What is that?

It doesn't happen that often (because I haven't really played all that long), but now and then some sort of "sixth sense" goes off and immediately you know what that other guy has.

I played in a freeroll earlier this week (yes, freeroll, and somehow this still happened) and caught this exact feeling. It was in the later rounds where the blinds were starting to bring everyone's M to around 15 and an average stack before me throws out a quick min-raise.

Since I hadn't been watching the table all that attentively (with the freerolls I usually multi-task until I'm at a good shot of placing), but something about that raise, from THIS guy, immediately screamed, "I HAVE AA!" I look down at AQ, think about it for a while, and fold it.

Get to the showdown of what was inevitably a massive flop with the table I had, and lo and behold the man was holding AA.

I've mostly had that "feeling" in certain pre-flop situations, but occasionally it'll happen with something post-flop. So what exactly IS that thing that clicks in these seemingly random situations?

I think if you're really honest with yourself (talking from personal experience here) that you get these "feelings" more often, it's just that you forget about them when they turn out false. The ones where you were right are the ones you remember.

Or maybe he had just been camping all day, so that made it a likelyhood.

I knwo what you mean, but suspect that the only time these really stick in your mind is when you're right.

Last night I had AA and re-raised pre-flop to 10 or so BBs. One caller. The flop was Axx with two hearts (I had none). So I bet 3/4 the pot or so, and got called. Aha, I thought, flush draw eh. Turn was a rag, so I bet again, half the pot maybe; he called again. The river, however, was the third heart, a king. I decided to put in a blocking bet, and, sure enough, he re-raised me all in. Gnashing my teeth, I folded - everything screamed a donkishly played flush draw*

After I folded, I asked what he had. "KK" he replied.


*in retrospect, maybe I should have considered this. The ace and king of hearts were on the board - would he really have called my re-raise with QJh? Maybe, but probably not. So what would he have called my re-raise with? QQ or KK, most likely. Hmmm.