Early on in the PKR Live III Main Event I found myself sitting with my good friend Simon ‘Tigerwing’ Wing to my right. I felt that we would clash at some point and this moment came when he open-raised to 600 from the SB into my BB when I held Ac-6d. I could do two things here: raise or call. Simon’s stack was about 10,000 and mine was only slightly higher at the start of the hand, so if I made the raise to about 1,600 I was going to be committing a fairly large chunk of both of our stacks with a mediocre hand that could get me into a lot of trouble. I elected to call, figuring I could use my postflop skills to work out a way of outplaying him/maximising value if I hit in position.
Flop: Qc-Qh-8d
Tigerwing bets – 700
James666 calls – 700
Simon’s flop c-bet was fairly standard and I was fairly sure I was ahead at this time. However, I knew he could get tricky if I tried to raise the flop to win the pot, as it would be very rare that I would have a Queen and he knew I would happily make a move in this spot. He would also call to trap me if he had any pocket pair or the Queen. So I elected to flat-call, feeling I was ahead most of the time but also allowing myself to bluff later if I thought I was beaten, as I could better represent the Queen if I just called on the flop.
Turn: Qc-Qh-8d-6h
Tigerwing bets – 1,400
James666 calls – 1,400
On the turn, I connected with my Six but in essence I had not really improved my hand. Despite my call on the flop (showing that I had a piece of the flop that I wanted to continue with, and with no draws available that had to mean a made hand), Simon still bet the turn. From this I read that he either had the Queen, had a mid/high pocket pair that he was trying to squeeze more value with, or he was laying a cold bluff. I could never play my hand with strength, as it was still only a bluff-catcher, and it was highly possible that Simon could have turned an open-ended straight draw with 7-9 or 5-7, or even more likely a double belly-buster with 9-T and overcards to the Eight. Because of this I decided that there were very few rivers that he could bet with a ‘less than nuts’ hand for value, which would give me a cheap showdown on the river.
River: Qc-Qh-8d-6h-4c
Tigerwing bets – 2,400
James666 calls – 2,400
The river brought a blank, and I would have assumed that if Simon had a hand with showdown value (T-T, 9-9, etc, or 8-9, 7-8, A-8), but not a monster (such as trip Queens or a full house) he would check the river to allow me to bluff with any missed draw or float that I could have. Summing everything up, I put myself in his position with a variety of hands and was feeling a little lost as to whether he could value-bet a higher two-pair here for value, as I was literally bluff-catching with my Six. Then all of a sudden I caught a live tell. I was almost going to fold, as my stack would have been left in pretty awkward shape if I called and lost, but then I looked up at Simon’s face and saw him fake a smile.
Usually when you are in a hand you are trying to give off false reads to make your opponent think you have a weaker or stronger hand than you actually have. Subconsciously, if you have a strong hand you are generally less anxious and more comfortable, and vice versa when you have a weak hand. Simon was doing very well, not giving away any tells, with a very straight face, but then all of a sudden I noticed him smile. Usually if done subconsciously it’s a sign of strength, but the way he smiled it looked very forced, as if he was trying to make himself look strong. I had to read that as weakness. This is where the game of poker gets psychologically deep.
With this information I instantly called the 2,400 and scooped the pot – Simon had been bluffing with the mighty J-7. I pointed out his tell to him as a friend, and he later told me that someone had picked up on a live tell of his before. Stop smiling then!
James 'james666' Sudworth is a member of Team PKR Pro. To find out more about him and to read more articles written by James, please click here