Benefits of Paying Attention

Last night I played in a tournament at the Venetian (we chopped 1st through 5th) and experienced a situation where paying attention to a hand that I was not involved in reaped benefits for a hand that I was involved in.

We had been playing for around four hours and were down to two tables. We were playing short handed waiting for one player to bust so we could be down to the final table. There was a younger dude at my table who was playing good, solid, aggressive short handed poker. He raised frequently and put pressure on the other players, but didn't raise so often as to be considered a maniac. I mucked my hand under the gun and watched as the two players behind me mucked to him in the small blind. He looked at his cards and raised the bet to 2.5 times the big blind. The BB called. At this point, I put the young dude in the SB on any random two cards. I did not feel that he needed to have a legitimate hand to raise in that position.

The flop came down 3 3 2 with two spades. The SB looked at the flop and I thought that I detected something in his eyes that made me think he liked the flop. I can't really explain exactly what I saw, but I thought to myself, "hmm...this guy might have a three." Of course, you wouldn't normally put someone who raised pre-flop on a hand containing a three, but I think it's important to keep an open mind, and realize which of your opponents are capable of making which types of plays. Anyway, the SB checked the flop, which I took as a sign of strength given the texture of the board (had he had nothing, I think he would have bet into this flop, believing that his opponent would also have missed) and the BB checked behind him.

The turn came a seven and did not bring the flush. This time the SB bet out $1000 (the pot was around $3000) and the BB called. The river was another three and the SB bet out $3500. The BB mucked.

As the BB was mucking, I immediately spoke up loudly and said, "Quads!" Now I had been extremely quiet at this particular table so my speaking out at all sort of startled everyone. The SB balked a little, looked up at me and said, "What?" I decided to be firm and I said authoritatively, "You have quads." Not "I think you have quads," or "do you have quads?" but "You HAVE quads!" The player was obviously taken a little by surprise and he paused for a second, then turned over the case three. "How did you know that?" he asked. The player next to him said, "Wow, it's hard to put someone on quads." I didn't say a word...just smiled.

A little while later, I raised from the cutoff to pick up the blinds. The BB was the quad guy. He put a chip on his card, like he usually does when he is going to play his hand, and then looked up at me. Normally I am not a "starer," but in this case I looked right at him. I wanted him to think that I was capable of staring into his soul and seeing his cards. He looked at me, looked at his cards, looked at me, then uncovered his hand and mucked. He didn't enter a pot with me for the rest of the night. Perhaps it was partially coincidence, but I definitely got the feeling that this guy didn't feel comfortable with the fact that I had accurately and convincingly read his hand. Just goes to show that paying attention, even when you're not in a hand, can bring you benefits later on.

Until next time...may all your guesses come true!