Gardner's Bluff Pickoff

[chuddo]

i am referring to the hand where he called the sizeable river bet on a board with KKQxx. i believe the flop was checked. And Gardner, first to act with the 1010 bet out and was raised. he called the raise, and checked the brick on the river, which the other guy then bet. he thought briefly, then called down to take the nice pot off bluff.

the guys i were watching it with thought it was a pretty loose call but i thought it was just a great read. i thought gardner knew he didnt have the K because if that were the case, he would not have raised the turn and simply smooth-called gardners bet on the rainbow board. when he checks the river, if the other guy had the queen, he is probably going to check behind to showdown to avoid being trapped if gardner has the K.

i thought it was a good call and one of the more interesting hands in the sea of "all-in bustout hands" that make up the bulk of the broadcast.

[Roy Hobbs]

I totally agree. I thought that it was a great read, for pretty much the same reasons that you laid out. Two additional reasons: a) the only hand that he can have that would cold call like that before the flop is likely exactly KQ; and b) he had a strong read from the flop that the button was weak.

RH

RH

[BarronVangorToth]

Perhaps it's just me, but I'm not comfortable with referring to correct calls as "weak" calls.

He had a read on the guy and called him. It's correct.

If you FOLD every time someone represents "top pair" -- that's weak, in my opinion, as sometimes they don't have what they're representing.

In this case: he made the right call.

It's not always the best bet to raise or fold -- sometimes, the call is correct, EVEN on the river, lest you be wrong and you end up costing yourself an extra bet or two.

Barron Vangor Toth
www.BarronVangorToth.com (http://www.BarronVangorToth.com)

[chuddo]

barron, at no point did i ever use the word weak or even insinuate it. i said it was a nice read, and Roy agreed (saying gardner felt the button was weak) that it was a good bluff pickoff.

so...what are you talking about?

[SpiderMnkE]

This was poker... great call

[jslag]

I thought it was a great call as well.

If someone is bluffing, do they tend to sit still a bit more and stare down, away from their opponent? I haven't read Caro's book of tells, but it seems to me that the guy was trying to sit completely still and not look at Gardner. You'll notice a lot of guys with large holdings (top pair, etc) tend to look AT their opponents, when they are wanting someone to call.

Anyone know if those are typical tells?

[TimTimSalabim]

Gardner is rapidly becoming one of my favorites to watch. Unlike a lot of these young players who seem more interested in posing for the camera than anything else, Gardner just quietly goes about his business and plays some great poker.