I’ve been playing Poker a couple of nights a week for the last few months. It’s a bit of fun and since I work from home and get buried under family life most days it’s been good for me to get out and meet a few people. I’m living in a new area so most of my old friends are a good distance away and I’ve been making some friends at the Poker Table since I've become a regular player. It’s become more of a social thing than anything else as my fortunes have been quite mixed but I really enjoy the banter and even the camaraderie of competing over a few beverages. Anyways, last night a situation played out with one of my new friends that I’m a bit conflicted about so let me tell you the story...
It was about mid-tournament and my friend is 1 seat to my right and I am the last to act. There is a short stack guy a few seats left and he shoves his whole stack in before the Flop has come out and I’m sitting there with Ace / King Offsuit – which is considered one of the Premium Hands in Poker. I’m expecting everyone to Fold so I can take him down...but to my surprise my friend to my right calls him and while I am pondering whether I want to play the AK in a big 3-way Pre-Flop Pot my friend lays his cards down on the table FACE UP as usually happens when people are All In and there is no more betting action to be had.
He quickly realises his mistake but now I’m sitting there trying to decide whether to play and I can see his cards. He has Ace / Seven of Spades. A hand that’s not as good as mine but still dangerous. I decide to Call and the Flop comes out with another Ace and 2 more Spades. I’m in front with my King Kicker but my friend only needs one more Spade to make a Flush and take down the Pot. We look at each other a bit nervously and he Checks – possibly out of courtesy...and I also Check because his Pot Equity is probably about 40-45% and mine is too. I didn’t particularly want to flip a coin over such a big Pot...
Then the Turn card comes out and it’s a Club. His Pot Equity drops while mine jumps and I seize the opportunity to shove my entire (still decent) stack in with a big All In Raise...and then told my friend that he should Fold because I was in front and there was less than 1 in 4 chance he would hit his flush on the river. This was not a lie at all. Of course I wanted him to Fold but it also wasn’t especially bad advice.
So he begrudgingly Folds and the River card comes out and it’s another Spade. The Short Stack turns over Ace / Queen Offsuit as we go to showdown and he loses to me. But my friend would have won the Pot if I hadn’t been so ruthless and pushed him out. Now I know he made the initial mistake and I possibly wouldn’t have played the hand that different even if I didn’t see his cards, but I feel kinda bad about being so brutal after his error. Of course everyone at the table was like “Fair Play” but as a more social player I probably would have been a bit dirty to be on the other side of it. Any Poker players here? What’s your take?
