Smelly Hold'em

I have a whole new theory for winning at Texas Hold’em. I started considering the theory last night during an APL game. Frankly, it’s the most brilliant game strategy I’ve ever encountered.

I had been playing for quite a while. It seemed like the tables were consolidating faster and faster. I was SO excited. There was a bigger pot than usual, and people were dropping like flies. My stack was getting larger and while I was growing more confident, I was also becoming more conscious. I knew I was doing well, and I wanted to maintain that state of play to last longer and win!

There were two tables left. Anybody who made it to the final table would walk away with something. (Last place would get their “rent-a-chair” fee back.) Anyway, within moments myself and the last player at my table got moved to the “final table”. We had made it. I was going to at LEAST break even, and I was happy with that!

Just as I’m about to sit down, I notice a smell; A really strong rancid odor. That’s when I realized it was the man next to me. It was awful.

I made eye contact with the man on the other side of him, and noticed he scooted his chair away. He looked at me, rolled his eyes, went all in on the first hand with a 4/2, lost and seemed to, very contently, walk away. That’s when I realized he threw the game, just to get away from the smell! (And yes, it really was that bad!)

Literally, I was starting to get a migraine and felt totally nauseated. I wanted to keep playing, but there was no way I could as long as the man was next to me.

Unfortunately, I kept going all in, and winning. I was never so disappointed to win in my entire life. Finally, Stink Man went all in, I called, and he lost. He was gone. The second he walked away, all of us (literally) breathed a sigh of relief.

Afterwards, I was talking to players that stuck around and almost everybody who was next to him left right away – because the smell was that bad. So, lesson is, if you want to get rid of some players, really fast, don’t shower for a week… or in his case, a lifetime.