Psychological Impact of telling the truth at the Poker Table.

[risen]

I'm wrapping up a successful 4 hour session at 6/12 (+ ~$150), and decide after folding on the button to rack up and cash out. I make the announcement to the table that I'm leaving when the Blinds make it back to me and the only hand I'll play until then are Aces, everyone chuckles and we continue playing.

4 hands later I look down and see A /images/graemlins/spade.gif A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. I folded the last 3 hands with the comment, "Nah, not Aces"
There have been no limpers between the blinds and me so I announce, "I got the aces, raise it up to $12, you guys should fold."

The button rasies me silently, the blinds cold call 2 more, and I cap it, shaking my head, wondering aloud what's happening while unracking chips. All 3 call.

The flop comes 10 8 6 rainbow, the blinds check, I open and the button raises me, both blinds call 2 cold again, and I raise it one more time, exclaiming aloud "There's no way in hell any of you have 9 7, I have Aces, you should fold." All three call one more cold.

The turn is a 3, I bet, all call.
The river is a rag. I bet, all call.
I turn over Aces, everyone mucks.

I know all poker players are liars by profession, but what would you be thinking in this situation? How much money would you spend to see if I was telling the truth? What hands would you raise or call with knowing you were up against Aces?

[AcesUp]

I make a point to *always* tell the truth (verbally) at a poker table. In fact, I have played in a particular game for several thousand hours over the past few years, and all the players in the game know that I don't lie when I call my hand.

I've found that this has a couple very helpful side-effects:

1) Any time that I believe I'm in the lead but an opponent has pot-odds to call me, and I believe that he would (incorrectly) fold if he knew what I had, I will say something along the lines of "I've got you beat...I'll show you my hand if you fold." Nine out of ten times that I use this, my read is right, and my opponent folds; I show my hand, he's happy, and I'm happy. On occasion, my opponent will claim that if he knew exactly what I had, he'd have stayed in, but I can't think of a single situation where any opponent got very upset (because I was being truthful).

2) People have a tendency to "return the favor" to me. Once people realize that I always tell the truth, and that I will sometimes tip off when I have a good hand and they should fold, they start doing the same thing for me. Heads-up they'll look at me and say, "I've got the Ace..." or something else to induce a fold from me. And then, just like I do, they'll show me that they were being truthful. The difference, of course, is that I'll only do this when I believe a fold by my opponent is incorrect (he has odds to call) or when I believe a fold is likely even if I didn't say anything. My opponents, though, will often return the favor in situations that are unfavorable to them.

3) It's generally good for an extra couple bets from new players. It's always amusing when a new player joins the game, I pick up a huge hand, and I tell my new opponent to fold, as I have a big hand, or maybe I even tell him exactly what I have if it's the nuts or close to it. Invariably, the guy won't believe me, and will pay me off, often in situations where he wouldn't have otherwise -- just to see my hand and whether I was telling the truth. When I explain that I *always* tell the truth at the table, I'll generally get a couple more "verification of that fact" calls later from the guy before he finally starts to believe me (and generally the rest of the table will be prodding him to call me down, just to prove to him that I really do tell the truth at the table).

Truth, if used correctly (in a mathematical sense), can be a very powerful weapon at the table. One thing to keep in mind though (and I explain this to anyone at the table that asks me why they should believe what I say), is that you have to *always* tell the truth, because if you get caught lying even one time, they'll never believe you again (which, of course, in itself can be used as a strategy as well /images/graemlins/smile.gif.

[haakee]

I've done this a few times. Sometimes I lie, but usually if I'm lying the hand is close to what I actually have. I had a funny little hand with KK just like yours a while back:

Very loose aggressive northern California $8-16. I have been playing tight since most pots are raised preflop. Some guy recently made a comment about how everybody should fold when I raise and I've been asking the dealer for pocket kings to no avail. A new dealer sits down and deals me exactly what I asked for in early position (K /images/graemlins/spade.gif K /images/graemlins/diamond.gif), so I raise and say, "Pocket kings raises!" A few folds, then a very loose player ponders and I say, "Jack-eight suited no good! Just muck it!" He cold-calls my raise. A decent player (who is still a bit loose and fears me) cold-calls my raise in the small blind and a guy who limped under the gun calls. 4 of us see the flop.

Flop is Q32 with two hearts. Checked to me, I bet and say, "Pocket kings still good! Fold your top pair, you should only be calling me if you have two hearts." Everybody calls, I say, "What are you doing? You can't all have hearts? You know your pairs are no good!" 4 to the turn.

Turn is T(Q32) not a heart. Checked to me, I bet and say, "Pocket kings still good. Just muck your hands now, you can't win." Loose player calls and decent player calls. Early position mucks.

River is 9(TQ32) not a heart. Decent player checks, I bet and say, "Don't call unless you have at least 2 pair." Loose player calls. Decent player mucks. I *know* my hand is good and I flip over my pocket kings and start laughing. Loose player flashes a 9(!?!?) and mucks.

[baggins]

what's funny is you told them 'J8suited is no good' and it would have been with that board!

[Bokonon]

Good eye!

So how about it, haakee? If the loose player had turned over J8s and scooped the pot, what would you have said then? I mean, after everyone stopped laughing their asses off /images/graemlins/smile.gif.

I think in your position I would have sold all my earthly possessions, moved to Tibet, and bought a goat farm. Because I don't think I'd be able to show my face in the Western Hemisphere ever again /images/graemlins/laugh.gif