Sunday, January 25, 2009

Issaquah Home Game (+math question!)

In class on Friday, Lee came up to me and asked what I was up to Saturday night. I didn't have anything going on, and Lee told me about a poker game his buddy Rob was hosting. Lee and I haven't done anything outside of class together, but in class we've played some online poker (during the long lectures) and we've done a few play-by-email chess games. I've been trying to hang out with my classmates outside of class as much as possible, and this sounded like a great opportunity to do just that.

We played two $20 SNG's, the first one with seven runners and the next with only four. In the first, larger tournament, I got a big stack early flopping top set with pocket kings and it holding against a flush draw. Play got down to Lee and I heads up, and he ended up taking it down. Four of the seven of us were game for another tourney, and Lee and I got into a big pot on the third hand...

I had pocket nines and raised it up from the small blind 2.5BB. Rob called in the BB and Lee had limped from the button and now called my raise. Three to a flop of 7h 9h Kd. I sneakily checked, Rob bet out about half the pot, Lee called, and I popped it to the size of the pot. Both called.

Rather large pot for the 3rd hand of the tourney, and I put one of them on top pair and the other on a flush draw. Turn made the board:

7h 9h Kd Ah

Crap. I wasn't happy with the heart, so I checked. Rob checked, and Lee bet half the pot. It was a big bet, and represented a third of my remaining chip stack, but I wasn't positive he had the flush. He could still have a draw or AK. I called, and Rob folded. River made the board:

7h 9h Kd Ah Kh

I viewed this as a "Gin!" card, and really hoped Lee had the flush. For some reason AK no longer scared me, and I pushed all-in. Lee insta-called. I showed my boat and Lee showed Qh4h for the "nut" flush. He was ready to scoop the pot when Rob pointed out that my boat beat his flush.

Lee flopped out of his chair and started writhing on the ground in pain.

"Noooo!!! When I saw that King I thought my Queen-hi flush was the best hand possible! God Damnit!!"

It was a nice suck--re-suck hand, but sadly I couldn't take my 2:1 chip advantage to the cleaner, and I bubbled 30mins later to break even for the night.

MATH TIME!!!

The most interesting part of the night for me was the backing arrangement I had with my dad. I needed $20 to play, and didn't have time to hit an ATM on the way to the game. He are the stipulations for the backing. Dad gave me $20, and we agreed that he would get half of my profit.

1st: $20 buy-in, I won $40 for finishing 2nd.
2nd: $20 buy-in, I won $0 for bubbling.

How much do I owe Dad, and why?

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2 Comments:

Blogger DrChako said...

I'm really bummed I missed the game, but it gave me a chance to go on a date with The Wife, which we hadn't done in ages. Unfortunately we saw Benjamin Button, which was a 2+ hour crying fest for the Mrs. In my head I was dreaming about check-raising strangers.

Of course, I can't pass up a good math question. There are a couple answers depending on assumptions, but I'll take the most direct route.

Assumption 1: Only $20 changed hands. In other words, he didn't give you an additional $20 for the second game. You used your winnings from the 1st game to buy into the second.

Assumption 2: We have to define "profit." Is it the money over and above the buy-in? If so, your profit after the 1st game was $20 (not $40), of which you owe $10 to your dad (plus the original $20).

Since there was no profit after the 2nd game, and if we assume you bought in with $20 from the first game, the only way to do that is if you didn't give all of the buy-in back to your dad. If you did, all you'd have left is $10 - not enough for the 2nd game.

So in the end, it comes down to what you agreed upon regarding the buy-in, not the profit. If it truly was just the profit you owed him, then it's just $10. If it's the profit PLUS the buy-in (which is how most deals work), then you owe him $30. Since you only have $20 at this point, you'd better have an understanding Dad or a quick way to make some side money.

-DrC

2:45 PM  
Blogger Schaubs said...

30 sounds fair. Although there is no mention of payback of buyin.

Lee will remember that for a while.

8:57 PM  

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