Chip and a Chair

In poker, it’s often said that all you need to play and win is a chip and a chair. And we’ve heard lots of stories where this has happened. I'm sure everyone of us has their own similar experience. So let me just share a recent SNG (ended just 10 minutes ago from the time I’m writing this) in Full Tilt where I had less than 1 big blind left and still ended up winning the thing.

Got crippled when I was in the big blind and had 2-3 offsuit. Saw a free flop that came out J-2-3. BINGO, I checked, somebody bet, I raised all in with my 2 pair, got called by the villain who had top pair lousy kicker but had a flush draw. Spiked his flush on the river. Couldn’t really blame him, he had top pair and had lots of outs so it wasn’t exactly a donkey play.

This left me with exactly $95 and the blinds were already 50 – 100 with about 6 players left. If I had just given up which I often do in this situation and I went all in on the next hand with my 6 2 off, then that would have been the end. But this time around, I waited and folded. In the next hand, I got 9-9 and went all in with 2 callers. 9 came on the flop so I tripled up to around 300. After a few more hands, got 10-10, went all in again … somebody called with an A-J and doubled me up. Finally after a few more hands, got 10-10 again, went all in and somebody called with a 7-2 suited. Yep, you read it right, 7-2 suited.

After that, I had enough funds to do some stealing and play my normal game and ended up placing 1st. Cool game. Was I just lucky ? I would definitely say so, but it does emphasize the point that in poker, you never know when the next rush of good hands will come. So even with less than 1 big blind left, you could still win.

I made this example because we often see lots of player (me included) who after losing a big pot immediately goes all-in on their next hand whatever it is hoping to get lucky. They would then get called and get eliminated.

I guess its human instinct to want to try and make up a big loss immediately. Which also explains why lots of people lose their shirts inside the casinos.

But if we can just control this “Tilt” emotion, then I sincerely believe we would all be better poker players. We won’t always be lucky but at least we’re giving ourselves a chance to get back in the game. And in poker, a chance is pretty much all you need.

And just in case you are wondering where that famous “Chip and a Chair” line comes from. Well my trusty google search says that it was first spoken by Jack “Treetop” Straus who engineered what was arguably the most famous World Series comeback in history when he won the title in 1982 fighting his way back from a single $500 chip.