Poker News

Peter Costa

We have all experienced a little sixth-sense now and then. And we all poses a little bit of skill to be able to determine another player’s hand in poker. And some us, well… we are just crazy enough to speak up when both factors happen to reach their peak at the same time!

Summer of 1998, Coventry, England. Ten minutes in to a small PLH re-buy event - I was involved in a three-way action pot. By this stage I had built my initial 500 into 2000. Facing a raise from a tight player with the same size stack as mine - and a re-raise from even tighter player who just had a rebuy - I decided to call the 300 with my A-5os. The initial raiser contemplated a re-raise but decided to just call. The flop of 4-6-8 gave me outs - so I had no problem in calling the all-in bet of 200. The fact that the initial raiser moved all-in for a further 1,500 - came as no surprise at all.

I decided to gamble with the comment that I was up against QQ for the main pot and JJ for the side. The fact that I hit the straight and the Ace was irrelevant to the story. However, naming the hand of both players seemed to attract a little animosity from a certain player. James Ogen was a poker player who also doubled as a nightclub singer after appearing on a UK television talent show. His remarks left little doubt that he was not very impressed with what had just unfolded before him. In all honesty, I don’t think he should have - I just got lucky in naming the hands!

However, I decided to push my luck further - by suggesting to James that Icould do it again during the night. A bet was struck that I would name a players hand - before ANY action after the flop had taken place. Generous James seemed to think that his offer of 5-1 was a fair price? Perhaps it would have been if I could have named MY hand!

Within fifteen minutes, I took the gamble. I decided to place my bet with James on the hand of the raiser who was three to my left.

With blinds of 25-25, he had made it 100 to go - after one early limper. I leaned across to my right and bet with James that the raiser’s hand was 7-7.

James looked at me, smiled, and told me that I was a f…… idiot. Maybe James was right…but he would still not offer me more than 5-1. I handed James my twenty pound note and waited for the hand to be played out. The limper and raiser both checked the flop of A-A-6. A third player who had also called the raise, bet the pot. The limper folded. The initial raiser (who by now was informed of the bet between James and I), declared a fold. He asked James how much the bet was for and to what his hand was supposed to be.

He told James to pay me as he threw over 7-7. Boy had I just made a mistake! The following three Sundays were to become anightmare as James made one accusation after another. He began with the obvious one that I was in cahoots with the other player. The truth was, he was not a regular visitor to the casino and I didn’t even know him. But that did not deter James from trying to find an answer. By the third Sunday, it was clear that James had finally had his Eureka moment. His big grin that greeted me as I made my way to the poker room was a sight to see.

But his reason behind that smile was simply beyond any words. It was obvious that James had spent a lot of time trying to work out, how, in his words, he was scammed. But his explanation that I had, somehow, seen the reflection of the cards in the raiser’s cigarette lighter was just too much. It was obvious that I could never win this argument. Well….not just yet….

To be continued in the next issue… Until then- play well, get lucky and enjoy life.

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