Mr. ATM

Until a few weeks ago, the highest stakes limit holdem game I ever played was $3/6. Since the beginning of my online poker career I have concentrated on no limit, since I love the ability to make huge value bets at the end with monster hands rather than being restricted to wagers that are only a tiny fraction of the pot. But there are some draws to limit as well. First of all, I have yet to prove myself in that arena, as my latest sessions have yielded only losses. In addition, it is hard to ignore the other poker bloggers who are having a seemingly easy time destroying the middle limit games at Party Poker. So the other day I poured through the $5/10 tables and sat down at one with a relatively high average pot size. I posted a late position blind and was dealt AJ - not a bad start. The player under the gun immediately raised and it was folded to me. Having no information about the raiser, I opted to fold, not wanting to go heads up with a potentially dominated hand, though I suppose that reraising would have been a decent option as well. Anyway, everyone else folded too, and UTG took down a small pot. The next several hands were very similar, and it became clear that this table was full of tight aggressive players who were prepared to fight tooth and nail for every penny. By the time the blinds circled back to me I was out of there. So much for finding easy games at limits higher than $3/6, I thought.

But last night changed all that. It was a little past 3 am, and I was getting sick of looking at the science paper I was supposed to be working on. The PC to my right beckoned and I fired up Party Poker just to check out the action at the $30/60 tables. I had observed these tables before and had been struck by the loose aggression displayed both preflop and on the flop compared to the very tight aggression once the bet size doubled. But this table had a variation on that theme: pick on the weaky. Actually, the term "weaky" doesn't come even remotely close to describing just how bad this guy was. I watched the table for 15 minutes, and not once did he fold preflop. In fact, I saw him fold maybe 3 times during that entire period. On several occasions, with a final board of something like A 3 7 4 J he would CALL river bets holding something like Q 9. Egads!!!!! The other players were clearly preying on him - someone would make a preflop raise, he would call, and everyone else would get out of the way and watch the ensuing carnage. In no more than 5 minutes I saw this guy (who I shall refer to as Mr. ATM for obvious reasons) drop a little over a grand. For a second I considered making a $1500 deposit right then and there so I could have a shot at him, but prudence got the best of me as I would feel totally uncomfortable putting that kind of money at risk. I wanted him to bust out just to see whether he would buy back in again, but when he went all in a minute later he had the best hand despite facing two opponents at the showdown. He even started to make a comeback!! One hand he hit middle set with a flop of T 8 3 and then thrashed a guy with AT when the river brought another T. Unwilling to wait for his streak of good fortune to come to an end, I added Mr. ATM to my buddy list and crawled into bed.

Sitting at that table was a lot like watching a school of 500 pound tuna devouring every lure in sight, only to be reeled in by guys with pool cue-esque fishing rods fitted with telephone cable fishing line. I was eager to cast into the tumult, but I was equipped with a reel the size of a whiffle ball on a rod from Fisher Price. I look forward to building my humble bankroll into a pool cue so I that I too can winch in some of the tastiest morsels in the sea. I'll be looking for you, Mr ATM.