TV doesn’t tell the whole story
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Televised poker can teach some solid concepts about tournament play, but it lacks the important element of context.
What’s more, televised poker can convince amateurs that the game is simply an all-in contest. Top pros can take advantage of that leak by using the more critical skills of reading betting patterns and opponents, as Kenny Tran showed in this hand from the $25,000-buy-in World Poker Tour championship at Las Vegas’ Bellagio in 2009.
“I woke up and got here one hour late,” Tran said. “First hand, I sat down and was two spots before the button. Everyone folded. I didn’t even know what the blinds were. They said, ‘$400-$800 (plus a $100 ante),’ so I said, ‘OK, $2,400 to go.’ ”
The button immediately raised Tran and his Q-10 of diamonds to $6,000.
“I just sat down,” said Tran, winner of a World Series of Poker bracelet. “I didn’t know the guy, but I could tell by his body language that he seemed like a businessman. He didn’t look like a poker player. That was my first impression of this gentleman. I called.”
The flop came 5-7-Q, two spades, giving Tran top pair. He checked. The button made it $10,000.
“He made a quick bet and was trying to act confident with his hand,” Tran said. “I said, ‘OK, I have top pair. I want to find out what’s going on.’ So I called.”
The turn came the queen of spades, giving Tran trips with a decent kicker, but now there were three spades out there.
“I tried to trap him,” said Tran, a pro from the Full Tilt Poker online site. “I wanted to check-raise, so I checked, but he also checked. At this point, I’m confident I have the best hand.”
The river came the 2 of diamonds.
“I started thinking, ‘Maybe he thinks I’m one of those young Internet players who tries to run over players,’ so I made an oversized bet,” Tran said. “It really didn’t matter whether I made a big bet or a small bet, because if he was going to call, he’d call any bet.
“I bet $40,000, overbetting the pot and trying to make it look like I’m trying to run over him. I think his first instinct was he wanted to fold, but then he looked back at his hand and maybe he saw something and he went all in.”
Tran instantly called the additional $55,000 and scooped a big pot when his opponent was bluffing with A-J offsuit.
“People watch TV and they think they can get away with that, trying to overplay hands by going all in,” Tran said. “But you can only do it with common sense. That didn’t make sense the way the hand broke down. He cannot possibly have anything.
“I had a real hand, but even if I have a lesser hand, I still might call him because of the way the hand played out. He didn’t look like the type of player who knew how to trap me.”
Table talk
Leak: A hole in a player’s game.
