The value of paying attention.
It's a home game. Blinds are at 10/20, and I'm the big stack with about 3000 in chips. To my immediate left is an enigma of a player, who's capable of the occasional big bet, but shows incredible timidity if called. He's rarely bluffing, but he's afraid of getting hit with a bigger hand.
I'm small blind with pocket 9s. I raise to 100 just wanting to pick up the blinds and move to the next hand. It's folded to me at this point, and the BB surprisingly calls me. I know he'd reraise me there with any big ace or big pair, so I've got him on Face cards.
The flop comes QJQ rainbow. This is a horrible flop for me. I check it over, and my opponent comes in for about half pot, for 100. I thought about it a while, and I'm certain he's got a peice of this flop. But I lknow that as long as he didn't catch the queen, I can push him off of it later. I'm known to slowplay big hands occasionally, and I knew he was observant enough to pick up on that, but I didn't want to let him play a queen, so I reraise to 250. He thinks about it a while and calls. I'm pretty positive he hit the jack, and not the Queen. This is great for me... because I'm pretty certain I can put him to the test later and shake him off of it. I'm purely playing the player here. I know i'm behind in the hand.
The turn is a K. Things aren't getting any better for me. I check it again, to see how confident in his hand he is. He QUICKLY checks it... so I know he's scared.
The turn is an out that I didn't expect, a ten. This gives me the second straight, with my 9s.
Still not a great hand here... but I've been setting him up for a bluff, so that's my card. I bet about 800. He comes over me All in. Which would cripple me for the rest of the tourney.
But... I called. And won. Why? Because I was certain he didn't have the Queen due to the flop play. I ALMOST laid it down fearing an Ace... but I knew he got a peice of that flop. That meant he would have had to have a big Ace... and I know... KNOW... he would have reraised me. I called, and he flipped over KJ. For two pair.
I'm very proud of my read here... and it wasn't due to any finger twitches, or any physical movements... it was because I sat and studied the players, and made mental notes of their betting habits. I took him out of the tournament, almost doubled up, and ended up slaughtering the rest of the field.
This is why you should ALWAYS pay attention to your opponents.
