My Poker Group – Part 1: Tournament Specialist, Thumbs, Jay Ro
July 20, 2006So I got the poker bug seriously about a year ago. When I played Magic “professionally”, there always people playing poker somewhere close by. My friends and I were more focused on Magic so I never really got into it at that point. One of my best friends JW, AKA the most virile man on the planet, and the man now known as the “tournament specialist” taught me how to play. We just played regular draw poker a couple of times, but with 2 people it’s kinda boring. The rest of the players I play with “regularly” are really good too: Thumbs, Goat, JayRo, The Baron and Equinox. I have included a list of the players below and what I feel they are most likely to go “All-In” with.
JW AKA Tournament Specialist: I’ve known JW since cub-scouts. JW has blossomed into quite the player since we intitally played. He has a good read on hand strengths and the quality of players. And he is pretty aggressive. His favorite move is to pretend not to look at his cards pre-flop and re-raise you. We call him the tournament specialist because he won a pretty large tournament a little while back (for rural Ontario). He knows the odds and is tough to read.
JW All In Hand: AKs
Thumbs: Thumbs and I have played Magic head to head for years. Thumbs likes to play and think outside the box. He has a very sarcastic sense of humour and finds it funny when people fall down, even little old ladies (see his blog). I remember we watched Saving Private Ryan together. The theatre was packed and the movie started. The first 10 minutes are pretty intense, and you could hear a pin drop. Until the once scene, where some American GI got his arm blown off and picked it up. The silence of the theatre was broken by Thumbs cackling beside us. I think it was the Insectoids that warped his mind.
He did amazing at Pro tour Chicago a year after me, because he created a deck that was all his own. Most peole came there with copied decks, and thus were unaware of how to adjust, becasue no one could tell them how. I remember Thumbs would always bust out a new deck before a major tournament back in our old Magic stomping grounds in Milton. In the interim, players would get crushed, and then an iterative feedback loop would result, whereby the surprise effect of his strategy was eventually negated. I am trying to currently trying to convince Thumbs to avail himself of some material on the Stock Market, as I am certain he could inflict a beating there, once he applied himself.
Thumbs All In Hand: JJ 
JAYRO (AKA Ace-X, see below): I’ve know JayRo since Grade 7. JayRo has a sharp acerbic sense of humour. And you knows the entire film roster of any B actress like the back of his hand. he could tell you what movie every person from the cast of “Saved By The Bell” has starred in. He is like me a big stats fanatic. We were about equal in stats fanaticism in high school/university but the baseball strike kinda killed my love for the game (which I hope to resurrect). The ironic thing is that until recently, he usually fared pretty shitty in our sports pools. Go figure! Jay Ro is one of those math wizard kids, and knows the odds down to the decimal point. He is a strong player, and you can always count on him to have an ace (hence Ace-X). In fact every hand I’ve showed down to him has has an ace. One memorable call, which I now realize was really bad, was a preflop raise by him, a re-raise by me, and then an all-in by him. At that point I should have realized he had pocket bullets, but I was hoping he had some garbage. Anyway, I call with Phil Ivey’s favorite hand, A-Qo. I am totally dominated. It’s the Queen of diamonds, and I end up getting the flush…
Jay Ro All In Hand: AA
Quote of the Day (For Jay Ro): “The power of observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it” George Bernard Shaw
Okay, my memories of that hand are slightly different.
I don’t think there was that raising and re-raising. I think I went all-in immediately, trying to isolate myself against Graham (who was short stacked at the time and was the big blind, and was likely going to call a heads-up battle). But then you called out of nowhere and that made Graham fold his hand (because he was pretty confident that he was beat). I definitely remember us trying to explain to you why calling away all your chips in that situation with your hand was a horrible move (and it had nothing to do with my hand at all).
I also remember the flush hitting because you hit runner-runner, which was annoying because somebody said I was in the clear after the turn and I called for the flush at that point. For some reason though, I thought it was in clubs, because I remember the Jack of Clubs being the river card and us trying to figure out if Graham had a club in his hand.
Anyway, it doesn’t really matter that much – I played the hand correctly, and you learned from it (and really, it was a mistake that should have been expected given how much you had played. AQo is a hand that’s typically overvalued by beginning players.)
Apparently AQ is the hardest hand to play in holdem (thats what them pros tolds me).
I don’t understand the ‘All In’ hands you are assigning but let it be known, I could push my stack with any hand under the correct circumstances.
You are doing a wonderful thing here on the Internet. I wish you the very best. Kindest regards.