Four Dogs
Legend
Silver Level
So I was playing in a $160 tournament at Foxwoods last week when this hand went down between two other players. At the time I thought it was a little out of line and I did in fact call the player out on it. The other players at the table as well as the dealer seemed to agree. Here's how it went down as best as I recall.
A player (Loud, obnoxious, 30 somethin' bearded white guy who felt the need to comment on every hand played whether he was involved or not) raises in early position and gets called by 2 players in late position. Both blinds fold.
The flop comes Axx with 2 hearts. Beardy bets, 1 fold and button (young guy, headphones) calls.
Turn is a blank and Beardy bets again. Young Guy calls.
The river is a heart and brings in the flush draw. Beardy thinks for a while then checks. Young Guy bets pot and Beardy again thinks for a long while playing with his chips and finally says. "OK, lets see the flush". Young guy exposes his nut flush and everyone at the table waits for Beardy to settle up. Instead he just mucks his cards and says. "I never called, I just asked him to show his flush."
To his credit, Young Guy doesn't blow his top and just rakes in the pot. I wasn't as kind and based on his previous behavior called him out on it as a deliberate angle shoot. The dealer agreed and Beardy said that it wasn't intentional and that we were free to call the floor. The young guy that won the pot didn't want to make a big deal of it so that was the end of it.
The reason I'd like to hear some other opinions on this is that in retrospect I'm not sure what he did was all that bad. For sure, the villain did lead the other player into exposing his cards, but he never pushed any chips forward and he never said call. In baseball the 3rd baseman will often fake throwing the ball to the pitcher to draw his opponent off the bag. In football an offensive line will use a fake cadence to draw the defense off-sides. Deception plays a roll in almost every other competitive event and is widely regarded as simple gamesmanship. Even in poker it's acceptable to under or over represent your hand. Why aren't we congratulating the villain for a heads up play? Instead it's an "Angle Shoot" and considered poor sportsmanship. Why is that? It all seems so arbitrary. Shouldn't we all be responsible for our own protection?
A player (Loud, obnoxious, 30 somethin' bearded white guy who felt the need to comment on every hand played whether he was involved or not) raises in early position and gets called by 2 players in late position. Both blinds fold.
The flop comes Axx with 2 hearts. Beardy bets, 1 fold and button (young guy, headphones) calls.
Turn is a blank and Beardy bets again. Young Guy calls.
The river is a heart and brings in the flush draw. Beardy thinks for a while then checks. Young Guy bets pot and Beardy again thinks for a long while playing with his chips and finally says. "OK, lets see the flush". Young guy exposes his nut flush and everyone at the table waits for Beardy to settle up. Instead he just mucks his cards and says. "I never called, I just asked him to show his flush."
To his credit, Young Guy doesn't blow his top and just rakes in the pot. I wasn't as kind and based on his previous behavior called him out on it as a deliberate angle shoot. The dealer agreed and Beardy said that it wasn't intentional and that we were free to call the floor. The young guy that won the pot didn't want to make a big deal of it so that was the end of it.
The reason I'd like to hear some other opinions on this is that in retrospect I'm not sure what he did was all that bad. For sure, the villain did lead the other player into exposing his cards, but he never pushed any chips forward and he never said call. In baseball the 3rd baseman will often fake throwing the ball to the pitcher to draw his opponent off the bag. In football an offensive line will use a fake cadence to draw the defense off-sides. Deception plays a roll in almost every other competitive event and is widely regarded as simple gamesmanship. Even in poker it's acceptable to under or over represent your hand. Why aren't we congratulating the villain for a heads up play? Instead it's an "Angle Shoot" and considered poor sportsmanship. Why is that? It all seems so arbitrary. Shouldn't we all be responsible for our own protection?