You may recall I once told you about that eminent senior citizen, Arizona Stu, who is a super poker player-as well as a winner in the game of life. It seems there is a new variety of hold'em at an Indian casino near his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. It's $5-$150 hold'em. The small blind is $3 and big blind is $5. "You can bet up to $150 at any time," he explained. That's a spread limit game. The buy-in is $350.
While waiting for the courier to bring him his chips, a player sitting next to him offered to loan him a stack of $5 chips so he could get in on the action right away. Now Stu usually waits for the button to pass him so he can observe the play and assess his opponents before getting involved. That's good protocol. The more information you have about your opponents, the better decisions you can make.
That's part of being a winner. Considering the kind offer, Stu decided to "go for a flyer," rather than wait for two more hands to be played. So he posted $5 to get in on the action, even though he was in early position.
He was dealt 7-8 offsuit-not an attractive hand in an early position. Four opponents called the $5 blind. There were no raises. He was prepared to fold if someone raised preflop. "In this game," he said, "anyone with a reasonably decent hand will usually bet $25 or $50 to scare off opponents. Sometimes, with a strong hand, they might just call the blind, hoping to build a big pot." So Stu was in to see the flop.
And what a flop it was: 8-8-7. Arizona Stu had flopped a full-house, eights-full-of-sevens! He knew he had the nuts and decided to slow-play to build the pot. He checked. There was a $30 bet with two callers. Stu hesitated, giving the impression he was trying to decide whether or not to call. Then, "grudgingly," he called.
The turn was an ace. Again he checked. The first bettor made a big wager this time. "Obviously his hand had been helped by the ace," Stu reasoned. One other opponent called. Stu again hesitated, feigning whether to chase "good money" after "bad money."
The six on the river made a straight or a flush possible- no problem there. But "with a pair of eights on board, unless one of the players had started with pocket aces-very unlikely based on the action, I was the sure winner," he said. Now he decided to go for a check-raise. The original bettor wagered $150; the pot had grown quite large. There was a call. Now Stu made the raise-another $150, and was called by the original bettor. The other player folded.
Showdown. "The look of astonishment from the bettor was worth the price of admission," Stu said. After all, since Stu had only called all bets until his check-raise on the river, no one expected him to have such a monster hand. Stu had a good read on the bettor's hand: aces-up. Of course, with such a huge pot, he had to call Stu's raise on the river.
Arizona Stu admits it was "pure luck." You never know what the flop will bring. Certainly, he played his monster hand extremely well, maximizing the size of the pot by slow-playing on the flop and turn, and then check-raising on the river.
So, readers what's YOUR opinion?
