Poker Guy: Sometimes not betting is the right move
WHAT DOES that bet mean from that player? Is he probing to find out whether he should continue in the hand?
WHAT DOES that bet mean from that player?
Is he probing to find out whether he should continue in the hand?
Is he feigning weakness to trap you into committing a lot of chips?
Sometimes you read it wrong and get sucked in. Sometimes you deduce that it's worth the risk to see if you have the best hand.
At the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, at Las Vegas' Bellagio in 2008, with blinds at $1,500-$3,000 plus a $400 ante, top pro David Benyamine played position and got the price he needed to win a showdown.
Benyamine open-raised to $8,500 from the cutoff seat with the tricky holding of pocket 8s. The button and big blind called.
"The guy in the big blind is kind of loose," said Benyamine, winner of WPT and World Series of Poker events. "He's going to play a lot of hands, so I'm happy he's going to play because I think I'll have the best of it. I was more worried about the button having an A-Q or a bigger pair or something like that."
The flop came 2-7-Q, two hearts, presenting a flush draw and overcard to Benyamine's pocket pair.
"The big blind leads out, but it's only $10,000 when the pot is $30,000," Benyamine said. "Obviously, I'm calling, because if he has a 7, that's the way he's going to bet. He's not going to want to check-raise, and he's not going to take the pressure of a bigger bet from me. Taking the lead there is a good thing, but he needed to bet more. The guy on my left folded. He later told me he had 9s, so he had me beat."
The turn came the 3 of diamonds. The big blind again led out, but for only $15,000.
"There's $50,000 in the pot, and he's only betting $15,000," Benyamine said. "He's basically not trying anything. If he has a queen, it's a good play if he doesn't want to lose me if he thinks I have a pair between 7 and jack. But when he does it with a 7, it's not a good play because he's not betting me out of a pot if I have two jacks or two 10s."
The river came the 6 of clubs. The big blind checked.
"I thought about a value bet on the river because I think I have the best hand," Benyamine said, "but my hand couldn't stand a reraise. If he had played it like that with 9s, he made a great play. If he played like that with 7s, he made a very bad play."
Benyamine checked, showed his 8s, and his opponent mucked.
"He kept me in when he didn't want to keep me in," Benyamine said. "You have to know when you want to keep someone in and when you want to bet somebody out. That's a time where you don't want someone in there with you. Any kind of bigger bet and I'd have to fold."
Table talk
Check-raise: To pass on a betting opportunity as a way of showing weakness, only to raise an opponent's bet in the same round as a show of strength. *
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