Lucky Dog Poker by Russ Scott

One player from Iowa and another from Texas share their recent poker experiences in Louisiana with LuckyDog this week.

Q: This happened to me in New Orleans playing against a mouthy type. I flopped middle pair and bet out strong. He raised. In a very casual way, I said, "Whatcha got?" to get a reaction. He exposed his Q-7 showing top pair of queens!

I thought for a second, then said to the dealer: "That's against the rules. Isn't that a dead hand, now?" His hand was ruled dead by a supervisor, and he got a 10-minute penalty. The guy was quite peeved. What would you have done? — Bruce C. in Bettendorf, Iowa

A: You did nothing wrong, Bruce, although you must have been a bit uncomfortable when the other players called your action "ungentlemanly."

It wasn't your fault the guy broke the rule. "Do not expose your cards to an opponent in a hand," the tournament director announced before the event started.

My first thought is about the dealer. What was she doing? The violation happened, so action was needed to protect the integrity of the game. It's unfortunate she didn't take control, instead leaving it to you to speak up. I would have done the same thing.

Your comment rings true: "I'm afraid it's one of those rules that doesn't get enforced unless someone whines."

When you said, "Whatcha got?" you were looking for a "weak means strong, strong means weak" type of reaction from the guy. That's just part of the game. "I had no intention of tricking him into exposing his hand," you wrote, but it must have seemed that way because he was an annoying player who liked to play "table captain."

In reality, the guy simply was countering your verbal stab for information with a move of his own, showing he had you beat with two cards to come. He has nobody to blame but himself.

The main lesson: If you're going to play the game, you've got to know the rules. And sometimes, see to it they're enforced!

Q: I was in Shreveport, La., in a no-limit hold 'em game with $1-$2 blinds. Three young guys who knew each other were at the table with their mirrored sunglasses and iPods, acting like they were on TV at the World Series final table or something.

They kept going "all-in," attempting to intimidate everyone. I decided to wait for good cards and take their money. You'll love the story about my pocket aces! — Paul M. in Forney, Texas

A: That was a fine strategy against hyper-aggressive players, Paul!

Too many players overdo the all-in move, probably because they've heard that aggression pays off at the felt. That's true, but the difference these guys are missing is that tight-aggressive play — strongly betting your good hands — is better than nonstop crazy aggression.

You tricked one of the young guns with false "tells" that caused him to think your hand was weak.

"I noticed he was staring people down to look for tells," you wrote. "I had flopped a pair of jacks and figured my hand was best. He kept betting. I would hesitate, exhale, shake my head, things like that, and then call. I won the pot! To explain the loss, I heard him tell his buddy, 'I had bad information.' I just laughed inside!"

Of course, a more experienced opponent actually would have read your "tells" as signs you had a good hand, using the standard "weak means strong" interpretation of a player's body language. This fellow was too concerned about his table image to realize what you were doing to him. Nice!

And yes, I enjoyed the pocket aces story. Your counterstrategy worked perfectly against "another young hotshot who picked the wrong time to be big."

The flop came all low cards, with no straights or flushes. He bet all the way, and you kept reeling him in by calling.

"On the river, I get my third ace. He bets $70; I raise to $140. Then the fun begins. He takes forever, trying to decide what to do. He is talking to himself, looking at me and at one point even starts to dial his cell phone as if to make a call in the middle of a hand!"

Finally, a player said, "Put him on the clock." You asked the dealer, "Can I do that?" and he said yes, meaning the player would have one minute to act.

"I said OK, do it. So the player looks at his watch and starts counting down — 10, 9, 8 ... — and finally he says, 'All-in!' Within a nanosecond, I say, 'Call,' and turn up my aces to take down about an $850 pot. He had to go to the ATM!"

How sweet is that?

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 www.creators.com or www.luckydogpoker.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 RUSS SCOTT

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