him chuckle a bit.  This made me realize something...
 
We always think it is hard to play against someone who has a big hand.  If we put someone on a big hand and we have a decent drawing hand it is tough to figure out what actions we want to take...HOWEVER it is equally hard for people to play against someone like me who shows a lot of the best hands and then I check/call the flop.  Now this guy was probably thinking, "shit...he could be holding anything and he is a bit of a tight player."  Then again he could have been thinking, "I should have stayed in the jungle where I belong."  Either way I thought of the chuckle as weak.
 
The flop came out a 2.  Thinking I have a gutshot I decided to try to get a free card and checked...he bet and I then realized that he might be trying to buy this pot.  I dunno...call me weird, but I just didn't think he could be holding anything...perhaps two overcards which leaves him with 6 outs...either way I decided to fuck it and raise.  He thought for a bit then threw his hand away.
 
No doubt I got lucky in him not having a legit hand after the flop.  Also the board did help my hand a bit so raising was exactly a total bluff...however it made me realize that perhaps a raise with 2 or less callers is worth me putting money in just to see the flop...not only because it was cheaper for me to do so when I'm on the blind, but because my opponents really have no fucking clue what I could be holding...and why would I call and raise with nothing in my hand when I've been showing them the best hands on the showdown?
 
On a more serious note my cousin Miya has just informed me that my barber that I have had for over a decade passed away about a year or so ago.  This came up out of the blue because Miya took someone to B-Pizzazz to get a haircut for my cousin's wedding about a month ago.  She used to take me to get my haircut when she lived with us and the barbers always loved it when my half black half japanese cousin came in to visit.  Anyway she went to the shop and asked where my barber, Joe Love was.  Another barber whom I have known since my first day going in there told her that he passed away right after I took a break from him because Ricki needed practice in cutting hair.  This just came out over dinner and my parents and I were like, "he did?!?"
 
So what is the big deal here?  Well I'm not exactly sure how many of you had a friendly relationship with your barbers (Jon you don't count because you cut it or your dad does), but Joe Love has watched me from middle school all the way up through last year.  I got a lot of memories from that barbershop and the conversations we used to have.  With all honestly that barbershop was A LOT more live than the barbershop movie.  On my next blog I'm going to go ahead and tell you about some of my memories because they in my mind pretty damn hilarious.