poker at Rockford Charitable Games

On April 19, instead of going to the usual weekly poker game, I went to a charity poker event with my friend Jeff. You would think that once poker was legalized in Illinois, the charity poker would have suffered - but just the opposite. With the online poker boom, Rockford Charitable Games is probably busier than ever. 18-year olds can get in, so this is the only legal live poker that you can play if you're under 21.

The event was held at Empress Banquets in Addison. Jeff and I met beforehand to have dinner and discuss some strategy. This was the first time Jeff had played live poker outside of a home game. Jeff is improving all the time but he's still learning.

There were about 15 tables of tournaments (single and multis) and about 8 tables of cash games. They were spreading 1-3 spread limit, 2-5 spread limit, 5-10 limit (I think), some no limit, and maybe some Omaha. I played 1-3 spread limit with Jeff and we discussed almost every hand after showdown. Over the course of 5 hours, Jeff improved quite a bit.

It was definitely a no-foldem holdem game. The players were some of the worst that I've ever seen. Jeff was the third best player at the table, and in our Thursday night home game, he'd be 7th best. I would say that at least half of the players learned how to play by watching no-limit holdem tournaments on TV. They were overly aggressive when their bets and raises wouldn't make anyone fold anyway. On one hand in particular, two guys were heads-up and betting and raising all the way. It turned out that they both had middle pair with crappy kickers, with an ace and a king on the board. Jeff just stared at the hands, stared at the board, and gave me a puzzled look.

I was dealt very few playable hands but got paid off when I did get them. I had a nice hand where I was dealt 55, there were several raises preflop, and I flopped a set - the board was 578. I bet, someone raised, I reraised, he called. I wasn't too happy to see that the turn was a 4, but with this crowd, I bet anyway. I was raised and just called, assuming he had a straight, but I still had 10 outs. The river was a beautiful 5, giving me quads. I bet and he only called...I had gotten a tight reputation at the table.

Unfortunately for Jeff, he was dealt AA twice and didn't make any money! The first time, he was heads up, but the other player left the table before the flop was dealt, Jeff bet the flop, and her hand was declared dead. The next time he had AA, everyone folded. That was the only time all night that the entire table folded to a preflop raise.

Players berated each other openly after someone sucked out or made a poor play. They would say things like "nice 2-outer" when the opponent actually had many more outs. They said "How could you call that" when the caller was getting the proper odds. And they would keep calling or even raising when it was pretty obvious they were beat. One guy called a preflop raise with 32, the flop came X22, the other player had KK, and they both kept raising all the way. My favorite quote, spoken by someone after aces were cracked, was "Aces are the worst pair to get. I'd rather get any pair other than aces". A lot of heads nodded in agreement. What a bunch of idiots.

In hindsight, I think I should've played more suited and connecting cards for raises before the flop. I did try to limp in with a lot of hands, but if there was a large raise or reraise, I usually folded.

It would be hard to win much at the $1-3 level unless you get great cards. The rake was bad and the play was incredibly slow. The dealers did a decent job, but some of the players never knew when it was their action. One guy was wearing sunglasses and he was a total idiot. I think he may have been asleep. He never knew when it was his turn, and when he did, he placed his bet about 1 inch in front of his chip stack, so no one knew that he called.

Next time, I'll definitely try some of the single table SNGs, and some higher limit hold'em. Presumably the skill level is a lot better at $5-10 hold'em, but with this crowd, there will be some suckers in the game. I would like to play no-limit hold'em, but I would be bored out of my mind. When playing online, I play four tables at a time, 70+ hands per hour at each. With 280 hands per hour, you don't get bored and start playing marginal hands. But if I sit down at one table and play about 20 hands per hour, I'm going to get really bored and do stupid things.

- schneid