I don't think he knew....

I was playing in a SNG at Absolute Poker yesterday to kill some time while I was running some jobs on my computer at home. I had a big stack after taking a player out early when I misread him for a bluff when I raised with AQs and the player after me IMMEDIATELY went all in over the top. He was playing a lot of hands very aggressively so I immediately put him on a weak hand. I called quickly and he showed QQ. Flop had an ace and Mr aggressive was down to $100. He said "nh" and I said "got lucky" and he said something that might have been innocent and might have been rude. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and didn't tell him that going all-in with QQ in the SB for T1600 chips when there's less than T100 in the pot is a DUMB ASS play, especially if someone has raised in front of you. He was out soon anyway.

Several hands later I was in the SB with 98o and completed for some ridiculously small amount. The flop was AQJ two hearts. I figured my hand was dead and checked. It checked around and the turn was an offsuit 10. I checked again, which I think is the right play. It checked around again and the river was the third heart, a deuce. I checked my straight and someone bet T25. I called and took the hand down with my straight when the bettor showed QT for two pair.

Some poker genius said this "I don't think he knew he had a straight."

Well, I already felt like I'd been insulted by a previous player and let that slide. I wasn't going to let this one slide. "What?" I replied. "I had the butt end of the straight and any King had me dead." "Any two hearts also killed me."

From yet another genius (genius number two), "I'll bet the butt end of a straight any time." I responded, "You must win a lot of money at this game." That got a bunch of "LOLs" from the table. "Why risk it this early in a tournament?" I continued. "You can't win it now, but you sure can lose it."

Genius number one says "Good point." Genius number two says "You're an idiot." His avatar was Beavis and Butthead, incidentally.

What if I had bet my straight when there was a one card higher straight out there, like Butthead would have? I mean, this is online poker, where people hold on to aces and kings NO MATTER WHAT THEIR OTHER CARD IS. If an ace or a king can beat me on a hand, I always assume there is one out there. I was pretty sure there wasn't one out there on this hand, but I wasn't going to risk my whole tournament on it. I am betting first here being the small blind, so if I bet out, someone could raise me. Then what do I do? I CANNOT call a raise with this hand. Too many hands beat me. I figured I'd check and happily lay down the best hand to a big bet. But the bet was small so why not trust my read and call? Had I raised, he could come over the top and I'd still HAVE TO FOLD. Call is the only decent move I see here, other than fold.

I see this as a fundamental difference between bad and good tournament players. A bad player is unwilling to lay down what might be the best hand if he thinks he might be beat and the tournament is on the line. A good player happily releases the best hand, waiting for a time where the risk makes a lot more sense.

Final results of the SNG? After a fierce heads up battle, I took second in the tournament. Genius number one finished seventh, and genius number two bubbled out in fourth. It kind of felt like.............Justice.