The Worst $15 I've Ever Spent

Poker players Winning poker players are the cheapest of the cheap bastards.

At any given time, you'll see players eating the free crackers that came with the salad they ordered four hours ago.  You'll see them arguing over the menu, complaining about the chicken fingers at $6.99 being a huge ripoff.  You'll see players with $1000 stacks stiffing the waitress on her $1 tip etc.

I'm playing 1/2 ($1 small blind $2 big blind) No-Limit Hold Em.  I have about $500 in front of me, and I'm going to tell you about the worst $15 I've ever spent.

Into the 9 seat comes a late twenty-something year old woman.

When someone new comes to the table, I'm checking them out.  It's crazy to think of the kinds of things I observe and pick up on these days.  First off, she's a woman, she's African American, she's wearing a t-shirt and some kind of athletic/warm-up pants.  She also buys her chips at the table, using an unknown number of $20 bills.  Oh, and I've never seen her before.

What does this tell me?  I'm willing to bet one of my stacks that she doesn't play poker regularly.  Regulars know that in this poker room (and many others), the house tries to get you to buy your chips at the window prior to sitting down at the table.  Second, regular poker players usually carry big bills.

None of this matters.  She hasn't played a hand yet.  I'm just giving an example of the kinds of things I catch running through my head.

Back to the story.

The chip runner comes over and takes her cash.  She's immediately the big blind (BB).  She has a "Money Behind" button in front of her and no chips.  I limp in, a player to my left raises to $15, she calls, I call.  To the flop we go (three of us).

Lady checks, I bet, both players fold, and the dealer pushes me my $30 pot.  A minute later, the chip runner returns with her chips.  The dealer asks for the $15 she owes me, and I see confusion.  She tells the dealer that she didn't know it was raised to $15.  That she had 7-2, and wouldn't have called $15.  The dealer informs her that she still owes the $15, that the raise was announced and she called.

Here's where Rhino (incorrectly) starts to feel bad.  I can tell that she's sincere.  This was clearly a mistake.  I tell her to keep it.  Dealer throws it to me anyway, and I toss it back to her and tell her to be careful next time.

BAD Rhino, BAD.

This turns out to be the worst decision I made all day (including the hero call that cost me $100 with top pair no kicker later that evening)

This woman would go on to become my arch nemesis.

More to come on this subject in the next post.