In case you missed it, read this first:
Wynn Poker Tournament in Las Vegas: Part 1
When your not involved in a pot, its important to pay attention, there is a lot to be learned just by watching.
Here are a couple examples of some plays that took place in pots that I wasn’t involved in, there are some important concepts here that I will try and explain.
Blinds are 25 & 50, betting rounds of 50-100
Seat 7 Limps in middle position with 7-8 hearts
Seat 8 Limps in with queen-jack of hearts
Seat 1 Limps in with Ace-X (anything)
The flop is: Ace of Hearts, King of Hearts, 3 of Hearts
Both seat 7 & 8 Check (marginal bad play for seat 7, I think betting here is more correct with a flopped medium size flush, I hate checking and having another heart come and losing to the ten of hearts or jack of hearts when they may fold if you bet on the flop.) (semi-ok play for seat 8 who flopped the nuts and could not be beat at that point). Seat #1 Bets in last position and both Seat 7 & Seat 8 flat call, which is a horrible play in my opinion, especially for seat 7. Either player should have check raised
The Turn: 5 of hearts (making 4 hearts on the board)
Seat 7 checks (which is ok, because his flush probably got counterfeited), Seat 8 who has the best hand and can’t be beat checks again. This is just a horrible play, he has both the queen and jack of hearts, meaning the 1st best flush card and 2nd best flush card are out of play. Does he really think the 1 seat is going to bet again? He should have bet, I understand he was trying to check raise, but this play just isn’t going to work even against the dumbest of dumb players. The best play in this situation is to always bet out, and get the money in the pot by not missing a bet. It’s Limit Hold’em, you will most likely get called, players hate folding in Limit Hold’em and often pay just to see your cards
The River: Some insignificant black card
Seat 7 checks, Seat 8 bets (finally), Seat 1 folds, Seat 7 reluctantly calls, and then we get to see the cards. This pot should have been bigger, Seat 8 cost himself at least 3 small bets, and two big bets
Lesson to be learned (a):
If you flop a medium size flush, bet your hand (in this case he would have still lost, but maybe based on the flop action, when the 4th heart hit on the turn, he could have had enough information to fold
Lesson to be learned (b):
Slow playing is almost never correct in Limit Hold’em, build the pot and win more money, your more than likely going to get plenty of action anyhow. If you have the nut flush cards on a 4 card suited board, bet your hand, it’s incredibly unlikely someone else is going to bed, and more than likely that one (if not more) players will still call.
Part 3 of the tournament story continues here:
Wynn Poker Tournament in Las Vegas: Part 3
