Mind games

After the First Friday tour (see post immediately prior), I walked down to Binion's. It's not my favorite place, but it, the Golden Nugget, and Fitzgerald's are the only poker rooms within walking distance of my apartment (well, not counting the El Cortez and the Plaza, which are not worthy of consideration), so I keep it in the mix for occasional visits.

(EDIT: On rereading, I realize how absurd this must sound to those of you living in most of the rest of the world. I have "only" five poker rooms within easy walking distance. Oh, poor me! If you live somewhere such that you would feel like you had died and gone to heaven if you had just one poker room within easy reach, I feel for you. I really do. I try not to forget that what I have here is truly an embarrassment of riches. I forgot it for a second when writing the above, but caught my gaffe in proofreading.)

Glad I did. While my friend wandered around downtown Vegas, I made $317 in 80 minutes. It was one of those rare nights where winning was effortless. In addition to a couple of hands in which a continuation bet folded all opposition, essentially my entire profit came from three hands:

1. A-8 suited in the small blind, unraised pot. Pretty mediocre hand in awful position, but no raise, so I added my $2 to the pot ($1-3 game). Flop A-K-9. Another 9 on the turn. River a deuce. I was check-calling. On the river, the guy in Seat 2 bet $60. I had only $51 left at this point. I thought it was most likely that he had missed a flush draw and had nothing, with the other main possibility being a weak ace like I had, which would result in a split pot. I didn't believe he had a 9. So it wasn't a difficult call. Because a lot of players had called on the flop and turn, there was a ton of money in the pot for the call, too. His cards hit the muck the instant my chips went in, so I guess my first thought was correct. More than doubled up there.

2. Very next hand, A-9 of diamonds on the button. Guy on my left raises to $8 from the small blind. OK, I'll bite. Flopped the nut flush draw. His bet was small enough to call. Hit the nuts on the turn. He bet again. Call. Sadly, the river was another diamond, which shut him down, and I couldn't get him to call even a small value bet.

3. Maybe 30 or 40 minutes later, K-K in the small blind. Guy with Q-Q raised before me, and we got about half the money in before the flop, the other half when the flop looked safe to both of us. Kings held up.

See how easy poker is? I don't know what all the fuss is about, what with books, videos, seminars, blah, blah, blah. Just recognize a bluff, get the nuts on the turn, and take the stack of a guy with Q-Q when you have K-K, and you'll make $238/hour. I just proved it. What's the big frickin' deal???

:-)


OK, so now for the "mind games" part. The guy on my left had just lost a big pot to Seat 2. He quietly lamented to me, "It's the first time he hasn't been bluffing." I agreed with his assessment that the dude was a frequent bluffer.

I'm not sure what prompted me to do this--it's completely out of character for me. I whispered to him, "Look, I'm going to be leaving soon, so I may not be able to take advantage of this. He bets faster when he's got it, slower when he's bluffing."

The guy's eyes widened. He said, "Oh, that's good!" He looked at me as if I were a poker guru. I had some credibility on this because he had seen me pick off the same player's bluff. I had only been at the table about five minutes longer than Seat 9 had been (I was in 8), but he didn't know that--for all he knew, I had been studying Seat 2 for hours.

Now, there was a kernel of truth in what I said. Seat 2 had been much slower and more deliberate with his bet when he tried to bluff me than he was in the hand he won in which he showed down top pair/top kicker. I had definitely noticed that, but it was just one example each way, which isn't enough to really count on. It's a trend to watch and try to verify, but it's not enough evidence to count on yet.

So why did I do this? I think there was a mix of motivations. First, it was fun to play with the guy's mind, especially knowing that my friend would be coming back to pick me up before too long--sort of a feeling of power to mess with him when he was vulnerable and feeling beaten. Second, I wanted to intimidate him a bit--make him think that every player at the table, himself included, was transparent to my all-seeing eyes. I realize that those motivations are kind of at cross-purposes, because what's the point of making him think I'm super-scary when I'll be leaving soon? But this wasn't a well thought-out plan, just a spontaneous impulse to which I uncharacteristically yielded.

Now sitting at home a couple of hours later, I'm dying of curiosity to know what happened. Was I right about the tell? Did the guy try to make a call or fold based on what I had told him? If so, how did it work out? I guess I'll never know.

Remember--advice you receive at the poker table is probably worth what you're paying for it.


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Incidentally, this is the first time I've been at Binion's since they've started something apparently new--simultaneous $1-2 and $1-3 NLHE games. This is seriously weird. I don't know of any other place in town that runs both. They have separate waiting lists for the two games, so if you don't care which one you play, you have to know this and ask to be on both lists. I didn't know that at first, and only caught on after I heard names called for both games. I have no idea why they do this. I think it's a terrible idea. Pick one or the other, but there is no good reason that I can think of to be running both at the same time.