It's Important to Pay Attention

There is seldom a time in life that you shouldn't be paying attention, and when you are playing poker and trying to protect and increase your bankroll, it is imperative that you heed every detail and note everything that occurs in the game. Not only that, but in preparing to enter a game, you should watch it and absorb everything you see and hear.

I am going to relate to you a hand I heard about in the final event of the recently concluded World Series of Poker. Mind you, now, that the game was no-limit Texas hold'em and the buy-in was $10,000. There were 2,576 players in the event and first-place prize money was $5 million. This surely is enough money to hold your interest, don't you think?

Here is the hand in question that surprised me: The legendary Doyle Brunson, former world champion and holder of several gold bracelets (I have lost count), announced that he was all in. He did not move in with his chips, however. He was holding pocket tens with the game ninehanded at the time. The player in the small blind didn't hear the dealer say, "All in," and didn't realize that Doyle had raised all in. It was noisy in the room at the time, or perhaps he wasn't paying attention, as he did not realize that a player had already opened the pot and gone all in for a large amount. Thinking he was in an uncontested pot, he raised from the small blind, mistakenly believing he needed to get past only the big blind to win the pot. He held an A-7 offsuit. He could have held any two cards in that spot, it didn't matter. As the player in the big blind looked at his cards, the dealer announced, "Reraise." Well, the guy with the A-7 nearly came out of his chair. He said he had not known the pot had already been raised and he didn't even want to call the raise, much less reraise. He requested a ruling from the floorman.

One of the tournament directors came to the table and made the decision that the reraise had to stand. The big blind folded. The player in the small blind had Doyle covered. Doyle had to love his hand when he heard the other player's plight. However, the poker and flop gods are not always aware of those mistakes. Of course, the flop included an ace, no 10 came, and Doyle was out of the tourney. In and of itself, this wouldn't have been so brutal, were it not for the fact that the player who reraised hadn't intended to take on Brunson. And this easily could have ended the other way, with the player with the A-7 getting crippled on the hand and Doyle doubling up in a spot in which he otherwise wouldn't have.

Everything you do at the poker table has consequences. Some are good, and some are not. Simply paying attention to everything that is going on around you improves your game and increases your edge over the players who aren't taking it all in. In this particular instance, the player was rewarded for his error, and Doyle was punished. So it goes in poker, but I support the decision that was made.

A similar situation came up during one of the Oasis Open events in May. The small blind was in the No. 2 seat and the player under the gun raised. The player in the No. 10 seat reraised (this was a limit event) from the cutoff position. The player in the small blind called the first raise. When he was told there were two raises, he wanted his chips back. I was called over to make a decision, and allowed him to have his chips back. No one had acted behind him, and more importantly, no one had acted upon the correct bet size yet. While my decision to allow him to take his chips back might be contrary to the strict interpretation of the rules, I believed it was within the spirit of what was fair and just. The player obviously didn't know of the reraise. Of course, this situation was different from the one at the WSOP, and this was an event with a $100 buy-in, not $10,000. I tend to give a player more leeway when it is likely that he is a novice. In this instance, he got his bet back because it was clear that he was unaware of the reraise. I didn't feel anyone had been harmed by his action, or that he was taking a shot and had gained any information. Plus, there had been no action behind him. Anyway, that was my ruling.

When you play poker, it is your duty and responsibility to assist the dealer and yourself by making clear announcements of your actions and intentions. When you raise the pot, don't mumble; sing it out loudly and proudly! You also might intimidate the other players with a voice that can be heard. Also, this will help to eliminate the need for rulings regarding the infamous "I didn't hear it" defense. Class dismissed.

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