sucking him in.

A hand I would like to share with you occured at the TAJ 20-40 shorthanded....

I had been playing Tight shorthanded.....only playing big hands...so i decided it's time to raise with K4 of hearts well to my perfection the board came up


2 3 5 of hearts, I was in my glory, here is what i did I bet right out...I was first to act....so I figured these guys think on the same level that I think on there thoughs are "if he had a flush why would he bet it right out"....


I bet out and he called, now on the turn came a 5, I checked, and he bet,

I looked back at my cards and paused for a few seconds and I raised, he reraised, I paused and reraised, he reraised, I looked back at my cards to make him think that maybe I had a pocket pair and I paused again, and reraised, and he kept raising until I had all of my money in there......turn no help....to my flush......but...... he ended up having 3 5's and my flush held up.........


The point I would like to make to this story is.....how can you suck a guy in for more money....some people act too fast....they don't pause long enough....are the pauses I made essential in keeping him in....and relaxing him to make him think he has the best hand??

I had been playing Tight shorthanded.....only playing big hands


This is a substantial mistake in shorthanded play. You are going to get run over by either somebody who knows how to play shorthanded or by somebody who is just aggressive when somebody else shows weakness by folding a lot.


Your raise with K4s shouldn't be a variation play. It should be a standard play. You should also be raising with "weak" hands such as A7o.


are the pauses I made essential in keeping him in....and relaxing him to make him think he has the best hand?


No. These are amateurish ploys which will be easily spotted by any good player. The general theory of "acting weak means you are strong" tells is thouroughly covered in Caro's Book of Tells. When you've studied that text, these tricks become very transparent.


he kept raising until I had all of my money in there


You should have stopped when he 5-bet, maybe when he 3-bet. Your flush will win most of the time. However, you don't even have the nut flush. More importantly, the board is paired so a full-house is possible. When somebody makes it 5 bets on a paired board and all your have is the second nut flush, it's time to slow down.

Dynasty I think reraising him was correct, because I didn't put him on a full, and I still had outs to an open ended straight flush....as far as tight goes in shorhanded play, i'm not going to play 78s, or 67 or Q3....


I don't necessarily play tight....but when i come in a hand I come in with a raise I come in with a hammer, I play draws to the turn... if it's 4 or less people, if I look down and see QJo, I raise, ATo, I raise, A9o I raise, the only Ace I muck is A2 and sometimes A3. I raise with any two high cards......any hand that is worth playing shorthanded should be brought in for a raise


p.s. I have Caro's book of Tells......and I know what it means someone acts weak they are strong....but I didn't act weak, I paused and pondered....and thought.....as if to act Confused in my decision whether raising was the correct play......


I acted confused not weak.....

your criteria for what to play shorthanded is still too tight - you could win more, especially playing some of the hands you just described while in late position, such as 78s, 67, or some weak offsuit kings. QJo is worth a raise in the right spots even in a tight ten handed game.


and theres no science to what kinds of gimicks fool a sucker. The only reason he raised the whole way was because he was locked into the idea that he had you beat, just as you were locked in to the idea you had him beat.

I paused and pondered....and thought.....as if to act Confused in my decision whether raising was the correct play


This is one of the classic "weak means strong" tells. The book shows a picture of a fellow looking confused, pondering, and then finally deciding to go all-in.

Mikey,


Was this similar to your act?


If I saw a player do this with that flop, I would almost put them on exactly Ah4h for the flopped straight flush. /images/smile.gif I might not call with Quad 5's.

you see Dynasty i try to become more of an actor when i play cards, do you now how sometimes you just know the guy has the straight just by the way he's betting the way he's acting and sure enough he flips over his cards and bamm there is a straight. Can't you just tell sometimes, the way a person has called that he's on a flush draw, but just can't raise because he wants people behind him.


Other times can't you just tell......that a person has called with the Ace High Flush because he has 4 people to act behind him and he doesn't want to lose his customers, well what I try to do is act out these things in Shorthanded play and in a full game i try to act very similar to what I see to confuse the opponnents and it's these types of things that will confuse the hell out of them......


In the World Series of Poker when Russ Hamilton made his Str Flush didn't you see how beautifully he played it.....didn't vary at all, the man couldn't lose the hand and had the same gesture the whole time and Vince Burgio bluffed most of his money in that hand....


Now here is one, how about the 1997 World Series of Poker when John Stremph backdoored a flush, did you see the look on this face when you bet out $70,000, he acted unsure of himself and Stu Ungar called him....STU UNGAR, called his bet of $70,000, when Stu only had Aces......but did you see the way John Stremph was acting....


The game of poker is psychological.....too....you have to sometimes sit down a certain way and act a certain way to trigger their call..... Now here is where I vary, I know who the good players are....and I do the exact opposite to them, I fire right out fast and hard with a big hand after they just saw me win a pot from another guy by acting all slow and slowplaying.

I think that you are forgetting about your overall strategy - how do you act when you are bluffing - confused again or strong?


Also I don't think that your "acting" on this hand made the slightest bit of difference to the outcome. The fact that you raised pre flop and bet out on the flop was the reason that your opponent put all his money in. He concluded that a flush was the least likely of your possible hands e.g overpair, o/p with flush draw, overcards with flush/str8 draw. Once he decided that he had the best hand on most occasions he was going to keep betting. The fact that he had very few chips made this decision easier.