I managed to win three poker tournaments yesterday. They were of three different monetary buy-in values, one was $1, one was $3 and one was $5. The prize awards were 10.50, 15.00, and 22.50 respectively. In these low dollar tournaments I am now able to finish in the money about half of the time, actually winning maybe 20% of those, so not like I am going to make a career out of it or anything.
Funny thing happened in one of the games though. There were 8 out of 9 players remaining when I got dealt a pair of aces. I checked to get into the pot but didn’t bet at all, I didn’t want to scare any of the other guys out of it. When the flop brought up another ace and two low cards (none of them suited) I knew that I had them beat, but I still only checked. I don’t remember the exact cards that came, but I know the first card on the board was an ace and the last one was a king, there was no possibility of a flush or a straight based on the cards. When the king came up on the river, one guy went all in and two others quickly called. I raised all-in to get as many chips as possible on the table. Again, I don’t remember exactly what all their cards were, but I busted two of them out and completely crippled the third.
As the next hand started, one of the guys said, in observer chat, “stupid donk didn’t even bet with three aces.” Although he didn’t manage the spelling or punctuation. I didn’t reply to it, but someone else at the table did, saying “yeah, you obviously played that hand way better than he did.” The observer didn’t say anything else.
So it is that I have chosen my poker icon. Now that I know that playing conservatively to try to get everyone else to throw their chips at me equates to being a donk, I shall embrace it. Fear the Donkey!