Ineptitude

Ineptitude

About the Author

pokerman13 Nibs: 300 Member Since: Apr 1st 2008

Blog Post

The following exchange happened last night at Foxwoods between myself and the player to my left. Believe me when I say that this is a conversation you never want to have with me… or anyone for that matter.

Me: “Dude, you have a straight flush!”
Dude: “I know!”
Me: “So why didn’t you raise???”

The board on the river was 7h 8h 9h Th X (I don’t remember the last card, but it wasn’t a heart). Dude checked, the other guy in the hand bet $50, and Dude called. Then he turned up the jack of hearts. As soon as I spoke, the guy looked up and realized that his Victim had more chips. He simply couldn’t see them because of the way Victim’s hands were positioned. Furthermore, Victim didn’t have any hearts in his hand at all, and wouldn’t have called another cent, so honest mistake and no opportunity cost.

Sadly, that’s not the first time I’ve seen that happen. The other time was much worse. There was a one gap four card straight flush on board. The hapless fool on my left checked, the next player to act bet, and the hapless fool, after thinking about it for a while, decided to call. All he had was a medium-high card of the suit, and he only called given the chance that his opponent was bluffing. As you’ve no doubt deduced, that medium-high card gave the hapless fool a straight-flush. His opponent had the ace of the suit. And they were both deep stacked. the error cost him well over three hundred dollars.

So please, folks, please. Don’t ever make that mistake. Really. Every time the last player to act on the last street merely checks or calls while holding the nuts and more cash behind, a puppy dog gets drop-kicked.

You wouldn’t want to be responsible for drop-kicking a puppy dog would you?

Comments (1)

Posted on May 3rd 2008 by PI Brad Great post! * moves dog away, out of the room :) * I think a lot of players (more online than in live games) don't really take hand value into consideration. There are many situations where people mis-bet their hands and it ends up costing them (not so much in losing the hand, but they lose the value of their hand). Furthermore, IMO, slow playing can be a very dangerous game. I consider it even trickier (and more complex) than straight bluffing.