I Thought He Thunk That!

Roy Cooke

I was having a good day in my $40-80 limit hold’em session, up a bunch. Two off the button, a loose-passive tourist open-limped. On the button, I peeked down to the Q 9. Against a passive limper and owning the button, it was an easy call. I tossed in $40.

Mike Souchak, a personal friend and an excellent player, called in the LB. The BB knuckled and we took the flop four-handed.

I flopped a big one, the 10 8 6, giving me a double gutter, a queen-high flush draw and an overcard. Mike checked, the big blind fired and Mr. Passive-Limper raised. I pondered reraising, Maybe they would call the three-bets? Maybe I could take a free one if I missed? But reraising might also blow out Mike and the big blind, thereby reducing the price I would receive on my draw. I chose to flat-call looking to trap more players into the pot, thus increasing the price I would receive on my draw as well as providing more opponents to pay me off should I hit it.

Mike rehit it from the small blind, the big blind folded to the additional two bets, and Mr. Passive-Limper flat-called. I standardly would four-bet in this situation, but the fact that Mike was the three-bettor heavily influenced my thinking. Mike’s a good hand reader and the fact that I would trap reraise on a uniform board with a flush draw present would trigger Mike to read me for the flush draw that I had. And if he read me for the flush draw I possessed, Mike would play correctly against me on future streets. And while I really like Mike, I don’t want him playing his hands correctly against me. I flat-called.

The turn card came the 7h, giving me the straight, albeit a one card community straight. Still holding the flush draw, I loved my holding. Mike fired $80 and Mr. Passive-Limper raised it to $160. I pondered my best play.

There was currently $800 in the pot. If I flat-called, I would be giving Mike 12-1 currently on a call, long odds that made many hands correct to call. And when your opponents are correct in calling, you’ll do better equity-wise if they fold. And sometimes, when you make a trap play you just end costing yourself equity by offering an opponent a cheaper draw when they would have called the extra raise to draw regardless.

Additionally, since I held the 9, I didn’t think that Mr. Passive-Limper could hold J-9 because I believed he was a passive player and wouldn’t raise with an open-ender with a flush draw present (or for that matter when one wasn’t). Confident I was freerolling at worst, I three-bet the turn, making it $240 to go. Mike folded, and Mr. Passive-Limper flat-called.

The river blanked, the 4h. Surprisingly, Mr. Passive-Limper led into me, my first inclination that my hand might not be good. I flat-called him and he turned over the Jd9s, possessing the nut straight. I tossed my hand into the muck.

Sitting there in total confusion with egg on my face, I reflected upon my decisions in the hope of learning something from the situation. I’d read the hand and the player totally wrong: The fact that Mr. Passive-Opener raised with a naked open-ender with a flush draw present altered all my previous thoughts about the fellow. Had I known he was capable of that, would it have changed my play on the turn? I don’t think so. Since I was freerolling to the flush and his range would include many other nines, I still would have put in the raise so as to not give my friend Mike a correct call draw with a hand like two pair. Additionally, if Mike had a hand like a set or held a nine, I would have wanted the additional action from the raise.

After the session Mike kindly bought me dinner and I discussed the hand with him. He stated he had two Jacks and flat-called pre-flop, a non-standard play since a raise would standardly be in order in that spot. Undoubtedly, Mike flat-called to disguise his holding, though I question if it’s the right play in this particular situation. In my mind, since a weak-passive player had limped, and I had just called him on the button, Mike’s edge factor over our hands would likely be large. Additionally, Mike added a greater assumption of risk of having the big blind play for free when he might have folded. The combination of lost equity on pre-flop bets and the greater assumption of risk made me believe raising was a better play. That said, while I disagreed with Mike’s play in this instance, he’s not one whose decisions I differ with often. Nor when we differ am I always right.

The hand speaks to reading your opponents hands, thinking about how they will read your actions and making plays based on your read. In this case I didn’t read my opponent correctly. While I feel my read is generally true with Mr. Passive-Limper, in this instance he varied from his standard mentality, I’m not sure why. That said, I’m frequently wrong, and I don’t beat myself up about it. As long as I know my judgment was based on logical thinking, I’m ok with myself the times I am in error. Taken as a whole, the effort I make to read situations has large rewards.

In poker, I just make the best decision I can, with the best information I have available, and let the cards fall however they may. I try to keep my focus on the decisions I make, not the cards that came.

And if my decisions are wrong, I try to learn from them, leave the situation behind, and just play the next hand the best I know how! ♠

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 RealtyAce@aol.com. His website is www.roycooke.com. You can also find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @RealRoyCooke.