I can't help feeling like s**t about this...

Tea_Bagger · #1 06-14-2005, 04:14 PM

It was about 2.5 hours into a home game tourney when I made a total rookie mistake. (I've been playing for about 2 years now and have gotten used to NOT making such basic and avoidable errors.) It was down to 4 handed and the blinds had gotten pretty hefty. I pushed on the button with AQo and was called by the BB with 77 (he had me covered). By the river the board read K 10 4 K 10, making my A high the winning hand. However, like an idiot, I was only lookind for and A, Q, or K on the river and failed to realize that the second 10 nullified BB's smaller pair. As I hung my head in unjustified disgust and mumbled something like 'It's all you, man', another player informed me that I had actually won the pot. Of course I was happy to realize that I wasn't knocked out, but I was immediately pissed at myself for not noticing something so obvious. (My excuse is that I had worked for 10 hours that day and was about 5 beers deep.) As I thanked the other player for correcting me, he began berrating himself for saying anything and becoming involved in a hand he wasn't even in. Needless to say the BB was equally annoyed and refused to comment on...well...anything. He just sat the rest of the game in relative silence. Anyway, the whole mood of the table changed after that hand and the game never really recovered. I went on to win the tourney with mixed feelings.

What should I have done (besides not make a nOOb mistake)? Should I have conceded the pot? Was my other friend wrong for speaking up? What's the proper etiqutte for this kind of akward situation?

chesspain · #2 06-14-2005, 04:26 PM

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As I hung my head in unjustified disgust and mumbled something like 'It's all you, man', another player informed me that I had actually won the pot. Of course I was happy to realize that I wasn't knocked out, but I was immediately pissed at myself for not noticing something so obvious. As I thanked the other player for correcting me, he began berrating himself for saying anything and becoming involved in a hand he wasn't even in.

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Assuming that you had layed your cards face-up, it is not only proper but ethical for anyone who notices that you have the best hand to speak up.

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Needless to say the BB was equally annoyed and refused to comment on...well...anything. He just sat the rest of the game in relative silence. Anyway, the whole mood of the table changed after that hand and the game never really recovered. I went on to win the tourney with mixed feelings.

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He's a big baby who is upset because he didn't win a hand that he didn't deserve to win.

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What should I have done (besides not make a nOOb mistake)?

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Thank the third player, jokingly say "I'm such a dickhead," and rake in the pot.

Lottery Larry · #3 06-14-2005, 04:28 PM

Unless you have a specific rule covering this, I think if you table your winning hand in full view of others (and don't muck it to kill it), then the hand wins the pot as it should.
Just because you made a mistake doesn't mean anything. I think the general practice is that all players, in or out of the hand, are responsible for making the correct ruling.

Tea_Bagger · #4 06-14-2005, 04:33 PM

Thanks fellas. Just to clarify, I did in fact have my cards face-up and in full view. I also never made a move to muck them. However, my comment made it pretty clear that I thought I had lost the hand. How much does verbal action count after the hand is over?

Lottery Larry · #5 06-14-2005, 04:38 PM

"Cards speak" means exactly that. If your verbal action caused someone to do something that takes away a pot they would have won, that's a different story.

As chesspain said, this wasn't a bluff fold that someone talked you out of- the other player should stop crying.

djoyce003 · #6 06-14-2005, 04:58 PM

If it's just a friendly home game, your friend that was going to take the pot even though it wasn't his is a tool. The honorable thing (and correct) thing to do would have been for him to say "no, you won that pot." The winning hand doesn't have to apologize for being awarded the pot that is rightly his just because he didn't notice it right away.

smoore · #7 06-14-2005, 05:06 PM

Everyone misreads hands every so often. A sixpack into it and you're going to misread a few more.

Cards speak.

If I were BB, I would be sitting there in relative silence too, not because I didn't get my ill-won pot but because of my horrible luck [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

TexBigSlick · #8 06-14-2005, 06:08 PM

I learned my biggest poker lesson in a similar fashion at a home tournament with less desirable results (for me). I held QQ. After the river card, I put another player allin barely covering him. He announced "two pair" (his hole cards matched two on the board -- something like Jacks & Sevens) at which point I said something like #$@* and mucked, face down while saying "I had queens". At that point, another player said....if you really had pocket queens you had the best hand because of a pair of deuces on the board. I felt so, so stupid. For a long time after that, I just refused to muck after the river. Now, I'm just extremely careful to make sure my hand doesn't win.

Sometimes the hardest lessons learned are the best lessons learned.

Rob (TexBigSlick)

BigBaitsim (milo) · #9 06-14-2005, 07:00 PM

Everyone makes this type of mistake at some point. Don't bother yourself with it.

On the other hand, I find it amusing that "Tea Bagger" is from SF. I mean, what are the odds of that?!?

Tea_Bagger · #10 06-14-2005, 07:19 PM

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On the other hand, I find it amusing that "Tea Bagger" is from SF. I mean, what are the odds of that?!?

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Nice. I guess I never worried about the correlation because I'm so totally, completely, undeniably, positively straight. Nevertheless...

BigBaitsim (milo): 1
Tea_Bagger: 0