Acting Scared of the Scare Card

For the past hour, seat 9 had been running over our $5-$10 no-limit hold'em game. He had dark shades and a mean-looking goatee, and combined with his calm and controlled manner, he created a pretty intimidating presence. His massive chip stack certainly helped. He had more than $3,000 in front of him, while no one else had more than $2,000.

He was very loose and aggressive, which is often a losing formula in a full game, but it was working at our table, since none of us seemed willing to take a stand against him. Maybe we all were playing too tight, or maybe none of us could find a decent hand, as was the case with me in seat 1. But I continued to bide my time, and eventually, I combined luck and observation to get involved in a massive pot with "Shades."

One player limped in for $10. Everyone else folded to Shades on the button, and he made it $40 to go. The small blind folded, I called from the big blind with the 4 4, and the limper called. My silent prayer for a set was answered, as the flop came K 8 4. We both checked to Shades, who bet $150 into the $125 pot. He had been overbetting the pot consistently and taking down a bunch of smallish pots. I had found myself wishing that someone could take a stand against him, and now, thankfully, I could do it myself. I flat-called, looking to see if the limper would take an interest in the hand, but he folded, leaving Shades and me heads up.

The turn was the 2. Normally, I might not check twice with a small set and two flush draws on board, but I was pretty confident that Shades wouldn't be able to slow down. As it turned out, I was partly right. I checked, hoping that Shades would bet big, but he bet only $200 into the $425 pot. In some ways, that was even better, because now I felt even more confident in my hand and in the chances that he was drawing dead. My thinking was that he would have pushed a flush draw much harder, hoping to semibluff me. So, when he bet only $200, my thought was that he was too aggressive to check, but too worried about me to bet bigger. At most, I thought he had two outs to win if he had a pocket pair, but more likely, he was drawing completely dead.

Now the question was how to maximize my profit. I didn't want to flat-call, because even a player like Shades might start to get worried after being called twice. No one had called him to the river yet, so I had no frame of reference, but given the way he pulled back on the turn, I suspected that he might shut down completely on the river. My only hope for a nice payoff would be if he bluffed big, putting me on a missed flush draw, but then I was risking the possibility of a third club coming and killing that potential action. Instead, I decided it was better to reopen the betting on the turn and see whether I could commit him to a bigger mistake. I check-raised to $450 and awaited his response.

I'll try to describe his reaction as best I can. Initially, he looked offended that someone actually had the gall to check-raise him. Then, he thought for a moment, took on a more determined look, and announced, "I call," in a somewhat gruff fashion. This reinforced my belief that he did not have the flush draw, because if he did, he would not have seemed unhappy to face such a small check-raise. As loose as he was, he might have even welcomed it, knowing that he could take down a huge pot if he hit the right card. I also thought it unlikely that he had a king, because he probably would have bet more on the turn. Therefore, for him to look unhappy but then call, my guess was that he must have some pair lower than kings.

The river was the Q, for a final board of K 8 4 2 Q. Normally, I'd be pretty concerned about the possible flush, but I had to trust my read that the club didn't help him. I also needed to try to take full advantage of it. If he had pocket queens, bless his heart, he would get my stack. Assuming he didn't have them, I couldn't expect to get called if I bet big. On the other hand, knowing that he was loose and aggressive, he might smell weakness if I checked, and might try to represent the flush.



I figured it was worth a try. I checked. He paused for a moment, then gathered his hands behind his stacks and announced, "I'm all in," while slowly pushing them forward. I took a deep breath and knew I had to trust my read, or else there wasn't much point in being in the game. With about $900 left in front of me, I declared that I was calling.

"Huh; if you call, you probably have me beat," he said. Yeah, right. I've gotten that line from enough baby flushes to know not to believe it right away. He still wouldn't turn his hand over, but eventually he said, "One pair," at which point I turned my hand up and he mucked. I'll never know whether it was a king or some other pair, but I didn't really care. I was happy just to win more than $1,500 off him and to know that my read was correct.

What can be learned from this hand? First, I know that you are probably sick of hearing me say this, but you have to trust your reads and instincts. If you don't, poker is not the game for you. Even if they are not correct, it's OK. They will get better over time, as long as you take time to analyze why you were wrong.

Second, scare cards can be extremely useful. I don't fault Shades for his all-in river bet. Actually, I commend him. It takes a lot of guts to go for the big bluff on the scare card, and it often succeeds. Taking advantage of scare cards to steal pots can often be the difference between a winning or losing session.

But that's not the only way to use scare cards. Sometimes, especially in no-limit, you need to use them to induce bluffs. Don't check just when you are genuinely scared. Sometimes, as in this case, you should check because you suspect that your opponent will try to take advantage of your apparent fear. Just make sure you don't forget that you were inducing a bluff, and make sure that you have the courage to make the necessary call.

In short, don't let your fake fear become real.

Matt Lessinger is the author of The Book of Bluffs: How to Bluff and Win at Poker, available everywhere. You can find other articles of his at www.CardPlayer.com.