You Cannot Bluff in Limit Poker

The following hand was written by Peter Costa. Peter just had a terrific tournament (again!) at the Australasian Championships in Melbourne, Australia. Last year he won the $10,000 (Australian) buy-in event, and this year he had three seconds and a fifth. By the way, congrats to Gus Hansen for winning his third World Poker Tour event in late January. My hat is off to you, Gus! OK, Peter, take it from here.

In the summer of 2000, I made my first trip ever to Los Angeles. It was to be my first step on the road to playing poker for a living. On the advice of a friend who had previously been to L.A., I stayed at the Crystal Park Hotel and Casino in Compton, a suburb of L.A.

I had been going to Las Vegas since about 1995, but in those days, my poker playing was restricted to having fun and just playing one-table satellites. Furthermore, L.A. was not Las Vegas, so to say that I was a little apprehensive about this trip was an understatement. Still, this was the life I had chosen, and I had to make the best of it. So, I just let the excitement of this wondrous journey rule my thoughts. If I had found that I couldn't do that, I might well have given up, there and then.

I was in L.A. to play in some of the tournaments in the area, and the limits being spread in live games at Crystal Park at that time were lower than I was used to playing. But one night, I couldn't sleep, and at about 5 a.m. I found myself playing with six other insomniacs.

The game was as loose as a goose, but it was limit hold'em, and I hated limit poker at the time. Still, when a poker player can't sleep, there is no option but to take a seat. It was during this unpromising session that I experienced the most incredible hand of poker I've ever seen.

I had been playing for about an hour when I had one of those "rushes" (a rush is when you win pot after pot) in which any two cards I had won. That series of winning hands saw my rack of $100 in chips turn into five racks. Limit poker was not as bad as I thought! As long as I kept hitting the flops, I found it fun to play. And, boy, was this fun about to get better.

As usual, it was "capped" preflop (capped means that the maximum number of bets were put in before the flop; that's four bets in California and five in Vegas), but this time, all seven players saw the flop. I was in the small blind with the 7 5. OK, I was the one who had capped it. I was hitting flops, so what else could I do? And this flop was no exception: It came J 8 4, giving me a straight-flush draw. Once again, I capped the betting on the flop, with all seven players still in the pot. The turn card was a 10, but not a diamond. I bet anyway, and was raised by the big blind, who held the A 9. I of course made it three bets, and he made it four. All he had were open-end straight and nut-flush draws. But I could make the straight flush!

Feeling very confident that I would hit my draw, I bet in the dark before the dealer had time to turn the river. I was sure that I would hit, so why wait? I jokingly shouted for the board to pair (this was not allowed in Europe, but I had quickly learned the American ways) as the dealer turned the 3. What a joke, I thought to myself: all those cards to hit and I miss everything! The big blind, obviously, mucked, and to my disbelief, so did everyone else! One by one, they tossed their cards toward the muck.

I could not resist showing my 7-high busted draw as I scooped a $300-plus pot to add to my other racks. And then, the obvious discussion began. The question of what each of us held flew around the table. There was not one pair between the seven of us!

One by one, the first five players disclosed their holecards: A 9, A 9, K Q, K Q, Q 6. The final player was so upset at mucking his A-Q for the last bet of $8 that he couldn't speak.

That's why I hate limit poker: You just can't bluff in that game!

I hope you enjoyed this Hand of the Week. Good luck playing your hands this week.

Editor's note: Play poker or chat with Phil at Ultimatebet.com, and learn more about him at philhellmuth.com. Phil's new book, Play Poker Like the Pros, is available at cardplayer.com.