POKER HAND #19

MORE SUPER/SYSTEM: Here's more from Mike Caro, on a draw play that can easily be used in hold 'em on the river when you're holding a strong hand and only want to get re-raised with the nuts.

One of my favorite plays goes like this:

A player who has just sat down opens in 5th position. I am unfamiliar with his playing habits and, unfortunately, his opening mannerisms have given me no firm indication of what hand he holds. Probably he's got more than Jacks or Queens because he hasnot thrown his chips in forcefully. The player in 6th raises and I'm not sure what he has either, although it's likely he has Trips or better. I'm holding 3-Aces in 7th.

Naturally I can consider re-raising, but a simple call is the superior play here.

Why?

Let's look at two things that might happen.

First. The Opener draws three, the raiser draws two. Now I draw one, knowing that mine is the best hand going. After the draw, it's check, bet. Now it's my turn.

"You're betting into me?" I say as in disbelief. "What is I make a Full House, Aces-full say? Then you'll be sorry. Except I can't make Aces-Full because I don't have any Aces, but I can make..." I look quickly at the card I've drawn. "Yes, it's true! The miracle of the century, Straight-Flush!" Now, I raise.

The Opener says, "If HE wasn't behind me, I WOULD call you," and throws his hand away. The reason he says this is to avoid an embarassed ego in the event the original raiser calls and catches me bluffing.

Naturally, the probable Trips will call unless he was bluffing with a small Pair and an Ace kicker or a Cat-Hop. He may even call with a lone Pair since my seemingly inane patter has so confused him that he wishes his mother would make the decision for him. Of course, he might have made a Full House or Four Kings, but he's very likely to just call even with those hands figuriung that I either made a Straight-Flush or I have nothing.

That's the point! I still have the 3-Aces I went into the hand with, but my verbal manuevers might keep this player (I'm having a bit of troubling reading him) from re-raising with a Full House if he improved after the draw. Maybe it won't work. Maybe it will only work one time in twenty. But when it does, preventing his re-raise will save me money because mathematically my opponent has the best of it if he fills up and re-raises.

Unless I have an absolute Tell making it safe for me to throw my hand away when re-raised, game strategy dictates that I must call most of the time.

All the playful talking I employ at the Poker table is calculated to have a predictable psychological effect on my opponents. It is not meaningless! The most probable outcome of the betting sequence described is that I win with 3-Aces agaisnt, say, 3-Sevens. A re-raise before the draw would have shown a smaller profit.