Friday, April 15, 2011

A $1,400 Mistake

I witnessed a hand today where a guy made a mistake that cost him $1,400. It wasn't just an error in judgement- everyone does that from time to time, though in $1/$2 No Limit it is rarely that costly. No, this guy just forgot that this casino, like most I've been to, pays a bonus if you hit quads, stright-flushes and royal flushes.



This guy (let's call him Buddy) was holding the Q 10 of hearts and the flop came Ah Jh 9s -what a great flop for Buddy! Eight outs to an open ended straight draw (4 kings and 4 nines) and nine outs to a flush - and the topper: if a king of hearts hits then he gets a royal flush and the casino will give him additional $1,400 on top of whatever he wins in the hand. There are two others in the hand with him. He acts first and bets half the pot. Why?! What if they both fold!? Luckily for him he gets a caller, and the turn brings a Ks, giving him the ace-high straight - he is certainly ahead, but it is still possible he could lose if his opponent rivers a flush in spades or a full house - unlikely but possible. Still, our buddy is not going to let that happen! He bets the pot, player #2 folds, and Buddy shows everyone what he was holding as he rakes in the $80 pot. Immediately everyone says "Why did you bet!? If you hit the flush on the river you'd get a big payout! The dealer confirms that a royal flush in hearts would pay over $1,400- it's a pot that builds until it pays out and the royal flush in hearts is the juciest jackpot right now. Buddy lamely mutters something about how he didn't want to see another spade.



Now what the dealer did next was probably out of line - he should have gathered up the cards and dealt the next hand. But he didn't. The dealer, curious to see what the river would have been, burned a card and then turned over, you guessed it, the king of hearts. Buddy threw away $1,400 to protect a $80 pot.



Ouch. I'm sure Buddy will be very careful to check the payouts for monster hands everytime he visits a casino from now on. Let's learn from his mistakes and do the same.

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