I didn't even get around to sharing this nonsense that I endured.
For some stupid ash reason I decided to make a trip to Vegas (for like a week I think) with my girlfriend at the time. I had been doing really well for a number of years and she was impressed and thought I'd be a good teacher. (Aside: I am, but wait, she was f*ing terrible)
So starting with the plane ride over, we had a deck and I started with the very basics. She tried to argue things like how a straight should beat a flush, how 6 or 7 card straights should beat higher straights (of 5 cards total), or how 3 pairs should beat a better two pair. Honestly, to this day, I still think these are valid points to raise as you learn not just WHAT but WHY.
So, like an idiot, I thought she was ready. We played some cash games and then did some of the small tourneys they had in our hotel (Alladin/Planet Hollywood). Not surprisingly, I was the backer for all our funding needs. So one particular tournament, I'm doing the same thing I've done my whole career. I'm absolutely dominating. There is a girl at my table (who was clearly a reg) who kept trying to talk down and then talk up her game. Really weird. Overall, a super talkative player who wanted to be table captain. She made a LP open pretty decent size and got some action, including from me holding 99. I'm OOP so I need a miracle. And there it is, pretty as can be the 9 I needed right there on the flop. The action was "weird" there was big betting, small betting, checking back. All I remember is we were either head's up or 3 way on the river. It was pretty dry, but there was an ace. Had to figure out if she had AA. Nope, she doesn't. I check to her, other dude checks and she makes a decent bet. I hollywood before "begrudgingly" putting her all in. The other dude folds and she snap calls, flipping over her AK like it was the nuts. I say, "sorry, good game" and show the winning set. She has this weird double reaction of like "you tricked/trapped me" (kinda like Teddy KGB in Rounders) and also like "good game" it was weird.
Anyway, I run into some problems after a couple of table changes, and usual aces and kings getting cracked so easily that I'm not susceptible to 3 and 4 bet bluffs. So it's not long before I'm done without cashing.
NOW, I haven't said this yet but the whole time I've been keeping an eye on my then girlfriend. We had to stay a certain distance away from the tables on the rail, so I felt helpless as she played without me. Seemed like hand after hand she kept getting the best of everyone. She would just flat call on the end with the stone cold nuts and i'd be going nuts behind her in my head. I finally figured out what she was doing. She had ABSOLUtELY no idea what was going on. So she just decided to check/call everything. And, maybe because she was a hot blonde who not only appeared clueless but was clueless the table combatted this by going after her. But she just refused to fold. When they got down to 3 handed, 1 of the 2 guys shoved in the remainder of his stack. The other guy folded but not her. She happily calls and he says "good call" assuming he was beat. He doesn't want to show. She has no idea what is going on. Since he didn't want to give up his tourney without knowing he lost the dealer makes him show. He has J high, like J10s that didn't connect. They ask her to show. She has Q high, like Q3o. Dude was both super pissed and dying laughing at the same time somehow.
So now they're head's up and I'm PRAYING for a break so I can reiterate top starting hands and some basic strategy. But it doesn't come. The guy seems to have figured out "hey, maybe only bet when you have a hand" but this goes out the window when he checks his nothing, she bets, he folds and she shows like 48o that didn't connect. Her constant calls have dwindled her down to 2nd place, but still close. There is a ton of action on the hand, and on the river, he, almost sheepishly, shoves all in giving her terrible odds to call. But she snap calls anyway. He says "wow, great call" and throws his 810 into the air (face up) thinking that she just knocked him down to like 3-5bbs. They ask her to show what she has and I can hear her say "Oh, I have this, what's that?" and shows 46o not connected to the board. On a pretty connected board, the dude won the tournament with 10 high. I was like 95% totally embarrassed because she was wearing a fake ring the whole time talking about how I was her fiance, super rich and successful and taught her everything about poker. One dude on the rail with me goes "you teach her that one?" And I can only smirk and grimace at the same time saying "uh, nope, that's all her."
So now she's super excited about her "win" and we shuffle over to the podium for the payout. It wasn't a "huge" tourney by any means, cuz Planet Hollywood didn't really host any then. But it was likely about $75 to enter so came with a pretty decent payout for 2nd. I gave her her time to revel in her result. But then I felt the need to bring her back down to earth.
First of all, I'm not going to be staking you anymore. You didn't seem to pick up any of what I taught you. If you want further lessons in the room to prove that you at least know the basics, that's fine we can try that. Otherwise, I'm going to stick on my own for now.
Secondly, you had a nice result. The thing is, though, that I staked you. I only went over staking with you briefly because, no offense, you said you had no idea what you were doing. But to reiterate, you're supposed to pay back the entry fee and then split the winnings with me. 50/50 is fair. But the REAL thing is, though, your "big win" is still considerably less than what I have spent so far on your entries and cash games.
"So what?" ..."umm, so we should figure out how much of what you won goes back to me"
"No, f* that! I won, this is MY money"
um, awesome. So, yeah, we did not play together anymore that trip or ever again. She did, in fact, keep all the winnings and bought like a f*ing purse or some shit (oh and a winter coat) over in the shops.
That's a super long story (that I feel like I've been typing out for an hour) about how you CAN essentially know next to nothing and have beginner's luck and get hit hard by the deck and have some success.