More Shenanigans with WTK

I haven't posted anything about the man, the myth, the legend, WTK in quite some time. This is for a couple reasons. First of all, he found my blog shortly after I wrote my last post about him, which from all accounts was pretty funny (he apparently read it aloud to the 40/80 table). He and I have also become a lot more friendly, joking around at the table and in general being very nice to each other.

First of all, I received an email the other day from a friend who's now playing the 20/40 game regularly after a long stint in the green chip (6/12 and 8/16) games. I could only smile at this:


From: mntndrew
To: jesse8888
Subject: i blame the "taking a shot" blog

7-handed, WTK opens UTG. It's folded to me, and I call the BB with Ac9s.

Flop [4.5 SB]: 7s3s2d

Hey, I flopped a flush draw! I check, WTK bets, I call.

Turn [3.25 BB]: 3h

Hey, I made a pair! I check, WTK bets, I call.

River [5.25 BB]: Tc

Hm. OK, I don't like that card. I check, WTK bets, I call.

I have no idea if that line's any good.

Oh, did I say "blame"? I meant "credit"! Here's your beer coupon. He had QJo. :)


I suppose I've blown whatever was left of WTK's cover.

W, I hope you're still out there, because honestly I find it hard to believe you didn't want to get this next part up on the interwebs. As an aside, as I've gotten better at poker I've realized that there is certainly merit to the way WTK plays. He simply runs over many unsuspecting victims, and against the correct lineup is almost certainly a winning player. He remains, however, a catalyst, meaning that his games are almost always fantastic because he gives so much action and so many bad beats that most of his opponents spend half or more of their time on tilt. So anyway....

A few days ago I decided to go home after getting unstuck in the 40/80 game. It was only 6:30 though, and my name was called for 20/40. "What table?" I say? "That one" Sophorna replies, directing me towards the WTK main-event table. "Lock it up" I respond, while contemplating whether or not a 20/40 table with WTK actually has less variance than the weak tight 40/80 one I'm sitting at. Never you mind....

I unrack my chips in the 1 seat, with WTK in the 7-hole. After waiting two hands I post in front of the button (meaning seat 9 is the button, seats 2 and 3 are the blinds, and I have posted 4 chips in seat 1) and take my first hand. Mila the prop is in seat 9. Seats 4, 5 and 6 all fold and WTK raises, indicating that there has in fact not been a misdeal and that he holds the standard 2 card allotment. Seat 8 folds, as does Mila in the 9 seat, with WTK saying "Nice lay down sir." I look at my cards and behold the mighty 86 off suit and declare "Whoa Nelly, way too much hand here" and call.

I look left at this point, obviously too late, and cringe in horror as I realize the big blind has exactly 8 chips left. The small blind folds and, as expected, the big blind kamikaze all-ins for a full 3 bets. If he had only 7 chips, WTK could not raise, as this would count as "raising yourself". Sadly for me and my feeble brain, however, this is not the case. WTK caps and I say "Well that doesn't change a darn thing". What I mean is that WTK would cap %100 of the time here. No matter what. If he didn't cap, I'd immediately take my cell phone out of my pocket and call 911, because he'd obviously be having a stroke and in need of immediate medical attention. I call two more bets and all of a sudden am staring at a capped pot, heads up out of position against a maniac with one player all in for for 9/11ths of the chips. With 8-high. Nice hand, sir. Nice hand. As I'm calling Mila says "You don't have to call you know" to which I respond "But Mila, I might make a pair!" The flop is....

A43 with two hearts

I shake my head and check, and WTK bets. At this point I really have no recourse but to fold. I did the math after the fact (meaning I checked Poker Stove) and my equity against two random hands is 12%

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt

966,381,570 games 29.265 secs 33,021,751 games/sec

Board: Ac 4h 3h
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 43.888% 42.59% 01.29% 411624242 12503347.67 { random }
Hand 1: 43.888% 42.59% 01.29% 411624242 12503347.67 { random }
Hand 2: 12.224% 11.65% 00.58% 112552886 5573504.67 { 8d6c }

Honestly, my opponent's hands are only a teensy weensy bit better than random, but whatever. Into the muck my hand goes and the turn and river are dealt out. One of the cards was a 7, the other a paint of some sort. The all in big blind declares "Flush!" and turns over his hand. He actually only has a flush draw, as the 5th heart never came, and his hand is exactly Ten Six for ten high. WTK looks at the hand and proudly turns over....Nine Five offsuit, for nine high. The table is riotous with laughter, and I say "Nice hand sir. You had it the whole way. I couldn't beat either hand." Mila says "You couldn't beat 9-high? What were you doing?! Have you gone craaaaazy?" I look at WTK and say "You see that? You cap Nine Five off and I'm the one who just went Koo Koo apparently." Mila smiles.

A little while later WTK open raises and the guy on his left, who has been working on 2+2=4 for a while now and seems to have realized that he might have a special player on his hands, cold-calls. I 3-bet with A7o because 3-betting WTK is fantastically fun. He's also raised like 8 of the last 10 hands or something and honestly I think A7 off with position against their two ranges is probably a favorite. The pot goes off 3 ways and we see a flop of:

542r

They both check to me and I bet. WTK mucks (LOL Ten high no good sir) and the other guy calls. The turn is a brick (a 9 I think) and I bet again, hoping he'll go away. He doesn't. I resolve to check and surrender on the river except it's an Ace, so I bet and he calls. He flashes a 4 before mucking and says "You can make a lot of money on this table if you get lucky" and I know he has moved one step closer to Tilt-Land. I mean, what did he have? 64? Q4 sooted? Honestly, what on earth did he have?

We proceed to my last orbit, and I open raise 33 from the High-jack or perhaps the low jack but either way too far from the button for doing so to be a good idea. But WTK is in the small blind and I'm a glutton for punishment. Astonishingly he folds, but the big blind, he of the 4 in the last hand...3-bets. This is usually awful, but in this case I'm not so sure. I call and cross my fingers for a set. I get no such thing:

J65

The fact of the matter, however, is that this guy is on tilt and thinks I'm a maniac, which is probably enough for me to call down some safe boards. I call "one time" which as we all know is Chinese for "two times at least and usually the river"

9

A breathtaking card, lacking in paint and ace-ness. I proceed with the second part of calling "one time", which as I've said is calling a second time.

J

Couldn't have come down better. Now that we're here it's time to go for the jugular. He bets strongly, in the usual "strong means weak" way that really wants me to fold, which is more than enough to confirm my gut sense that he has an airball. I disappoint him by slinging 8 chips into the pot in one fluid motion before he's done releasing his second stack of 4. He looks at me, looks at the board, looks at me, looks at WTK, then back at the board, and then...mucks. Face down. WTK has looked up from his magazine and is beside himself and says "I want to see that hand!" and the dealer is like "You can't do that" and he says "No no, I want to see the winning hand." I check that my opponents cards are safely in the muck and display my pocket 3s like the nuts that they are. WTK grins and says "Very nice hand sir. Very nice hand."