Think fast

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2010 (5733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An essential to becoming a winning poker player is being able to correctly process a hand while you are involved in one. Each time we or one of our opponents checks, bets, raises, or check-raises, they are saying something. Being able to figure out what our opponents are telling us during a hand is crucial to determining how successful we will be in the long term.

The other day I was in a poker game with some friends when a hand came up that I thought was played in a ridiculous way — and even more ridiculous was the gentleman’s thinking process throughout the hand.

I was playing 1-2 no-limit hold-’em with some friends, and everyone was having a good time as we had a few drinks and played some cards. Most of the players were just casual players with a few of them having some creativity in their game. I can’t recall the exact betting, but the hand played out like this…

A player from early position raised and was called by three players. The flop came down J72 rainbow and the original raiser made a continuation bet, which was called by two players, one of whom was on the button. The turn was an off-suit queen, and again the original raiser led out on the flop and was only called by the button. The river was a 4 and the pre-flop raiser checked to the button, who checked behind. The players flipped their cards and the first player showed AJ while the other showed KQ for the winning hand.

As I replayed the hand in my head, I’m like ‘OK, the button called with two over cards on the flop’ and I thought, ‘all right, he’s calling in position with nothing, he could be floating.’ Now, when I’m playing poker, my goal is to figure out how the other people play, so I asked him why he didn’t bet the river when it got checked to. To my surprise he said, "well what if he had aces?" WHAT!!!

So let’s get this straight: He didn’t bet the river because he was afraid of aces, but he wasn’t afraid of aces when he called on the flop with nothing, or even when he called on the turn when he made top pair of queens. If he was afraid his opponent had aces, wouldn’t it be wise to fold on the flop?

I’m also not sure why the pre-flop raiser would check the river; the way the hand played out he has to think that his hand was still good. He bet the flop and was called by two players, and he also bet the turn after the queen fell. Never during the hand did he get three-bet, and because of this we can begin to narrow down his hand range. If his opponent flopped a set he would definitely three-bet either on the flop or turn since he would be trying to build a pot. If he had a hand like QJ and turned top two pair, I’m pretty sure he would three-bet the turn. So if he hasn’t gotten three-bet at all throughout the hand his likely holdings are KJ,J10, J9, J8, 1010,99,88, all of which he has beat, so why wouldn’t he bet the river for value?

Well, I would have value-betted the river in that case and would have ended up losing the hand. It’s just so hard for me to see how my opponent can show up with KQ in that hand but I guess when you play with casual players they are capable of showing up with any two cards on the river.

For everyone interested in testing out their poker skills, I’d like to remind you that on Feb. 27 the On7 Hold-’em for Haiti tournament will be held at the Greenwood Inn at 2 p.m. If everything goes as planned and we have a good turnout, first place will be around $15,000.

Not too shabby for one day’s work!