Isn't it a String Bet Whether I Call it That or Not?

I returned to PC Ventura yesterday and played some more 1/2 NL ($100 max buy-in).  I figured since I dedicated my last two blog posts (see here and here) to this game, I should try to see if I had learned anything and if so, could I put it to use?

Not sure if I played any smarter this time but I didn’t face the kind of situation I talked about before.  But I came out ahead, pulled off a nice bluff, saw a really weird rules interpretation, so it was a worthwhile few hours.

The first thing I want to mention is, I found out why a min-raise to $4 was so common in this game.  What I hadn’t realized last time was they recently changed the way they take the rake here.  It used to be, no rake if the pot was $18 or less.  If the pot was $19 or more, they took the full rake ($5).  Remember, taking the rake in one lump sum instead of at $10 intervals (like in Vegas) is the normal way they do things at the L.A. area poker rooms.

But now, they take the rake up front, just like they do at the other area rooms.  If there is a flop, they take a rake, no matter what.  No flop, no drop, I believe.  I mean, I think if everyone limped in, then the big blind made a big raise and got everyone to fold, there wouldn’t be a rake. And there’s some kind of consideration for if there are only two or three players seeing a flop in an unraised pot.  Like maybe if there are two limpers and the small blind folds, they leave a dollar in there.  I definitely saw a pot where two people were playing for a dollar pot.  There was another pot tho where there was actually no pot, they took away all $4!  Maybe that was blind vs blind and they didn’t want to chop?  Not sure, I should have questioned it more.

But that explains the small raise….to get the pot at least big enough so that after the rake there’s at least a few bucks in there.  Usually in this game, if there’s an early limper, it’s not a problem, there will be a few callers.  But if you want to limp late, you need to raise to make sure there’s still a pot.  So a raise to $4 is mostly a marginal hand not worth raising, barely worth limping, but one a player wants to play to see a flop.

Of course, that still doesn’t explain this move I saw, early in my session.  A bunch of us limped in, including myself with a small pocket pair.  There was at least $10 in limps when it got to the small blind.  The lady there made it $4.  Huh?  She didn’t need to inflate pot to make sure there was one, there were more than enough limpers.  What does a $2 raise accomplish?  No one is folding.  If she’s got Aces or Kings, she should have raised bigger, right?  And a lesser hand, since she’s not chasing anyone away, why not just complete and see what the flop brings? She was not an aggressive player.  In fact, I heard her say she prefers playing limit poker—that’s what she plays when she goes to Commerce—but there’s no limit game here.  I guess she had a hand she’d raise a single bet with in a limit game.  She was playing it like it was a limit game.  But it is no limit.  So after we all started calling the $2, the guy on my left, who had limped in, shoved for $29 and got everyone out.  Almost like there was some collusion there.  Lady could have seen the flop for a buck, but got cute with a raise.  She folded, very annoyed.  Had no one to blame but herself there.

I raised to $8 (actually meant to make it $9 but miscounted those damn dollar chips) after one limper with Jack-10 offsuit in the cutoff.  Only the button called.  So much for having position.  The flop was Ace-8-8.  I valiantly put out a $12 continuation bet.  He called.  The turn was a blank, I checked and folded to his $20 bet.

After one limper, I raised to $9 with Jack-9 of hearts. Three of us saw a low flop.  It checked to me, but one of the players who checked, an older gentleman, looked like he was going to grab some chips to bet and thought better of it.  I decided not to c-bet.  The turn was a 9, a lady bet $8, the gentleman called and so did I. The river was a low card and the board now was 9-5-4-3-2..  The lady bet $20, we both folded and she showed an Ace for the wheel.

I had Queen-9 in the small blind and completed.  It was four of us seeing the flop.  The flop was Queen-Jack-2.  I led out for $4 and had two callers, including the guy directly to my left.  The turn was a King and I checked.  The guy on my left bet $10, the lady called, and I called.  The river was a low card.  I checked.  The guy on my left bet.  But here’s what he did.  He took a stack of $1 chips and slid them in front of him, and then immediately slid another stack of similar size right next to them.  Before I had a chance to point out it was a string bet, the lady in the hand folded instantly.

The guy was right next to me so I was 99.99769% sure he hadn’t called out an amount.  So I said to the dealer, “Wasn’t that a string bet?”  And the dealer said to me, without a moment’s hesitation, “If you call it a string bet, it’s a string bet,” and pushed one of the two stacks back to the guy. Huh?  How does that work?  It’s only a string bet if I call him out on it?  Isn’t it a string bet no matter what? It’s not up to me to make that decision, it’s up to the dealer.  If the dealer noticed it was a string bet, shouldn’t he have said something immediately?  He didn’t even ask the player (who didn’t complain at all, by the way).  He knew it was a string bet but was gonna let it go if I hadn’t said anything. How is that right?

