Ma Bell

I've been obsessively watching ESPN and ESPN2's coverage of the World Series of Poker the last couple of weeks. Heck, Thursday I even taped (yes, I live in a world without a digital recorder) 4 hours of WSOP coverage. I'm trying to learn to play better, and how better to learn than by watching the pros?

It's a little odd, though - with over 5600 entries in the tournament, I think there are a lot of people I shouldn't be watching. It's like any Tom, Dick, or Harry can get into the World Series by winning an online satellite tournament - some play great, some make me think even I could beat them.

I was particularly looking for commentator advice on how to deal with a calling station. I didn't find any such advice on TV, despite a lot of players playing like Ma Bell. I've also found a couple of good poker articles on dealing with such players, but they've made me a little more confused. First, by "calling station", I was thinking of a person who will call on almost any damn hand and play it to the river. The parts that confused me were where such a person was deemed a "calling station" in some articles, "loose passive" in others, and a "maniac" in yet another, yet I'm led to believe all three things are different.

One bit of advice was to sit to this player's left. OK, so I could raise him to punish him for his loose call, but knowing the player I have in mind, he'd call the raise anyway. Another bit of advice was not to bluff or even semi-bluff this kind of player, but to only play the nuts and get paid well for it. This is definitely sound advice, but in the last two poker nights, I didn't see the nuts once! I'd never get to play then, and Ma Bell will call with his 9-2 offsuit and suck out a set of 2s on the river! Cha-ching!

An actual account of such antics, players' names ommitted, of course:
8:30pm
Ma Bell: 10-5 offsuit, flop has three overcards, turn and river come 10-5. He wins the pot.
Player 1: You followed that through on a 10-5?
Ma Bell: 5s were really coming up tonight!

9:45pm
Ma Bell: 9-4 offsuit, flop comes A-K-4, he calls a raise after the flop, sucks out a set on the river.
Player 2: You suck!
Ma Bell: 4s are really coming up tonight, I had to play it!

11:45pm
Ma Bell: J-2 suited, flop comes A-A-5 (one of which are his suit), sucks out a flush to beat 3 of a kind on the river.
Player 3: What the hell?
Ma Bell: Diamonds are really coming up tonight, I had to call!

and so on...

Pretty much by the end of the night, it was like every card was "really coming up a lot so he had to play it". How the hell do I defend against someone like this? Raise with decent starting hands to push as many other people out as possible and deal with this guy one-on-one?

I'm also studying a bit of Caro's Book of Poker Tells. I don't think he's an actor while playing, but I'm quite interested in the section, Tells From Those Who are Unaware. I'm hoping I can nail him on something like foot-tapping, card guarding, double checking, or how he talks when he really has a hand. I already pegged one of the other regular players at poker night on card-guarding, so there's got to be something he's doing that will give me some sign. But hell, for all I know, he could be excited about a pair of 2s.

I'd like to channel Daniel Negreanu for a couple of poker nights. I love watching him not only for his good nature at the poker table, but he always seems to be able to correctly determine his opponent's hand. I wonder what he'd do to Ma Bell.