It's the WORLD SERIES!!

The World Series of Poker is in full swing at the Rio in Las Vegas. Three massive rooms in the hotel’s convention center have been set up with hundreds of poker tables to handle the 10,000+ players coming in from all over the planet to sit down and play a game of cards. With nearly 70 bracelet events and every cash game variant imaginable being dealt during a six week timeframe, there really is something for everyone. And those who sit down at the table bring with them the distinctive style of how the game is played where they’re from – East Coast, West Coast, Asia, Scandinavia, etc.

Into this milieu I entered, ready for a session of $2/$5 No-Limit Hold’em. If it weren't for the fact that this was the World Series, and my opponents were literally from all over the world, the fact that I had decided to play the cash games wouldn't merit much attention. But there were two people in particular at this table – Europeans – that I kept my eye on. They had the loose, hyper-aggressive style common to that continent, which required my concentration and largely kept me from playing on autopilot.

One of these opponents was from England, although from his looks he could pass for Mediterranean or even Arabic. But he was on the opposite end of the table from me, and we didn't clash all that often. When we did, I knew enough of his style to parry his attacks and largely hold my own.

The other European was directly on my left. Although she was French-Canadian, she was originally from Bosnia and played that way. Whenever she decided to enter a pot preflop, she almost never limped but bombed the pot. Post-flop, she bet every time she was checked to, and her bets were close to pot-sized. Her sheer aggression was earning her far more pots than she deserved, and nobody was quite sure how to play against her.

From my perspective, the fact that she was right next to me was the most problematical issue. It was very hard for me to make any moves in a hand, because she’d come over the top of me frequently and blow my strategy out of the water. Bottom line – I ended up having to surrender the smaller pots to her due to her aggression and my inability to read her or figure out how to counter-attack. But with a monster hand, I was more than willing to let her bloat the pot, and then take it on the river. And the two big pots I did take more than made up for the many small ones I released to her.

Early in the session, I was dealt Ac Qc in UTG+1. The player on my right, the first to act, raised to $15. With a hand this good, I would frequently re-raise. But at this table, I didn't have to bother; I knew one of my aggressive opponents would do it for me. Sure enough, like clockwork, the lady on my left popped it to $60. Everyone else folded, and I called, so it was head-up. Effective stacks were roughly $400 (I had a slight edge on her chipcount).

The flop was Qd 8h 3d. I was convinced that I had the best hand, so it was only a matter of trying to figure out how to get the most money into the pot. I paused and thought and eventually checked. Sure enough, my opponent pushed out a bet of $85 into the $140 pot, leaving around $300 behind.

Here’s where I went into Hollywood mode (something I very rarely do). I looked at her bet, looked at the pot, looked at my chips, counted out the call, looked over at her stack, asked how big it was, and then put out the call. I realized that I was representing a diamond flush draw, so I went with that.

The turn was the 8d, and so I immediately donk-shoved. It didn't take her long to muck, and I stacked a $300 pot without having to show my hand. Maybe if I’d played it slower I’d have won more; a turn c-bet from her was a near certainty, and there couldn't have been too many river cards I had to fear. But I was happy with the pot I got.

The second big pot of the two I won from her happened late in the session – sort of a bookend to the whole day. I think I played this one better. I’d spent the previous hours getting to know her a little bit better, and she has a fascinating story. Grew up in Bosnia, fled to Quebec during their civil war not knowing a word of either French or English. Now, twenty or so years later, she speaks both, as well as her native Bosnian. Since she was taking so many pots from me, I was constantly teasing her about how she was outplaying me and stealing my action. “Cut it out!” I complained. “Let me win a pot, will ya?” She just smiled and kept up her aggression.

I was dealt Kc Tc in the hijack, and in a true rarity at this table action was folded to me. I knew this was going to end with us heads-up, and I had a hand I liked, so I kicked the action up to $15. She re-raised to $60 on the button (of course), and the two of us went from there. As I put in my call, I continued to needle her: “Well, I guess I can kiss these chips goodbye too.” This actually got a laugh from the table (poker humor has a low bar for success). The intervening hours had given us both the chance to grow our stacks; and while I’m not sure which of us had the bigger stack, they were both around $2000 by now.

The flop was Qc 8h 3c, which was far and away the best flop I could have hoped for: Second nut flush draw on a board unlikely to hit her range. I checked and let her continuation bet. She did, for a $90 bet, and I called, complaining the whole way. I figured that even if I was behind, any club, King, or Ten would put me ahead.

The turn was 6c. Unlike the previous hand above (where I was falsely representing a flush), this time I checked; certain of the fact I was way ahead at this point. She bet again ($200), and I called again.

The river wasn't really what I wanted: 9c. An Ace was definitely in her range, and the club Ace outkicked my turned flush. But while I couldn't bring myself to bet, neither could I bring myself to fold when she fired the third bullet. I called her $200 river bet, and when I showed the flush she mucked. Well over $1000 in round plastic disks were pushed towards me.

It doesn't matter how many pots you win; only how big they are.