Saturday, March 23, 2013

Snap call to oblivion

There are many ways to call in poker. The quickest, and certainly the most dangerous, is the snap call. A snap call is when you call right away, without thinking. In many cases, snap calls happen when the river card is so innocuous there's almost no chance it changed anything. In such cases, poker players tend unconsciously to use some mental shorthand. The thinking goes something like this: "I'm sure I'm ahead at the turn. If the river is a blank, I've won the hand, and will call any bet". Last night, on hand 50, I snapped called my way into oblivion. I'd hit a stealth two pair on the turn, and "knew" it was best. When an opponent bet $29,200 on the river, I snap called, and snap lost. My opponent had hit a straight on the turn and had only made a small bet. That bit of deception served him well. My snap call had less to do with the river card, which actually put a third club on the board, than it did with my perception of the style of my opponent, whose stack had been taking some wild swings. I thought he was playing loosely enough that his river bet was a stone bluff. I was wrong. At the end of the hand, I had a mere $716 left in chips. I was able to play another 16 hands before hitting the felt. I then reupped for the max. When I hit a fatty to win a pot worth $8,595 on hand 89, I knew that was my cue to call it a night.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 90 hands and saw flop:
 - 5 out of 11 times while in big blind (45%)
 - 1 out of 11 times while in small blind (9%)
 - 24 out of 68 times in other positions (35%)
 - a total of 30 out of 90 (33%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 12 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

balance: $-27,860
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,484,172
balance: $6,933,580

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