Of pots and kettles

During an afternoon session at the Venetian today, I watched a pot call a kettle black.

Mr. Pot was in seat 1. After the turn card was dealt, the board contained a 6-7-8-9. Faced with a bet, Mr. Pot said, "I have an open-ended straight draw. But I guess everybody else does, too." And with that, he folded.

This was highly improper, for two reasons. First, his words effectively announced that he did not have a 5 or 10 for the straight (although at least not having a 10 would be inferred from his fold). Second, it drew attention to the fact that there were four consecutive cards on the board.

This should be obvious to everybody, and such comments are usually made by somebody who assumes that it is obvious to everybody, and thus there is no harm being done.

But it is not uncommon for players to misread the board. In fact, at this very table was a woman who had forgotten to bring her glasses, and was having trouble seeing the cards, frequently standing up so that she could lean forward, or asking the dealer what was out there. Sometimes players are drunk, and they mistake an 8 for a 9, or a spade for a club, or whatever. Sometimes a player has a flush draw, and focuses only on the suits visible, and doesn't notice that the ranks are lining up in a meaningful way. A comment such as Mr. Pot's can easily tip off another player about a situation of which he was previously unaware. This violates the rule about talking about the hand in progress, because it may be providing assistance to another player, which is also against the rules.

I didn't say anything because I had just sat down, didn't have any feel for the table dynamics, and didn't want to start off the session on a bummer note as the rules nit. Unfortunately, the dealer didn't say anything about it, either.

On the very next hand, the final board contained two pairs. Mr. Pot was first to act. He said, "I think I have the best hand, but I'm gonna check." The other three players in the hand also checked. Before anybody exposed their cards, Mr. Kettle, sitting in seat 2, just to the left of Mr. Pot, said to Mr. Pot, "Your ace is good."

Mr. Kettle did indeed have an ace, and that was, in fact, enough to win the hand. But as he was stacking up the chips, Mr. Pot gently chided Mr. Kettle for speaking up in that manner.

He was certainly correct on this point. Players must make every decision in a poker hand without help from anybody else. This critically includes the decision, after the action is complete, as to whether to expose one's cards or muck them unseen. Once a player has turned his cards face-up, the dealer can help him read what he has (e.g., pointing out a straight or flush that the player had overlooked), but nobody can help a player decide whether to expose his cards or throw them away, any more than they can help him decide whether to call, raise, or fold.

Suppose that a player here had A-2. He sees the A-9 exposed by Mr. Pot, and makes a mental error, thinking that Mr. Pot's better kicker wins it, when actually they would split the money (because the kicker isn't part of their five-card hand, when there are two pairs among the community cards). The comment from Mr. Kettle could suddenly alert this inattentive player to the fact that his ace is just as good as Mr. Pot's, and cause him to table his cards face-up and claim half of the pot, when without the comment he was going to just toss them in the muck. Mr. Kettle could cost Mr. Pot half of the money, by sticking his nose in where it didn't belong.

So Mr. Pot was correct to warn Mr. Kettle not to inject himself into the hand in that way--and when Mr. Kettle initially resisted the criticism, the dealer spoke up to confirm what Mr. Pot was saying.

But what a hypocrite! Mr. Pot apparently thinks that it's OK for him to say things about the hand in progress that could assist another player, but not OK for anybody else to do the same!