Suckout King
05-13-2006, 01:45 PM
This is a very important concept that when you think through EVERY decision that the player has made during the hand can often enable you to tell precisely what cards the other player has and thus can help determine your actions.
You do of course have to realise that the reasons why someone has made a bet could be as irrelevant as 84os is their favourite hand, pressed the wrong button etc but even still this is a really useful weapon in your arsnal.
I made a rather stupid mistake in a tournament recently and this gives a good illustration of how you SHOULD be using this rule.
I hold KJ and the flop comes jjx. I slowplay and am bet to with moderate amounts which I flat call on the flop and put in a small reraise on the turn.
The river card is a seemingly neutral 7. With a tiny pause the other player goes all in for an amount vastly greater than what is in the pot. I call with my trips - TERRIBLE!!!!
What does he have here. He could have j7 (there had been a small raise before the flop which he had called so whilst j7 is possible it seems unlikely) or he could have 77. It is obviously possible that he had ANY other hand and was trying to steal but in the context of who this guy was etc., how he had been playing it was a clear fold for me.
I called automatically without thinking. Automatically calling is always a poor play. If someone is putting you or themselves all in then pausing cannot give any exploitable information for that hand. It is far better to think things through.
Was I wrong to slowplay trips? I do not think so. His play throughout the hand was highly questionable. He shouldn't have been betting with a low pair (he did have 77) and he should have folded my reraise on the turn. Also his HUGE bet on the river gave me a chance to escape a hand that really was hard to fold. Ultimately though i did not take advantage of his poor play. Yes he was lucky but I misplayed the hand badly and all because I did not adhere to two key rules of poker
a) think before you act - particularly when there can be no more betting after you call or fold
b) always think WHY an opponent has made a play
You do of course have to realise that the reasons why someone has made a bet could be as irrelevant as 84os is their favourite hand, pressed the wrong button etc but even still this is a really useful weapon in your arsnal.
I made a rather stupid mistake in a tournament recently and this gives a good illustration of how you SHOULD be using this rule.
I hold KJ and the flop comes jjx. I slowplay and am bet to with moderate amounts which I flat call on the flop and put in a small reraise on the turn.
The river card is a seemingly neutral 7. With a tiny pause the other player goes all in for an amount vastly greater than what is in the pot. I call with my trips - TERRIBLE!!!!
What does he have here. He could have j7 (there had been a small raise before the flop which he had called so whilst j7 is possible it seems unlikely) or he could have 77. It is obviously possible that he had ANY other hand and was trying to steal but in the context of who this guy was etc., how he had been playing it was a clear fold for me.
I called automatically without thinking. Automatically calling is always a poor play. If someone is putting you or themselves all in then pausing cannot give any exploitable information for that hand. It is far better to think things through.
Was I wrong to slowplay trips? I do not think so. His play throughout the hand was highly questionable. He shouldn't have been betting with a low pair (he did have 77) and he should have folded my reraise on the turn. Also his HUGE bet on the river gave me a chance to escape a hand that really was hard to fold. Ultimately though i did not take advantage of his poor play. Yes he was lucky but I misplayed the hand badly and all because I did not adhere to two key rules of poker
a) think before you act - particularly when there can be no more betting after you call or fold
b) always think WHY an opponent has made a play