An Interesting Session

I was involved in an interesting set of circumstances recently at the Borgata where I regularly play in the 5-10 no-limit cash game. After being moved to the main game from a must-move table I found myself in the unusual position of going all-in on the river three times in the first hour. In the first two instances the flops involved two suited cards making potential flush draws. Each time a third suited card failed to hit the board, leaving me with the nuts both times. In each case I moved all-in on the river because of the remaining stack sizes of my opponents and the fact that any river call at all would have warranted an all-in call. In both cases however, my opponents mucked and my cards were not shown to the table.

In the third instance I played pocket sixes in a limp pot of five players to a flop of jack, six, deuce with two hearts. The player to my right overbet $100 into the $50pot. I decided to smooth call and trap any raiser. Instead the other three players folded. The turn was a jack and the player now bet $300.00. I was confident that he didn’t have pocket jacks since he had limped and would certainly not make a large bet with quads. It was also highly unlikely that he played jack-deuce or jack-six and so I thought that he was probably either playing a blank jack or two hearts. This being the case I decided to smooth call my full-house hoping to see a big bet if a heart hit the board. The river was a harmless seven of spades and my opponent checked. At this point I was convinced that he didn’t have a full-house. Therefore he either had a missed flush draw or a blank jack for trips. I decided to go all-in for another $2000 into the $850 pot. If he had the missed draw he would muck to any bet but if he had the blank jack he might make the call. After all, I wasn’t dealing with Negreanu or Ivey. So I pushed and he went into the tank for two full minutes after which he showed jack-queen and mucked. A young aggressive player on the other side of the table responded immediately. “Oh my God I would have insta-called that missed flush draw.” A friend on my side of the table then whispered to me ”you’ve got that guy right where you want him,” and I knew that given the right set of circumstances I could make a killing with that information.

The right set of circumstances didn’t come for almost five hours as play continued. Finally I found myself in the big blind with ace-king of clubs. I raised to $50 and the young aggressive player at the other end of the table was the only caller. I was thrilled at the flop of queen, jack, three with two clubs. It gave me the nut flush draw, a gut shot straight draw and two overcards. I continuation bet $100 and my opponent immediately raised the minimum to $200.00. After some hesitation (for effect only) I called. A dream turn card then hit, the nine of clubs giving me the nut flush. I checked to my opponent who had about $3500.00 left. He bet $300. Once again I deliberated and asked to see his chips since he was covering his stacks with his hands. Of course I already knew approximately how much he had but I was hoping this request might make him think I had a naked ace of clubs and needed to calculate the implied odds of calling. I then made the call. The river was a red eight insuring me the nuts and putting four cards to a straight on board. And this is the moment at which his earlier comment determined my course of action. Normally I would make a pot sized value bet here because good play dictates that if he didn’t have a flush he should check the river. Knowing however that I was dealing with an aggressive player who likely makes impulsive decisions I checked. To my delight, out of the corner of my eye I saw him reaching for chips. I then watched somewhat incredulously as he bet only $300 into the $1100 pot, thus opening the door for me. Either he had a flush and was making a “call me” value bet or he had no hand whatsoever and could not win without betting. Of course I did consider a third option – that he had a hand with some limited potential such as a straight, a set or two pair but the reward of value betting in those situations is far outweighed by the possibility of being trapped by a big flush or even smooth-called by small one.

In any event the time had arrived for me to raise. If he had no hand whatsoever he would not call any raise. If he had a low flush, a straight, a set or two pair he would be very unlikely to call a huge raise – except that I knew he was convinced that I was making all-in moves on missed draws. And so I raised all-in. I suppose it seemed like a bizarre play to most of the players but the unique set of circumstances leading to it made me think otherwise. My opponent took almost five minutes to decide as he first stacked and restacked his chips and then glared at me without blinking. Finally he uttered the two words that are music to the ears of anyone holding the nuts “I call.” I turned up the nut flush and he threw his cards disgustedly to the muck where they flipped up. He was playing queen, ten offsuit and hit the straight. It was a horrible call. If I had a ten he would have simply chopped the pot and if I had a flush he would have lost. Based on my earlier play he had to have decided that I was bluffing a missed draw. It was the only reason for him to make the call.

The lesson is obvious. You shouldn’t only be alert to tells from those who are in a hand. You can gather plenty of information about others at the table simply by paying attention to comments they may make about hands in which they aren’t even involved.