Don't Just Think It, Do It!
Make Sure You Pull The Trigger
By Hugo Martin 4 April 2008
How many times have you heard a player say, “I know you’re bluffing”, and then fold? Or similarly, how many times have you thought to yourself, “This guy is weak, I should raise him”, but then have dogged it?If, like me, the answer to those questions is too many times then the purpose of this article is to get you (and myself) to pull the trigger.
The inspiration for these ramblings occurred during a recent session in the £250 pot limit Holdem game at the Vic where I found myself in two favourable situations, but failed to act on my first instincts.
A new player (let’s call him Dave) had entered the game and after about a round he had gotten involved in a hand with the board showing two aces. His opponent made a bet and after a while Dave folded showing an ace. Obviously this caused much conversation at the table and I now pegged this Dave as a pretty tight player (surprise, surprise).
A couple of rounds go by and I find myself in the small blind with AK offsuit. There are a couple of limpers and now Dave raised the pot. Seeing as they were a few limpers behind me who could possibly re-raise and that I would be out of position for the rest of the hand, and that I had decided this Dave was inordinately tight, I folded my hand.
The flop came 9 high and Joseph led out for about a pot sized bet. Dave dwelt up a little and called. On the turn they both checked and the river bought a king. Joseph checked again and now Dave bet £200. Joseph now went into the tank for quite awhile before eventually calling with 9T.
Dave said, “Good call, I have nothing” and turned over Q 4! Hmmm, maybe this Dave wasn’t so tight after all.
Ok, that’s the history on this guy during this particular session so now I can get to the main thrust of this article.
About another round went by and now this Dave raised pre-flop. Vicky Coren called and now it was up to me on the button. I looked down to see Ac Kc and my first thought was to re-raise. As you can guess from the theme of this article I didn’t and just called.
I can’t even remember my fuzzy reasoning behind changing my mind. I had obviously changed my view on Dave from being a tight player to a not very good player so a re-raise would have been a fine play here. The fact that I had position on a weak player should be reason enough to re-raise him, but here I had the added bonus of a good hand. Failing to seize the initiative here was pretty weak I think.
Mistake number two came on the flop now when the board came low to middling cards and Dave led out with a standard ¾-of-the-pot-size continuation bet. Vicky called and again my instinct was that neither player was very strong. In fact, I felt that Vicky was “floating” Dave, even though I was still to act behind her. Her knowledge (and perception) of me is as a tight player so I guess she reasoned that if I missed the flop I would most likely fold in this spot.
Well, she was right as once again I went against my gut feeling and folded. I went from thinking Vicky was weak to deciding that she had a strong hand for no particular reason at all, probably just to justify to myself making the “safe” play.
On the turn they both checked and on the river Dave checked to Vicky who then bet. Dave’s swift fold told me I had been right all along and that I had missed an opportunity to pick up a nice medium sized pot.
I muttered to Vicky that her river bet smelt of a bluff and she smiled knowingly to me confirming my suspicions. I even asked her what she would have done if I had called the flop and then bet the turn when they both checked. Her reply? “Oh, I would’ve folded”.
One of the qualities that separates the great players from the merely good ones is the ability to go with their reads and act on what they believe. You often hear top players talking about big pots they have lost where they mentioned that once they had decided on their opponent’s possible hand range they had no choice but to take the action that they did, regardless of whether they were actually wrong or right. What counts is the decision making process and going with that decision.
So there you have it, next time you’re in a hand and you think somebody is weak, don’t just think it, act on it. Otherwise you’ll end up like me, scratching your head and writing about it, instead of spending all those lovely readies you could’ve won….
04/04/08
