One hand came up that reminded me of something that happened when I still lived in New York. The hand was pretty straightforward. A few people played the hand, two of them played until the end. There wasn’t much betting, but I remember one player made a small but significant bet on the end. Another player called him. He turned over his two cards to show that he had a pair of sevens, one in his hand, one on the board.

Since this was more or less a practice hand, the other player turned her hand over and said, “Oh damn, I thought you were bluffing.” Her hand consisted of an eight and a three. She did not have a pair. She should not have called. Her hand was too weak to call.

However, she was partially right. He didn’t have a strong hand. It was a pretty weak hand too. I probably wouldn’t have bet on the end with his hand, unless I was trying to bluff. Perhaps she picked up on the fact that his hand was weak and therefore called. But it’s not enough to know someone is bluffing. In order to call their bet, you have to be able to beat their bluff.

If she had a small pair, or even an ace or a king, she could have made that call, thinking that since he is bluffing, her pair or high card will beat his junk hand. Still, she could have done something to win the hand, if she thought he was bluffing. She could have rebluffed. If instead of calling, she had raised his bet by a significant amount, he might have thrown his pair away, certain that she had a bigger hand. A rebluff is a pretty sophisticated move for someone playing hold’em for the first time, however.

As a player, I rarely rebluff, especially at the end of a hand when the pot is large. It’s a play that can require a lot of guts, and I think I’ve only recently acquired the courage to do it at all. I have learned to do it a lot more frequently at the beginning of a hand. If you are playing against someone and realize that they raise quite often, a good reraise with any two cards can often make them fold and win you a small but profitable pot. In tournaments, a few well timed reraises can easily mean the difference between winning and losing.

Anyway, like I mentioned above, this hand reminded me of a hand that I played in New York. I used to be a part of a weekly tournament among friends. We each threw in $5 or $10 and played a tournament that might last a couple of hours. At it’s peak, we had 30+ people showing up each week, so when you won the tourney, you could go home with a nice pot.

One night I was playing a hand against a friend. He was playing to my left and new to our tournament, and to hold’em in general. Everyone folded to me. I was on the button and I had an interesting hand, something like an eight and nine of hearts. It wasn’t a great hand, but in order to be unpredictable, you have to sometimes raise with interesting hands, rather than just great hands.

Anyway, my friend called. The next three cards on the board helped me, I think I had a straight or a flush draw, but I still didn’t have a pair. He checked and I pushed the rest of my chips in the middle, hoping he would fold. He called quite quickly. He turned over his two cards, a jack and maybe a nine. He didn’t have a pair or much of a draw. He had called my bluff, without a hand that could beat a bluff.

The last two cards didn’t help me and his jack high, beat my nine high. The reason I remember the hand is not because of the unique play, but because I handled it so badly. Instead of smiling and saying, “Good call,” I harangued him. “How could you make that call?” I said, frustrated.

“I knew you didn’t have much,” he responded, clearly confused as to why I was upset.

“But you had jack high! You couldn’t beat a bluff.”

And yet, clearly he could. His junk hand was better than mine. I walked out of the room and sat in the office next door for a while. I had to hang out until the game was over and lock up the place. I hope that I apologized for my behavior that night. I know that I did at a later date. I don’t think it affected our friendship, but I don’t remember him coming back to play in our tournament again either.

Since then, I think I’ve gained a lot of perspective, at least when it comes to poker. I’ve lost hands against strangers that were far larger and more important than the one against my friend. I’m sure that given the right circumstances I could still lose my cool at a poker table, but now it’s much more rare. I think that makes me a better poker player, and I’m sure that it makes me a better friend.

And now when I’m playing in a friendly game for a few bucks and a know-it-all player exclaims in agony after a hand, “How could you call me with that?” I know enough to sit back calmly and smile and think to myself how glad I am that it’s not me saying that.

Recently, my local riverboat casino added poker to their roster of games. This is good news for me. Poker is something that I have missed dearly over the past year and half since I moved home. I had hoped to find some local home games, but never managed to find one that worked for me. So over the last week, I’ve started playing again.

Now a lot of people think poker is a game of deception and that is true to a degree. But in a typical poker game, like in life, most of the time people are telling the truth. It’s hard wired into our brains. Besides, one of the easiest players to beat is the player who lies as a rule. Once you realize that the big bet they make on the river is a usually a lie, you just have to wait for a moderately good hand to take a lot of their money. And you know to fold when they make a smaller bet on the end instead of the usual big bet. That bet they want you to call.

