LUCKYDOG POKER
BY RUSS SCOTT
RELEASE: NOV. 29, 2011

Player’s Mistake a Learning Moment, Not Just an Embarrassment

A “dumb mistake” during a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament and a question about local charity poker events get attention this week.

Q: Normally I check my hole cards on every street, but on this one hand I didn’t. Don’t know why. I lost almost all my chips and busted out a little later. What do you say to that? — Bob R. in Davenport, Iowa.

A: Two words, my friend: “Lesson learned!”

Here’s what happened:

You limped in pre-flop with Q-10 of spades, as did several others. The flop came 10-x-x with one spade, and you alone called a player’s bet of 300. The turn card was another non-spade rag, so you called his 500-chip bet. The river brought a non-spade ace, and your opponent bet 1,000.

“I figured he didn’t have an ace (I was right), and there were no flushes or straights possible. I doubted he had any pocket pair higher than my 10s, either, because he didn’t raise before the flop. I decided to call,” you wrote in describing the hand.

“He turned over J-10 and I turned over Q-10 and was surprised when the dealer shoved him the pot. I said, ‘Wait, I had a higher kicker.’ Then the dealer gave me the news that I held Q-J, not Q-10!

“I still hadn’t noticed, even after turning over my cards! I was so focused on his hand and the fact that I out-kicked him, that I was oblivious to my actual cards.

“Like I say, I usually check my cards on every street, so I normally would have noticed I missed the flop and wouldn’t even have called his initial bet. Wow! Here I thought I was improving, but made such a dumb mistake.”

I know you feel silly that this happened, Bob, but don’t beat yourself up.

The correct action is to maintain your routine of checking your hole cards multiple times during a hand. Be consistent, so opponents don’t pick up a tell on you.

Remember, poker’s elite have made similar mistakes. Even the great Phil Ivey misread his hand late in the World Series of Poker main event a couple of years ago.

In the overall scheme of things, this one hand has ZERO implication as to whether or not you’re improving!

Q: I recently played in the Arsenal Island Texas hold ‘em tournament you directed. Do you have information on other upcoming tournaments or a website where this information is available? — Ed S. in Davenport, Iowa.

A: Thanks very much for playing in the U.S. Army event on Nov. 12! We had a terrific day and a dynamite final table — which you can read about at luckydogpoker.com, if you haven’t already.

One local website that hopes to collect this type of info — quadcitypoker.com — has a link to “Fundraising Events,” but nothing was listed when I last checked. Another site — fatcatzpoker.com — had two events posted, including the huge ARC tourney at Jumers Casino, now rescheduled for Feb. 4.

I know of at least three additional upcoming tournaments, Ed: Kennedi’s Kisses, tentatively set for Feb. 24, Habitat for Humanity on March 2 and the next Arsenal tourney on March 10. Two others I’ve heard about haven’t set dates yet.

I’ll post details about these events on my website when they become available.

E-mail your poker questions and comments to russ@luckydogpoker.com for use in future columns. To find out more about Russ Scott and read previous LuckyDog Poker columns, visit creators.com or luckydogpoker.com.

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