Greed in Poker
Hand of the Week XIX
By the PokerStrategyKing
In the past, I’ve written about why it's crucial that you learn to anticipate your bets and
your opponents' bets before they happen. In the long run, this skill will enable you to learn how to manage your winnings and save yourself from losing monster pots. Today I'd like to share with you a story with you how I fell victim to greed the other night
at my local $1-2 no-limit game and how it emptied my pockets.
Successful poker players all have one thing in common. They understand the psychology of greed, and how powerful it really is.
Here's how it happened. I get dealt pocket 6's and am fifth to act. An early position player is first to act and makes it $5 to play. Two players call the pre-flop raise. The action is to me, with the pot size at $18. There's no doubt I'll play this one and hope to spike one of my sixes.
One other guy behind me calls the bet and the blinds fold.
Okay, the flop comes out and it’s the Ah, 9d, 6s. This is perfect I think to myself. I've just hit a set and there's an ace on the board, which I'm sure someone is holding. It looks like I'm going to rake a huge pot at this point. The initial raiser as expected comes out firing with $20, as I expect. I immediately put him on AK or AQ.
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One player folds and the second caller calls the $20 bet. Who knows what this guy has because he's the manic at the table that will play just about anything. He's probably sitting on 10-J, looking for a runner-runner straight draw for all I know.
Needless to say, he's not the guy I'm worried about. Actually, I'm not really worried about anyone at this point. I just flopped trips and all I'm thinking about is how to milk
these guys for all their money.
I decide to not slow-play the hand as we all know how I feel about slow playing. I want to find out where I'm at... so I re-raise the raisers bet. I'm confident I'll get a call. I raise to $50, as I push in my red chips. The guy behind me folds and the action is back to the initial raiser. He thinks for awhile as he shuffles his chips.
He finally calls. The next player, however, doesn't hesitate one bit. He throws in his chips with some frustration. There is close to $200 in the pot already. I've done everything right so far and I'm very well-positioned to rake in a huge pot.
The turn card comes and it’s the 4 of diamonds. Now the board reads Ah, 9d, 6s, 4d.
So the 4 doesn't scare me at all. Both check this time because I'm in control. I fire out a $75 and the initial raiser mucks his hand which he later told me was an AJ. Good laydown on his part.
The other player, on the other hand, thinks for a moment before calling my $75 bet. Now
I'm feeling really good about this hand. This guy’s probably got pocket 2's, or something crazy like that. Who knows? The river card is a 2 of diamonds.
Now I hope Drew does have pocket 2’s. If he does, I'm going to take the rest
of his stack. The board now reads Ah, 9d, 6s, 4d, 2d.
He checks to me. I see the backdoor flush on the board, but I really don’t think he has it so I throw out another large bet anyway of $50.
Big mistake. I should have checked right behind the player when I saw the flush on the
board. Instead, I got greedy and made a stupid bet because I figured there
was no way he chased the flush.
The player raises my large bet by going all in for another $150, and he seems confident.
I lean back in my chair and take a deep breath. Then I call with the remainder of my stack. He turns over a 7-8 of diamonds. He's got the flush, which beats my trip sixes.
So he had flopped an open-ended straight draw and ended up catching the flush instead. Unbelievable but that’s poker.
I had played the hand perfectly right until the backdoor flush hit. That is when I let greed take over. I had made another bet when the player checked to me when I should have just checked back.
If I hadn't let greed take over, I would have saved a lot of chips, and stayed in the game.
Greed is a powerful emotion that can empty your pockets just like it emptied mine.
Until next time, may the chips fall your way.
(For more poker strategy and tips, please visit the PokerStrategyKing’s website at www.pokerstrategyking.com)
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