So, a couple of days ago I wrote about people who think they're telling "bad beat" stories, when actually they're telling "misplayed hand" stories. I ran across a player at a table yesterday who is probably neck-deep in such tales, and I gave him two more to add to his list today.
First hand, I'm in the big blind with a 45o. Everybody limps and I get to see a free flop. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no love for me in that flop -- QQ3. I'm checking and clicking the auto-fold button so I can be quickly out once the first bet hits the felt. Nobody bets.
The turn is a 7. So now I'm looking at a gutshot, but there are two spades on the board, not to mention to two queens. I click the auto-fold button again after I check, but no one bets again.
The river is a dangerous miracle -- a six of spades. Now I have the nut straight, but the flush draw has hit, and the aforementioned pair of queens is on the board, making for the very real possibility that flushes and straights are a moot point. Still, with all the weakness shown throughout the hand, I decide to toss in a little feeler bet -- 2.5x the size of the big blind. Mr. Bad Beat immediately raises 4x my bet, for a total of 10xBB.
Now I honestly don't know what to do. Has he slow-played a full house this whole hand? It's possible, but I don't think it's likely. Has he backed into a flush the same way I backed into a straight? Again, possible, but not likely. I consider reraising, but there's just enough hint of danger for me to not consider it for very long. I consider folding, but I can't see doing that, since I have so little information that I cannot be certain that I am beat when I'm holding the third-best possible hand. I decide to take the middle position and just call.
I turn over my straight. With apparent disgust, he mucks his trip queens face up.
This hand obviously got to him, because he immediately sat out and left the table. I was disappointed, because I knew that hand had him tilting something fierce, and I wanted to take advantage of his likely strong desire to "get me back."
My prayers were answered when he came back to the table seconds later, changing his seat to sit to my immediate right.
This was strange, because here's a guy who obviously knew enough about poker to give consideration to his relative position at the table (although I'm not certain why he wanted me to his left). Yet, he didn't know enough to not slow-play his hand. Any bet prior to the river would have been enough to get me out of the hand and win it for him. But he wanted to build a pot, I suppose, and he got his wish. I helped him build the pot ... and then I took it.
A few hands later, he misplayed another hand where he was way ahead, but allowed his opponent (not me this time) to pass him. He again sat out and moved to another seat, this time to the right of his latest nemesis.
A few hands later, I'm in the small blind with a K6 of diamonds. After nearly the whole table limps in, I called. The big blind checked and we saw a flop of AJx, with the ace and rag being diamonds. I check and, as the action moves around, there is a bet of 3xBB and then a minimum raise from Mr. Bad Beat. I know I'm in trouble at this point, but this was about the best possible flop I could have hoped for with the cards I held, so I decided to call and hoped the action would close with the original raiser. If a raising war started, however, I would have to bail. Thankfully, the original better just called.
The next card completes my flush. I check, the original better bets 10xBB, Mr. Bad Beat calls and I check-raise it 30xBB. Both call, to my amazement. I figure both of them are either discounting the possibility of the flush, or else they are hoping to see one more diamond hit on the river.
That's exactly what happened, when the river puts a fourth diamond on the board. Now I still had the nut flush, but I figured at least one of them held a high diamond as well, and I could probably get some more money out of them by playing scared. Also, I figured Mr. Bad Beat, being last to act and hating on me and the other guy pretty hard for beating him the earlier hands, would bluff at the pot even if he had no diamond, trying to get his revenge.
I check. Middle guy checks. Mr. Bad Beat just sits there for a long, long time. I'm screaming "Bet! Bet!" at the computer screen. He doesn't disappoint me, firing in 10xBB. I milk the moment, hoping I'm coming off as uncertain, then move all-in. Middle guy folds and Mr. Bad Beat calls. I pull the pot in with the nut flush. Once again, he mucks face up, showing that he did indeed have a flush with the Jack of diamonds in his hand. More amazing, that jack of diamonds was part of a pocket pair, meaning he had flopped trip jacks.
I can't be too hard on him this hand, as he did reraise on the flop, and I probably made the wrong move in calling. But he only raised the minimum. If you flop a strong hand, you just can't puss around with the betting. Bet it strong and protect yourself from the draws. Also, he only limped preflop, holding pocket jacks. If there ever was a hand you don't want to limp with, it's pocket jacks. You might call a raise with them, but you certainly shouldn't open a pot by limping with them. Had he made a nice raise of something like 4xBB preflop, there's no way I could have called.
I can't stress this point strongly enough: You have to bet your hands. You can't try to hit a home run every time you step to the plate. Unless you flop quads or a straight flush, your hand is nowhere near as strong as you'd like to believe. It is much better to win the small pot, than to lose a bigger pot later on. The small pots eventually add up to consistent, steady winning. Trying to slow-play every semi-strong hand you're dealt will only make your swings much wider. Sure, sometimes you'll hit the jackpot, but many times you'll also lose it.
Oh well ... live and learn, I suppose. Or better yet, don't learn, and sit at my table tomorrow.
I like to think that when Mr. Bad Beat finally quit for the day, maybe he called a friend or went to some message board to whine about the outrageous "bad beats" he suffered. Maybe the hands I played against him will end up in some epic "Online poker is rigged!" post. Just thinking he might be doing that right this minute fills my heart with warmth.
With that, let's move on to poker news ...
Poker Headlines -- Wednesday, Feb. 22
Stars of Hollywood and Poker Come Out for L.A. Poker Classic - Online Poker News
Shinichi is new champion in TDHC's poker tourney - Saipan Tribune
Are Charity Poker Tournaments Legal? - KGBT 4 Rio Grande Valley
Online Poker Room PokerShare.com Set to Relaunch in March - Online Poker News
PokerHeaven.com Launches New Poker Affiliate Program that is Being Coined “The Gold Standard of Poker Affiliate - PR Web
Kiwi Casino Poker Player Wins Luxury Poker Vacation - PR Web via Yahoo! News
First WPT-Branded Poker Room to Open at Foxwoods - CardPlayer.com - USA
World Championship Poker 2 - IGN - Brisbane,CA,USA
Poker-machines rake in record annual profit for manufacturer - Wodonga Border Mail - Albury,New South Wales,Australia
Poker events: Buddies think they know when to hold `em - Columbus Ledger-Enquirer - Columbus,GA,USA
Local poker player competes in France - Jacksonville Daily Progress - Jacksonville,TX,USA
Poker is on the move, but.... - casinos.ch - Zurich,Switzerland
Zeal Scores Deals on European Poker Tour - World Screen News - New York,NY,USA
