He Got Good Value from Me...

I’ve learned much through observation, both at and away from the poker table. At the table I observe plays and analyze the thought process the player likely went through. With some players, I’m never able to understand their thinking. With others, I both grow my knowledge of plays and ascertain how to read their future hands.

I was in a solid Tuesday afternoon $40-$80 limit hold’em game at the Bellagio. The field all folded to the small blind, an excellent local pro who raised my big blind. I looked down to the A 8. I mix up blind versus blind situations a lot, sometimes raising and sometimes flat calling. I disguise a lot of hands, flatting with some of my raising range and raising with a lot of non-standard raising hands. When I flat my opponents raise, I’m expecting my opponent to fire on the flop with 100 percent of his range. At that point, I can base the determination of how to play my hand on greater information. In this case, Mr. Local Pro was a highly aggressive, skillful, thinking opponent, and I had position and probably held the best hand, I flat called. I was looking to deceive Mr. Local Pro about having an ace, a card holding that would be a standard raise in this texture of situation.

The flop came the 8 7 5 giving me top pair, ace kicker. Mr. Local Pro fired. I chose to flat call once again, thinking it would disguise the strength of my hand and my aggressive opponent would fire the turn with lots of inferior holdings. This would allow me to raise when the bet’s doubled. Also, if a bad turn card came, I could reassess my situation and alter my play to the newfound realities.

One of those bad cards came; the dealer turned the 6, putting a four-straight on the board. Mr. Local Pro checked to me. I bet, not reading my opponent for a straight and feeling that I most likely held the best hand. Mr. Local Pro flat called. I had little clue as to his holding.

The river came the T. Surprisingly, Mr. Local Pro fired. What was going on here? I thought about his possible thinking. Mr. Local Pro’s a tricky guy. Had he been slowplaying? Or was he betting a hand in which he was going to call anyway and didn’t want me checking a marginal hand behind him? Getting 6-to-1 from the pot, I called the wager. Mr. Local Pro turned over the Q 4, having flopped the bottom end of a gutshot and, bet it. Then, when he turned the bottom end of the straight, he checked. Then, when the river was a virtual blank, he fired.

Sitting there with egg on my face and $280 poorer, I pondered Mr. Local Pros thinking. He’s a great player and I was looking to at least get a valuable learning experience for my $280.

Mr. Local Pro raised preflop and fired the flop looking to get me to fold. Pretty standard stuff there. But after making the straight, he checked the turn, a situation most players would bet. I like the play. Mr. Local Pro knows I would bet a wide range of my holdings on the turn, any pair or better as well as a lot of bluffs. He also knew I would bet more hands there than I would call with, making his check the best expectation play since, in many of those situations I would bet, I would be drawing dead and his expected value on those bets would be 100 percent.

On the river, Mr. Local Pro thought I would check my one pair hands holdings he wanted to obtain an additional bet from. By betting, he created a confusing situation for me, and acquired an extra bet from a holding in which I would check, but call.

In this particular situation, had Mr. Local Pro continued betting the turn and the river, I would have paid him off and lost the same number of dollars as it actually played out. But by playing his hand in this manner, he would have gained a bet had I chosen to bluff the turn with a non-calling holding, something he knows I’m likely to do in that type of situation and a situation that was likely to be the case. Yes, I understand other plausible scenarios existed, but the way Mr. Local Pro played his hand based on his accurate knowledge of my range and play choices gave him the best overall expectation in the scope of all plausible scenarios.

Getting maximum value out of your hands adds significantly to your win at the end of the year. Mr. Local Pro does both and does them well. It’s a big part of what makes him a great player.

It was a good play, one I’ll be making in the future. Many of my non-standard plays are ones I discovered from observation. While great players tend to make more of them, average and poor players can sometimes have good thoughts too! And you’ll do your best if you try to learn from everyone.

And even if you don’t want to use their plays, you’ll learn how your opponents think. And once you learn how they think, you’ll have a greater edge over them.
So, pay attention and think things through. Undoubtedly you’ll have questions to answer in the future hands you play! It’s good for your bankroll to know the answers. ♠

Roy Cooke played poker professionally for 16 years prior to becoming a successful Las Vegas Real Estate Broker/Salesman in 1989. Should you wish to any information about Real Estate matters-including purchase, sale or mortgage his office number is 702-396-6575 or Roy’s e-mail is [email protected]. His website is www.roycooke.com. You can also find him on Facebook.