The Donkey
After the long road in poker of busting fish, taking small edges and building your bankroll, you hope for that one golden opportunity in which you’ll be able to make a big score.
I came across that chance at a 1/2 NL table a few nights ago. I can’t imagine that there was more dead money at any other table at the time. It all came from one player, who I will call The Donkey. I was able to get a seat directly to his left.
The Donkey was loose (60 percent VPIP), and he spewed chips at every opportunity and in a predictable manner. If he raised a pot preflop and was reraised, he would go all in. Always. If he bet out postflop and was raised, he would go all in with any Ace-high, pair or drawing hand. With made hands, he would just min-raise. He was very easy to read.
By sheer luck , he had built a monster stack. In 220 hands, I saw The Donkey win a more than $800 pot with Ace-high, no draw against another player’s flush and straight draw with overcards. He got all his money in with a flush draw on the turn and hit on the river against QQ. He pushed with A8o on a 579 flop and hit his gutshot on the turn against KK. He pushed an open-ended straight draw on the flop against AA and hit on the turn.
I knew that I would soon have a chance to win a large pot against this guy. I would just have to wait my turn.
So when I was dealt AK, I reraised The Donkey’s $8 bet to $32, knowing he would push and I would call. That’s exactly what happened. He turned over KQ, failed to improve, and I doubled up.
Now with my 200BB stack, I would have a chance to make some serious money off The Donkey, who somehow kept growing his stack upwards of $1,000, five times his initial buy-in of $200.
I didn’t have to wait long for another opportunity at his money. I raised from under the gun with A10s. The Donkey called in the big blind. The flop came a beautiful 9d, 10c, 5d to give me top pair with the nut flush draw. My only goal was to get all my money into the middle as soon as possible, and I knew it wouldn’t be difficult against this guy. He bet out $16, and I raised him all in to $394. He called and turned over J9o for second pair with no draw. A Jack on the river cost me that $800 pot when he made two pair. I would now have to rebuy and start over.
Only a few hands later, The Donkey minraised to $4, and I smooth called from the button with KQ. The flop was nice, if not a little dangerous: Js, 7c, Kc. I believed that my top pair, good kicker hand was probably best here. The Donkey bet out $8, I raised to $35, he shoved and I called. He turned over Ah 4s, failed to improve, and I was back in business.
I then built my stack up to over $650 with the hopes of getting into at least one more hand against this guy. One more big hand to try and double up even further.
The Donkey raised to $8, and I found AK again. I knew how to play this hand against this guy. I re-raised to $32, and he went all in for his entire $850 stack.
Was there any decision to make here? Was there any doubt about calling off the rest of my stack and taking a potential coinflip and trying to walk away from the table a monster winner for the night? Absolutely not. I knew full well what this guy was capable of. If I fold a premium hand like AK preflop against an opponent like this, I might as well just never play poker again. This is what I had been waiting for. I knew exactly what I had to do. I snap called.
I got my coinflip. The Donkey had a pair of tens, I failed to improve, and I had lost my biggest pot in quite a while. So be it.
I reloaded a third time and I was prepared to stay up all night to bust this guy. Unfortunately, my opponent decided shortly after that to leave for the night.
I then decided to call it a night, but I first did what any good poker player would do. I added the The Donkey to my buddy list so that I will know whenever he is at the tables again. I’m going to get my money back. I can guarantee you that.
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