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TIPS FROM THE PROS
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 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 |
