Poker: The player who misses the point

Some players don't seem to have grasped even the basic principles of the game
    • The Guardian,

Sometimes I wonder if people have grasped even the basic principles of poker. People who play it, I mean.

Here's a hand I played in one of the big Sunday tournaments online. The buy-in was $215, a decent chunk of expenditure.

With blinds at 300-600, an active player in middle position (Mr X) raised to 1500. From the button, I made it 5000 (from a total stack of 21,000) with a pair of 10s. The big blind (Mr Y) called, as did Mr X.

The flop came 4♦ A♣ 7♦. They both checked and I moved all in for 16,000. Mr Y called. Mr X moved all in for 28,000 and Mr Y called all in for his remaining 7,000.

Mr X had QQ. Mr Y had 5♥ 6♥. As it happened, I got lucky and hit the 10. But when I moved in, I had three ways to win: I could have the best hand, I could make my opponents fold better hands, or I could hit the 10.

What about Mr Y, though? Calling all the way, he can't make anyone fold. With 6 high, he certainly can't have the best hand. So his only way to win is to hit his straight; that's just bad poker.

Mr X's play is interesting. He should shove all in before the flop. But at least he checked the ace-high flop, rather than bet, giving opponents the chance to bluff (and removing my second way of winning by refusing to fold QQ).

Mr Y, though, has missed the whole point of poker. Does this need spelling out? The aim of the game is to make opponents call with worse hands than yours and fold better hands. If you're the one calling with the worst hand, you're the value in the game.

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