turbo game

I’ve never used a poker client before and the first thing that bothered me was those stupid avatars, two of which were the same as me. I mean, how crap is that? I didn’t have time to dwell on it though as it was coming round to my go. I’m surprised that I have options even when it’s not my go but I ignore them because I’m not sure I fully understand them. A few quick folds from the others and it’s my go. The first thing that struck me is that as big blind I have no option to fold when there’s been no raise. Cool! That stops me looking like a total amateur. The “Check” button seems to be under the mouse so it seems simple just to click it. I see what they mean by a “bet slider” but I’m not ready to use it yet. I see my first flop which I total miss and now I see why there’s a way to fold in-advance!

For a while I just use the “idiot buttons”: check, call, and raise; the slider still scared me. I notice I’m playing a lot of hands; it’s partially the excitement of it and partially the fact with 1500 chips that it seems quite a cheap to just have a fling at the flop. However it’s surprising how fast your pot goes down when you try to see the flop and fail because of big following raises. Another weakness I’m noticing is that after missing the flop I’m checking and the rest of players are walking all over me with big bets – I need to stop doing that!

I’m in a turbo game and now I know what that means. I’ve been so caught-up in the action I really haven’t been concentrating on what I’ve been putting-out for blinds. I’ve now only got 3 big blinds left. I’ve got some crap pocket but I’m going to try and bluff-it because I’ve already left it too late to go all-in…how do I go all-in!? The stupid timer’s counting down and I can’t see any way to go all-in! I’ve only got a few seconds left and so I just drag the slider up high and press the button. The bluff works and the panic subsides for a while. This time I’m going to fold but use the time to play with the controls a bit – Hey, the mouse-wheel moves the slider, great!

My game finally fizzles-out with a pathetic all-in which the big-stacks took in their stride. I was definitely caught out by the speed of the blind increases and came-in at the worst position, 4th. On the plus-side I only need to go one-better next time and I’ll be in the money…