John Juanda - May 30, 2005
I'm at Foxwoods playing the $2,000 No Limit Hold 'em
event. We all started with $3,000 and now I've got
$15,000. At my table is Richard Tatalovitch, a player
whom I've competed against many times.
I raise pre-flop from middle position with K-J
offsuit and Richard calls from the big blind. The flop
comes 9-6-4 with two diamonds on the board.
Richard hesitates for a moment before checking, and I
put in a pot-sized bet. Richard thinks for a while and
calls. All of a sudden, I don't like my hand -- so much.
Imagine my relief when a non-diamond J hits the turn.
Now I have top pair and a pretty good kicker. Then
Richard comes out betting. Uh-oh.
Now, let me back up a moment and mention that when
someone hesitates before checking, it's usually a huge
tell. But Richard is the king of delayed action, so I
ignored his tell and bet the flop anyway. And his bet on
the turn just screams, "Raise me! I dare you!"
I go into the tank and my poker rules thoughts go something like
this:
1. He flopped a set. That explains the smooth call on
the flop - he's trying to trap me into staying, hoping
I'll bet the turn, too.
2. No. If he had a set, he'd have checked the turn
and waited for me to hang myself right then and there,
or let me catch something on the river. He can't have a
set.
3. The jack helped him. I don't have the jack of
diamonds. Maybe he does, and he called the flop with a
jack-high flush draw. If so, I like my kicker and my
hand.
4. He's betting on the come with a flush or straight
draw and is hoping to buy the pot right there.
I run through these possibilities and reach no
conclusion.
Normally, I would just call here. We both have a lot
of chips, and I don't want to put them all in with
nothing but top pair. Then, I have the misfortune to
remember a hand from a month earlier at Bellagio:
Richard had been running bad and was complaining
about a string of horrific beats. I saw him check and
call with top boat because he was afraid of quads! A guy
that afraid of monsters under the bed isn't going to
check-call top set on the flop with a flush draw out
there.
"All in!" I declared.
Oops. This is now a Big Pot. And rest assured, top
pair doesn't even resemble a Big Hand.
In the four years I've been playing with him, I've
never seen him call so fast. I am drawing dead to his
perfectly-played 9-9.
Sometimes, we all forget that big cards don't always
equal a big hand and that the smart move can be to play
conservatively instead of going for the quick kill. As
for Richard - he had the good sense to be in a Big Pot
with a Big Hand, and the patience to make it pay off.
John Juanda
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