Late-Night Choices

It was past my bedtime, almost midnight on a Saturday. (Yes, I know, I am a real exciting Las Vegas guy.) I was having a pretty nice session at Bellagio. The game was both fun and friendly. Plus, I was winning a few bucks, and that always adds enjoyment to my poker experience.

My $30-$60 limit hold'em game was full of loose-passive players who were playing lots of hands, calling frequently, and raising infrequently, which is my favorite type of game. I was second to act preflop, holding the A J, and the under-the-gun player limped in. I pondered between raising and calling. With that type of hand, a nut-flush holding, I like to have several opponents. If I make the nuts, I want players to be available to make a second-best holding – and third- and fourth-best holdings, too.

Even though I liked A J, as a general rule, I limp in with this type of hand. But in this particular game, the players were looking to play hands. It did not seem to matter if the pot was raised or not, because they were going to play if they wanted to play.

I tossed $60 in, raising the pot. The player to my immediate left, one of the few at the table with some aggressiveness, raised it to $90. I disliked him raising, fearing that three bets might induce players to fold who might have called two bets. My fears, however, proved unfounded. Two players called the $90 cold, both blinds called, as did the limper and I. Seven players were in for $90; $630 was in the pot already. This was big preflop dough for a $30-$60 game!

It was love at first sight when I saw the flop – an ace with the K 4. I had flopped top pair and the nut-flush draw. My mind went into scheming mode, looking to get the best value I could out of a huge flop for my hand.

It was checked to me. My options were to try to check-raise or lead with the hand. The preflop three-bettor had a substantial hand in order to make it $90 preflop, a big pair or A-K. If I led and he had hit three aces, three kings, or top two pair, he would both raise me and have a hand that would limit my outs as well as thin the field of players who would pay me off if I hit. If he held a hand smaller than kings, I could hold both the best hand and a great draw.

I pondered my decision. If I put him on tens or better, he was 15-10 to hold a wired pair over a hand that had me in trouble (six combinations each of Q-Q and 10-10, and three combinations of J-J; one combination of A-A, three of K-K, and six of A-K). As I pondered, he looked at me as if trying to intimidate me not to bet. I still could have tried to check-raise after any of the players called behind him, but with the texture of the flop and the size of the pot, I didn't want to give a free shot to gutshot-straight and backdoor draws – or any other draws, for that matter.

I bet, and the whole field flat-called. I was glad I had a flush draw with my aces, as I did not think one pair was going to hold up and be the best hand at the river.

The turn card was an offsuit queen. I'd picked up a gutshot-straight draw, but if the guy to my left had wired queens, he had just overtaken me. It also gave anyone with J-10 a straight, and if someone held A-Q or a 10, it took away my jack out. I led again and, once again, nobody folded. I was curious as to what all of these hands against me were, but most of my thoughts were praying to the poker gods to turn a spade on the river.

They did not smile upon me. As a matter of fact, I think they had a good laugh. A jack hit on the river, giving me aces and jacks but putting a four-straight on the board that any 10 would fill. I thought my hand was dead. Even if nobody had a 10, if I was right about my read on the player to my left holding tens or better, I couldn't beat any of his potential hands.

Once again, it was checked to me, and this time I checked. The player to my left contemplated betting, but checked. It was checked around to the player who was last to act, and he fired $60 forward. It was folded back to me, and I, sorely disappointed, tossed my hand into the muck.

The player to my left called the $60, and was the only caller. The bettor turned over the 10 5, having called $90 cold with that hand preflop. The player to my left showed J-J, having made three jacks on the river. He gave a revolting look as he showed them. The fellow holding the 10 5 explained his reasoning, stating to the guy with the three jacks that he had a flush draw on the flop. I think he thought nobody noticed his other draw. I'd played the hand as best I could, and I made the right final play: Despite my frustration, I bit my lip and kept my mouth shut!

These are the kinds of choices we confront daily, and each of them adds incremental value to our results when we make the right decisions: to raise or not to raise preflop, taking into consideration the styles of our opponents; to check-raise or not to check-raise, and weighing the reasons for and against it; to read opponents' playing styles and minds in order to effectively put them on a range of hands; and to make a crying call on the end or not (in this case, in spite of the fact I held two pair, I knew I was dead).

Most importantly, choose to be a smart loser when things don't go your way. Bite your lip and suck it up. Treat your poor-playing opponents with the utmost grace you can muster. Don't show them you had them crushed. Don't give a dirty look or sigh of disgust. Don't say "nice hand" with a sarcastic smirk. And, especially, don't point out their errors to them. Belittling bad players and/or giving lessons is a much worse play than any play they ever made against you. Running them from the game, treating them condescendingly out of ego, and pointing out their mistakes are bad business and poor etiquette.

I went from first and the best draw to third with the flip of a card. Sure, I wanted the chips, but so what? If you can't stomach watching the pot go to the other side of the table when you had the best of it, you probably need to take up hearts, or better yet, solitaire.

Roy Cooke played winning professional poker for more than 16 years. He is a successful real estate broker/salesperson in Las Vegas. If you would like to ask Roy poker-related questions, you may do so online at www.UnitedPokerForum.com.