Spanked Again

I was playing $30-$60 hold'em too early on a Friday evening. The game hadn't gotten fired up quite yet. It needed a few more hours for the weekend tourist crowd to get situated in the Bellagio poker room. The lineup pretty much sucked, as it was a collection of tighties, including Ms. Player, a very aggressive local woman with whom I've been banging heads for too long. I was under the gun and picked up my favorite hand, wired aces. I had to decide whether to call or raise.

I wanted action on my hand. I wanted my opponents to make the mistake of calling when it was correct for them to fold. With my holding, I wanted to make the play that would get as many chips as possible into the pot before the flop. Given the texture of the situation, that wasn't going to be an easy task. I had not played a hand for a while and my opponents were observant enough to know that, and it was not a very lively group at all.

If the game had been fired up and loose, I would have raised with my rockets. There is no point in risking a trap failing in order to get action if the action will be prevalent anyway. But in this situation, I chose to call, believing that I would get better value from my hand by trapping opponents than blowing them out with a raise. The strongest factors influencing me were the tight texture of the game, the fact that I had not played a hand in a while, and the certainty that my opponents were aware of that. Plus, Ms. Player had the button. Aggressive anyway, the button brings out the fire in her. Plus, she seems to take a perverse pleasure in beating up on me every chance she gets. If she was coming into this pot, she would likely raise. It is an important concept in poker to be able to adjust your strategy based on the current situation.

Two players called my limp. Ms. Player fired $60 in forcefully, both blinds laid their hands down, and I three-bet the pot. The initial caller, the only soft player at the table, called the $90. The second player tossed his hand into the muck. Inasmuch as he is a competent player, I thought it was favorable that he folded. His $30 of dead money probably provided me with a higher edge factor than if he had called the $90 and still had some potential to win the pot. Ms. Player laid the additional $30 into the pot more softly than she had done with her initial $60. She knew that I had a big mitt, and was wary. The pot was the biggest preflop that this game had seen, and the three of us watched the flop come off with anticipation.

It came 8-4-3 rainbow. I tossed in a wager, the first opponent called, and Ms. Player cast her hand toward the discards. The 10 turned, creating a two-flush. I fired once again and my opponent almost beat me into the pot. The river brought the 2, filling a possible heart flush. I bet and got called. I turned over my aces, thinking they might be good, as my opponent hadn't popped me.

"I got a straight," he declared as he showed me an A-5 offsuit, having made a gutshot on the river. Ms. Player gave me one of those sly smiles that a woman gives you when she figures you got what you deserved. I suspect that she thought that I had shot myself in the foot by slow-playing the two aces before the flop. I smiled back at her as I pitched my hand toward the muck.

It is important to understand in poker that if your opponents are correct in calling, you will do better in the long run if they fold. And if your opponents are incorrect in calling, you want them to call – even if they make a hand sometimes. The extra chips that you win when you take down a pot more than compensate for what you lose those other times that your opponents overcome the odds running uphill. The more you can charge them to make an incorrect call, the better it is for you. It reduces their price received from the pot and increases your positive volume wagered and expectation. I still like my preflop decision in that situation; trapping preflop was the right thing to do, regardless of the result.

You need to design your strategies to induce your opponents to make these types of errors. You must use your opponents' tendencies to your advantage. For instance, if Ms. Player had not been near the button, I would have been more inclined to raise with my pair. Had I played several hands in the previous lap, giving my opponents the appearance that I was playing many hands, I would have been more inclined to raise. Thinking and making plays in a manner that will make your opponents make errors will enable your bankroll to grow.

As for Ms. Player, we have been going at each other for a couple of decades now. She has spanked me a few times, and I've spanked her a few. For all of our effort, I don't think either of us has gotten much the best of it – just rosy red cheeks. I'm told that some people think getting spanked is fun. And while Ms. Player and I have had our share of spankings, I don't think either of us would have it any other way!

Editor's note: Roy Cooke played winning professional poker for 16 years. He is a successful real estate broker/salesperson in Las Vegas – please see his ad below.