Geico Poker
Tom loves nothing more, I am sure, than getting a call from me late at night to relay a bad beat story. One of the things he’s been on my case about lately is the concept of running it twice and/or offering insurance. (Say I get it all in with a straight against another dude’s trips.)
“Did you ask, did you ask? Did you tell the dealer to stop dealing?”
The answer’s always the same … I did, and they said no … this always seems to baffle him, as if he doesn’t realize why a 2/5 game simply isn’t big enough for poker room management to overlook Chickasaw Nation gaming regulations that prohibit side bets.
Anyhow, I know and get how running-it-twice works and am still trying to get my hands around the insurance concept … and thus I was particularly interested in this episode of Premier League Poker (a British knock-off of Poker after Dark) in which Phil Hellmuth wins the hand but loses his $4,000 insurance bet, happily he contends:
Fawcett says:
September 14th, 2007 at 11:18am
Surely the bad beat story wasn’t when I flopped a set of threes on an Ah Ts 3h and raised you all in for $180 more and you CALLED with Tc 8d. Did I just hurt the credibiltiy of pokerati?
DanM says:
September 14th, 2007 at 6:08pm
actually, i think you just helped it.
and no, that hand was definitely not an insurance hand for me. it’s hard to protect a bad starting hand, followed by a terrible bet ($100 to win $18) followed by an even worse call.
itsoverjonny says:
September 15th, 2007 at 12:52am
In my opinion, running it twice demonstrates a lack of commitment to your hand. If I get all of my chips (or all of the other guy’s chips) in the pot, why would I want to run it twice, so that I would most likely just get my money back plus maybe a little more? I play to win, not to push.
Fawcett says:
September 15th, 2007 at 10:04am
Dan you know I luv ya…in my opinion running it twice is and indication of playing at limits you aren’t comfortable with or over your roll…unless it is a coinflip due to huge draws vs. a made hand and you just want your money back out rather than gambling for it.
DanM says:
September 15th, 2007 at 2:13pm
ever heard of a hedge fund?
Fawcett says:
September 15th, 2007 at 2:39pm
ever seen a hedge fund lose its ass in a sub-prime debacle?
DanM says:
September 15th, 2007 at 2:55pm
actually scott, no i haven’t. sounds fascinating though.
the hand i am specifically referring to took place in a 2/5 game at winstar. i had been down all night and clawed my way back to even. was ready to call it quits (at about 6:30 am — having started at midnight) but an evaluation of the changing table conditions told me it was still a good game to stay in … and wait. i did that. and at 9:30 am i got the hand …
it was a straddled pot with about 5 callers, and i limped with 7-8 on the button. the flop came: 5-6-9. there was a bet and a raise in front of me, and three of us ended up seeing the turn (a strategic mistake on my part … even though my thought was that if the flush came i was going to get away from the hand).
another 6 came, which i KNEW tripped up an early position bettor. perfect. it took some clever bets and raises and acting, but didn’t take much to get my entire $1,000 stack in the middle. he reluctantly called with A-6.
And then an ace on the river.
hard to get too upset — he had 10 outs. but considering the time and knowing i was done for that session regardless of the results of this specific hand … absolutely i woulda been happy to run it twice (there was nearly $300 in the pot from players who had since dropped out) or to give him some insurance on his all-in.