The rag trade

Every so often, I encounter the rag trade on PokerStars. That is, players who bet absurd amounts with nothing but rags ...

This is an excerpt from my January 29, 2014 post. That was in my cash game days, but the rag trade can be found in tournaments as well. Last night, I lost half my stack early on to a rag trader who went all in with T8o (ten eight offsuit). He'd hit middle or bottom pair on the flop, while I'd hit top pair with an overcard kicker. I was an 80+ percent favorite, but he paired his other rag on the turn, and suddenly I was an 18 percent dog. The river was a brick. I felt that some measure of justice had been served when the rag trader hit the rail on the very next hand :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      53   15    30        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $32,857,768
2021 balance: $9,486,000
blue distance: $200,000
balance: $87,151,453

The rag trade

Every so often, I encounter the rag trade on PokerStars. That is, players who bet absurd amounts with nothing but rags, and then glory in showing them when everyone else folds. Last night, at one time there were at least two rag men at the table, and possibly three. On one hand, the most flagrant rag man was shameless enough to fold a pair of kings to the second most flagrant rag man, and then show them to the table. It's not a lot of fun playing against rag men; every now and then they'll actually have a hand. That's what did me in on hand 78; flagrant rag man #1 flopped two pair, and I ended up hitting the felt. I breathed a sigh of relief when the rag men left en masse, some hands later. I was able to make a comeback and end the night with a small profit.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 104 hands and saw flop:
 - 5 out of 13 times while in big blind (38%)
 - 4 out of 14 times while in small blind (28%)
 - 28 out of 77 times in other positions (36%)
 - a total of 37 out of 104 (35%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 7 (57%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $2,495
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,488,109
balance: $7,845,062