I can't pass up this chance to write a post about poker...ABC has a story up about Jim Moran's son going a little crazy while playing online poker:
Jim Moran had the nuts the whole time.
Not the longtime Democratic congressman from Virginia, Rep. Jim Moran -- but his 39-year-old son, Jim Jr., a Washington, D.C. area regional manager for Dominos Pizza and online poker aficionado.
How do you know Moran had the nuts? His pal posted a YouTube video of him screaming, "I had the nuts the whole time!" (In this case, "the nuts" are a pair of queens. The term is used in poker to refer to an unbeatable hand.)
Moran Jr.'s YouTube moment is thanks to his childhood friend, Bruce Ryan, who posted the clip as a publicity stunt to attract attention -- and hopefully funding -- for his planned documentary on poker. Ryan, a real estate agent and aspiring filmmaker, previously worked on a documentary on adult kickball that did not receive wide exposure.
Not to get too poker geeky, but Moran, who is described by his buddy (the guy who did a documentary on adult kickball) as a "genius"...didn't have "the nuts" the whole time. (The article also doesn't quite describe "the nuts" correctly -- the term means the best hand at the moment, if you have an unbeatable hand, you might say you have "the mortal nuts" or "the stone-cold nuts.")
Anyway, the younger Moran started out with two queens (QQ), which is the 3rd best starting hand in hold'em. An excellent hand, but not the nuts (that would be AA). On the flop (the second round), Moran did have the nuts -- the board was QJ4. His 3 queens was the best possible hand at the moment, though it was beatable.
On the turn (the third round), the board was QJ46. His three queens were still the best. But on the river (the last round), a 6 fell -- and the final board was QJ246. Although it's extremely unlikely that that his opponent would have held 35,35 was in fact the nuts, good for a 6-high straight.
On another note, I'm not a fan of the way Moran played his hand. I like the check-call on the flop, but his check-raise on the turn was tiny -- I think there was T1,200 in the pot and his raise was just 300. I don't really get the point of making a raise that small. Either your opponent has a decent draw, in which case you need to raise more, or your opponent has a decent hand, in which case he'll call more, or your opponent has no hand at all, in which case even a tiny raise will lead to a fold. Then Moran's river bet was also pretty small. My own approach would have been to make bigger bets, but then again, I'm an aggressive player, and I'll make bigger bets even when I'm bluffing.
Most importantly though, Moran's performance was incredibly annoying, just like the clowns who disrespect the game of poker by screaming during live action play.
© Jed Lewison