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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Slow rolling the nuts
And other underhanded Omaha strategies
In one of my first columns, almost two years ago, I talked about slow rolling and how it is a shady thing to do. Well just as I thought I had seen it all, I quickly realized I hadn't.
For a quick reminder, a slow roll is when you take extra time to call an all-in bet when you are holding the nuts.
During my last WSOP trip, I played a lot more pot limit Omaha than I did no limit hold-em. The games were better in my opinion, and one day in particular I was in a great game. There was a player from Venezuela and he seemed to be getting his stack in every hand. Then the following hand came up:
I limped with A A 10 9 out of the big blind. There was a Mississippi straddle and a raise with several callers when it got back to me. I bet the pot, which was about $600, and everyone folded except for the fish. The flop was Q 8 5 and I put my remaining $900 in the middle and was snap called.
The turn was a 4 and the river a 5, and I said, "Two pair."
He replied, "Which two?" and I flipped over my aces. Now for anyone unfamiliar with PLO, you are dealt four cards, but you must use two of them at showdown.
After flipping over my aces, he flipped over a Q and nothing else. He continued to glance at the board and finally tapped the table with his cards as if to say nice hand. Just as he seemed to be ready to muck he grabbed two of his cards and said "straight" and flipped over 6 7!
Now at first I thought it was no big deal. He is one of the worst players I have played against, and I truly felt he didn't see the straight. That all changed with one YouTube video.
My buddy sent me a video this past week and asked, "This guy look familiar?" Well sure enough it was the player that slow rolled me in the hand above playing in a major European Poker Tour event.
He was the chip leader in a six-handed game. He raised with 5 6 and the big blind called with K Q. The flop was K 5 4, and the villain bet and was called. The turn was another 5 and it went check check.
The river was a 6, filling up the villain. The big blind bet and after some Hollywooding, the villain grabbed the chips to call, and as he pushed them over the line he said "raise." He was about to flip over his cards and then said, "Sorry, call, call, no speak English." Obviously he didn't mean to call with a full house.
Everyone looked confused and the tournament director, having heard and seen what had just gone on came to the table to give his ruling on the situation.
A verbal raise or call is binding, so I knew that he would be forced to raise and was, but to shock the heck out of me, the tournament director began to tell the other player in the hand that this was the third time he had done this in the tournament and every single time he was holding the nuts.
I guess the tournament director was so fed up with this idiot's antics he actually helped another player out and gave him information he would never have had. Unfortunately he didn't listen and went ahead and made the call.
Type in Ivan Freitez angle shooting on YouTube, and you can see this piece of work in action! And he really is a piece of work!
For anyone interested you can follow me on twitter @DontCryRebuy
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 31, 2011 B13
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