And I was thinking, what about the woman who folded?  Maybe she would have called the $11 whereas she was folding to $22.  She was on the other side of the table, and maybe thought the guy might have said raise.  Too late to get her cards back.  But she didn’t say anything so I guess it wasn’t an issue.

I was surprised, I have found the dealers to be very good in this room, probably better than a lot of the dealers I encounter at the Bike.  I had never before witnessed what I thought to be a obvious goof like that.

The irony was that a few minutes later, we were talking about other L.A. area poker rooms and this dealer himself bragged about how well he controlled the game, comparing himself favorable to dealers at the Bike, Commerce, etc.  I was inwardly amused.

(Edited to add: For more discussion about the string bet issue I just addressed, you can read the follow up post here).

Anyway, as for the hand, I had seen this guy make bluff bets on the river before, or bet the river with mediocre holdings.  So for $11 I decided to see if my Queen was good.  Good call.  He showed Jack-10.  My pair was bigger than his (so-to-speak).  If I hadn’t spoken up, I would have likely folded to his $22 bet.  It pays to pay attention. That was a pot I almost gave away.  And of course, he had himself to blame for betting improperly. He was not a novice player, he knew he had screwed up.

I was down to $45 from my original buy-in and that gave me almost a double up.  I limped in with pocket 6’s and then called a raise to $6.  It was 5-ways.  The flop was 6-5-3, two hearts.  A woman shoved for $26, it folded to me.  I called of course. The only player behind me had a bit more than the $26 so there wasn’t any point in raising, but he folded anyway.  The turn and river were a black Queen and a black Jack, but she didn’t have the flush draw.  She had pocket 4’s for the open ended straight draw that missed.

First time all day I had more chips than I started with.  I called $8 with 9-8 offsuit in the cutoff.  The guy who raised was on my immediate right and almost never limped in.  In fact, it was because of him that I learned how the new rake worked.  He was saying earlier how it made no sense to limp in and that you could never beat this game because of the rake.  So he generally only came in for a raise unless there were many limpers.  Point being, I didn’t think his $8 raise (which was actually kind of a big opening raise for this game) meant he just had a monster.  So I took a shot.

We were heads up and the flop came Queen-10-4.  He bet $10 and I called with my gut shot.  The turn was a blank and he checked.  I should have bet there, but I checked.  There was an Ace on the river, and he checked.  This guy was almost definitely the best player at the table, for what it was worth.  Which meant, I thought I could bluff him.  Hard to bluff a bad player.  As soon as I saw his check, I wasted no time and immediately grabbed a $20 stack and with great confidence, set it out in front of me.

He tanked and tanked.  I was sure he was gonna call.  I guess he had something or he would have folded instantly.  But after a good long time, he mucked, asking, “You have Broadway?”  I said nothing, of course.  Then he said, “Hung around and caught your Ace, huh?”  I kind of half laughed, which I think he took as a “yes.”  I didn’t want to tell him I had won the hand with 9-high.  I bet he could have beaten that!  Pulling off a bluff feels really good, doesn’t it? 

He was a real nice guy, and I felt maybe when he left I should have told him it was total bluff, but didn’t get a chance.  Actually, from talking to him, it turns out he is involved somewhat in the poker business, on the tournament side of things for a few different rooms.  He is not someone you’ve heard of—at least I assume, I never got his name—but he mentioned a partner whose name was familiar to me.  I don’t want to say more for fear of identifying him.

I got distracted and didn’t take full notes on my last two hands of note.  Once I had pocket Queens—the only big pair I had all day—and took it down with a preflop raise.

Then, as I was ready to leave, I called a small raise, not sure how much, from the button with 3-2 of diamonds.  There were many in the pot and I figured I’d invest a few bucks to see if I could smash a flop.  And I did.  It was 5-4-3.  The 5 and the 4 were diamonds giving me an open-ended straight flush draw (and a pair, of course).  I called a small bet after everyone else had folded.  I didn’t think I had any fold equity to the guy’s small stack so I didn’t raise.  The turn was a blank and he put out the rest of his chips.  It was $22.  I called.  He turned over his hand as the river card was about to be exposed.  He had Ace-2 off for a flopped wheel.  The river was diamond, however (like a 9 or 10, so no straight flush) and I took the pot.

That was it.  I left with about a $70 profit for a nice 3 hour session, and I was satisfied with that. Now that I know how the rake works, when I play this game again I will be more inclined to raise, for sure.