To put the fabulous game of poker into
prospective from an amateur’s point of view
– to show all the regular players out there
that pros make mistakes too – we have
decided to share a story with our reader
that will describe one big poker playing
mistake by a well-known player. Hey even
pros make mistakes, so don’t feel like you
can’t too. Just learn from this and try not
to repeat it in your game of poker. We will
not mention any names (only the event where
it took place) and certainly do not want to
draw any unnecessary attention to these
players personally. We just want to share a
good story with our readers.
Not too long ago, at the final table of the
main event at the Bicycle Club Diamond Jim
Brady tourney, one big mishap took place.
At the time, 3 players were still in the
event, vying for the grand prize. Player One
had nearly two times the amount of chips
that Players Two and Three had. Players Two
and Three both had about the same amount of
chips, so Player One was in good shape. The
payoffs were as follows – first place would
win $230,000, second - $115, 000, and third
would win $55, 200. In a heads up situation
against Player One, Player Two went all in
on the flop when two diamonds showed, giving
that player a flush draw.
This means it was all or nothing for Player
Two. If the flush came, Player Two would win
the hand, double the amount of chips he was
holding, and he would be in a real good
second place situation. If the flush did not
show, he would be out of the tourney all
together. So, with two card to still come,
he had about a 35% chance of making his
flush (65% to crash and burn).
Even if he did win that hand, there were no
guarantees that he would go all the way to
win the tourney -or even come in second for
that matter. Basically this poker player put
himself in a underdog situation for sure.
Even if he overcame the odds against him, he
had no guarantee of a higher payoff in this
tourney. As it turned out, his flush never
showed and Player Three made a great come
back because of it and beat Player One’s
hand and took the chip lead.
So, the big winner in the confrontation
between player’s One and Two was actually
Player Three. He went from a basic tie fro
second place - maybe even third place, to a
guarantee of second place winnings. Keep in
mind – this was a difference of nearly
$60,000. Player Three, who basically had
nothing to risk during the confrontation,
would have been a winner no matter what
happened. With Player Two no out of the
game, Player Three guaranteed himself second
place earnings. Additionally, if Player Two
did make his flush – Player Three would
still be in the tourney at third place and
Player One would not have the chip lead he
did before. This caused Player One to also
be unable to jab away at the shorter stacked
players. Whether Player Two was momentarily
unable to see the big picture or not, this
situation was clearly avoidable.
Let this be a lesson not to be so focused on
the situations at hand, but the game as a
whole. Be a poker player that is able to
look at poker game problems form a bunch of
different aspects. Somewhere between the big
picture and the situation at hand, there is
an appropriate outlook from which to study
most poker situations.
Again, we all make mistakes, we are human
after all. But, by reading articles with
examples such as this lesson showed, you can
be better prepared to play the best you can.
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