Dublin Poker

I finished my first week off on a bit of a bad note. Having got up to just over $700, I proceeded to lose about ten $15 STT's in a row. Partly due to not concentrating, mainly to do with running into terrible players. I was going on TILT after this, and instead of doing something stupid, I decided to withdraw most of my BR, so as not to tempt me into playing $50 and $100 games.

I withdrew 500 euro, so I had about $60 left in the account. Monday night, I jumped on for a little bit and saw a friend of mine playing. This lad is on PPP every night and makes a decent profit out of it. The surprising thing is, he is pretty terrible at poker. I won't name names (although he doesn't read this blog!), but this friend of mine has NEVER cashed in any live tournament. He has never even made a final table before, not even the Fitz freeroll.

However, he does make a steady profit from playing online. I havent played with him live in a while, so I presumed that since he was making money, presumably he was getting better. Until I saw him play the other night.... He has absolutely no concept of odds etc, he never factors in what the other player might have, he has no betting pattern whatsoever... and yet he is ripping up the 25c/50c tables.

I don't mean to badmouth him, he's still a mate, but he epitomises the exact type of player I cannot play against. It hurts my head watching him play... For instance, watching him the other night on PPP, he picks up A5o and raises $5. Flop comes QK7. He bets, gets raised and calls. Turn is a 5. he bets gets reraised and he goes all in. Other player has KQ; he rivers an ace.. And doesn't bat an eyelid...

While I was watching him play this happened a few more times... he had soon turned $20 into over $100, almost totally by outdrawing the other players. He never lets go of a good ace, and chases any draw, and you will not get him off a hand if he has hit anything. Now if thats what works for him, fair play, whatever makes you money, my point is, he seems to be relying almost purely on luck, and it seems to be working for him.

He will chase a gutshot right down to the river, and he is surprised when he doesn't hit. I see him betting with nothing, and calling big bets holding nothing but high cards, and when I ask why he's calling, his reply is usually, "I'll probably hit on the river".... and he usually does.

I've a feeling that he has been playing online so long, without playing live, that it has changed the way he thinks about poker. He expects to hit magical rivers, and he expects to hit his draws almost every time.

Now without just sounding like a moany cunt, my question is, can you be profitable at poker without necessarily being that good? I don't mean to badmouth my mate, he seems to be finding this online lark a lot easier than me, but I know he would get ripped apart in any decent live game. Yet, he consistently makes profit online, mainly by dishing out bad beats to poor fuckers like me who actually make a huge effort to try and outplay people.

Anyway the main reason I'm writing this is due to an incident from last night. I don't want this to seem as if I am just pissed off over a bad beat (there's something new!), moreso that I was amazed by how he played the hand. Bear in mind he has been playing regular poker for over a year, and should have a fair idea of how I play by now. Anyway heres the hand.

25c/50c 6 player table.

($60)Rory: Ad 9c
($70)Friend: Ah 10s
($20)Player 3: 8h 10c

Flop comes down 7d 9d Ac

Friend bets, I raise, player 3 calls, Friend goes ALL IN???
It is sooo obvious he has a good ace which he just won't let go of. I'm licking my lips waiting for it to get back around to me. I know I have him beat and all I have to do is avoid a bad beat and I have it. I'm a little worried about Player 3 tripling up, but I'm more interested in showing my friend 'a lesson', in how not to over play a high ace.

The pot is about $120

At this point the % are like this to win the hand.

Rory: 62.29%
Player 3: 28.68%
Friend: 9.02%

The turn brings the 4d, so now the only card in the WHOLE DECK that he can hit is the 10h. THE ONLY CARD!!! The % now are

Rory: 83.33%
Player 3: 14.28%
Friend: 2.38%........ yes 2.38%!!!

River brings the 10h.

Fair enough its a bad beat, but the way he played it amazed me. All he saw was an Ace and he pushed. I know he didn't even consider what we had. If I tell him he was 2% on the turn this means nothing to him. I can't confront him about it because at the end of the day its only a fucking game, and he's a mate. It is still frustrating though, losing to a player that believes they played the hand correctly. I know this isin't that bad a hand but it is how he would play an ace every time.

I mean, when he plays PPP, he barely watches the game, throws in random bets at random intervals, chases ridiculous hands, and cannot let go of AK, AQ etc, regardless of the flop... I just can't make sense of it. Now I don't want to sound like I'm just slagging off his play, but in my experiences it seems that at the levels I'm playing at, the looser the player, the more they seem to make. I just can't play that loose. I don't feel comfortable playing super loose like a certain Eamon O' Reilly among others. However, this style does seem to have its rewards. Eamon won a ticket into the WSOP last year, and my friend is cleaning up (online anyway). What do you do?