POTD #295 WSOP Wednesday: Everyone At My Table Said I Could Never Be Bluffing Here
Were they right?
There are all sorts of reasons one might feel nerves at the table: They’re running a big bluff, they flopped the nuts and they’re thinking of “Vegas and the fucking Mirage,” or they’re about to flip a coin for the largest pot they’ve ever played. I’ve felt nerves in those situations before, but as I’ve played more and more live poker, my nerves have calmed. There is one specific type of nervousness I feel still remains, and those are the nerves I feel when I fear my hand looks faceup. Sometimes this occurs literally— I peel my cards too high and I’m concerned my opponent saw my eight of hearts and am nervous until the hand is over. Other times, I am thinking “of course they know I have it here” or “of course they know I’m full of shit here,” but I think this is the right play anyways. At least this nervousness is somewhat balanced.
A reliable source of nerves for me is when I feel it looks like I can never be bluffing. I am value betting, my opponent is in the tank, and my opponent vocalizes my internal monologue for me. How can you ever be bluffing here? Sometimes after the hand, my tablemates confirm my suspicion: Of course you’re never bluffing there. So I thought back to a hand I played deep in Day 6 of the World Series of Poker Main Event, where I had a full house and it felt like I could never be bluffing, but I did not care because I had a full house and value bet it anyways. After the hand, there was table talk about what I could have been bluffing with, and I sheepishly said maybe I could have turned top pair into a bluff, but I was not sure if I believed it. So today, we’re going to look back at this hand and see what could I have been bluffing with, but also determine if my lack of bluffs was due to errors in my flop and turn play that created a situation where I’m never bluffing on the river.
2019 World Series of Poker Main Event Day 6.
(100k/200k/200k) (SB/BB/BBA)
It folds to Mihai Manole (10.23M/50bb) who makes it 500k in the LJ, it folds to Corey Burbick (5.49M/27.5bbs) who calls in the CO, it folds to me (7.175M/36bbs) in the BB who calls with J♣️9♥️.
Flop (1.8M) Q♥️9♦️9♣️: I check, Manole checks, Corey bets 600k, I call, Manole makes it 1.8M, Corey folds, I call.
Turn (6M) K♦️: I check, Manole checks.
River (6M) J♠️: I bet 4.98M, he calls and mucks with Q♣️T♣️.
