I decided to try and change up my routine and break myself out of my cash game funk. I called to find out what limits Artichoke Joe’s spreads and how they take their rake. Turns out they do $3/$6 and up and take the ($3 for all games, something to consider when–if?–I move up in limits) rake from the pot.
Artichoke Joe’s is more on my way home than the Oaks, but the traffic is just as horrendous on a Friday night. There was a bit of a waiting list on the $3/$6 games, but I got to sit down in about a half hour.
They play 9-seated there, which was fine. The table was friendly and not aggressive. It wasn’t long before I was chatting with a couple of guys from across the table. I was relaxed and waiting to play good hands. Blinds chipped away a bit from my stack as I waited, but the waits meant that I was able to pick up some pots and eventually get ahead.
One of the guys I was talking with was a rather loose player. He entered many pots, but he also raised with a higher-than-average frequency for the table. His stack had a major variance, and he was eventually down for the night; he went into his pocket more than once and at one point left the table to retrieve more cash.
Yet he wasn’t strictly a gambler. He had some good ideas of what he was doing and was observant, as you will see.
I was in the big blind and he was in middle position. Everyone folded around to him and he raised. Everyone else folded around to me and I looked down to find A-8 offsuit. I thought for a moment, in part about the fact that he was the only one in the hand and could have a pretty wide range of holdings, and re-raised. He just called.
The flop came K-Q-x rainbow. I thought for a moment and then bet out. I wanted to appear like I had a good holding there.
He didn’t call right away. In fact, he not only sat and thought for a bit, he also commented on how I played so few hands. I sat as motionless as possible through all his musings, and then saw him toss away his hand face up.
A pair of tens.
No, it wasn’t a big pot, but that’s fine. What surprised me a bit was that at a Friday night low-limit table, someone actually noticed my playing style. Up to this point, I’ve not really had any overt indicators like that. But the fact that he did notice turned out to be useful, even if I was unaware that he was aware when I made my play.