$40-80 hand at Wynn
Dear Vegas dwellers,
Do you call it "The Wynn" or just "Wynn?"
On to the hand ...
One hour into the game for me. I was in the big blind with KQs. UTG limped. He was the softest spot by far. (I had not had a chance to change seats yet.) (Do you notice how often the open seat is right to the right of the softest spot? I do. Ever since the first time I noticed it was me who the people on my right kept moving away from.)
Somebody raised and somebody called. The small blind folded. I called and UTG called. Four players.
The flop was 5-5-3 with one of my suit. Everybody checked.
The turn paired the three, and gave me a flush draw. Everybody checked. (I’m starting to think that maybe I have developed magical check-inducing powers.)
Among the reasons why I prefer to be last to act compared to first to act is that when I’m first, I have to be deciding in advance lots of times what I am going to do before the next card comes up, or at least try like heck to, for every card in the deck, so as not to be taken by surprise. When I'm last, there is no such urgency.
I decided on this hand that if I hit the flush on the river, I was going to bet, and if I caught a pair, I was going to check, and if I didn’t improve, I was going to check, unless it was a five or a three that came on the river, in which case I was going to bet because I had a pretty good feeling that the guy on my left would call with the full house on board without really even giving it a thought, and that at least one of the other guys who were both plenty sharp would have to come up with a fold, as my proper due for playing so nittily. And UTG being in there meant they would not bluffraise.
The river was a five. I bet. UTG called. The next guy reluctantly folded. The next guy tanked. I knew what he was thinking. The pot was just too small to make the call. He folded and me and UTG split it. (He had J-9).
Tommy
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