So anyway, yesterday afternoon I was playing at the boat and having a decent session. I was up, but I had gone card dead, I hadn’t had a good hand to play in several orbits. I decided to switch gears, and at the next reasonable opportunity, I should raise. A few hands later I was dealt King-Ten offsuit in middle position. It was folded to me, and I decided to raise it to about $10 (this was a $1/$2 no limit table). I got three callers, all behind me, not a very good result. Against one player I would likely autobet the flop, against three, I probably need a flop that I like.

So when the flop came Nine-Six-Deuce, rainbow (all different suits), I decided to check. With three people behind me, one of them is likely to have a pair and is unlikely to fold to a bet from me here. One of the guys behind me bets $10 into the $40 pot, the button calls. I don’t have a very good hand, but it is likely that if I get a pair on the turn I could have the best hand. Also, the $10 bet is pretty small compared to the pot. I’m getting 6 to 1 pot odds, so I called, and the last guy folded.

The turn was interesting, an Ace. Now the ace doesn’t help me, but my opponents will likely think it did. If they are thinking about what I have (I raised preflop, then checked and called on a low flop), they might think it’s likely that I have Ace-King or Ace-Queen, or some other Ace. I decided to see if I could sell this idea and get them to fold, so I quickly made a $60 bet.

The first guy, the one who bet $10 on the flop, had a hard time folding. Perhaps he had a straight draw, or maybe he had paired a nine or a six. He knew I wasn’t giving him good odds to draw, but he still he hesitated before folding. Whew, one down, one to go.

The second guy, really didn’t want to lay down his hand. He took a long time to think about it. He clearly was struggling and finally he folded his hand. But he wanted to show everyone how good of a player he was, so he folded the hand face up. He had Ace-Jack suited. That’s right, he folded a pair of Aces to my bluff. I didn’t say a word, but there was a lot of chatter about his fold around the table. He insisted that I had to have either a better Ace or two pair to make that bet.

Now you might be thinking, “Hey, I thought this was about how people tell the truth when playing poker, but you just lied by bluffing and won.” Yeah, but the story isn’t over.

A few hands later, I’m sitting on the button. The under the gun player limps in and Mr. Ace-Jack raises to $11. It’s folded around to me and I look at Ace-Queen. Ace-Queen is a good hand, and I’m in position, but really I’m probably behind. The way Mr. Ace-Jack played that other hand suggests that he probably has either a big pair or Ace-King to make that raise. By calling, I’m hoping to flop something big or to maybe out play him later in the hand, but honestly, the best I can hope that he has is a pair of Tens or Jacks. The big blind also calls.

The flop looks pretty good for me, it’s Queen-Four-Deuce, all red. I’ve got top pair with an ace kicker, but Mr. Ace-Jack bets out $35 into the pot. This is probably not good. This screams to me that he has Aces or Kings. Still, I feel like it’s worth me making one call, he might have Ace-King and he will likely give up on the turn if I call. He only has another $85 behind him, so I can’t get in too much trouble. I’m sure if I call, he will tell me the truth on the turn. I call the bet and the big blind folds.

The turn is another small card, and Mr. Ace-Jack bets the rest of his money, $85. At this point, my brain is screaming Aces or Kings. That’s really the only possibility. Why? The look on his face. He is angry. He is angry in a way that I recognize, in a way that I empathize with. He has a big hand, a hand that should win (like Aces or Kings), and he is angry that I am calling him. He is afraid he is going to lose. Rationally, a player in his position should be happy and calm. He’s got me right where he wants me. He’s probably going to double up. But at a poker table, rational thought often gives way to irrational emotions. He is winning the hand, but weirdly, he is also on tilt. He fears that I’m going to get lucky and beat him.

Given the way he folded Ace-Jack to me a little earlier, I can’t put him on anything but Aces or Kings. I consider trying to get him to talk, to tell him that I think he has Kings and see what does, but I don’t and I should have. I also should have just mucked my hand, but the fishy part of my brain took over. I thought to myself, “I have top pair, top kicker! The bet is only $85 and the pot is already over $100. He can’t bet anymore on the river. I should call. Even if I’m behind, I have outs!”

I do call, and he turns over a pair of Kings. The river doesn’t help me and my money gets pushed over to him. He was doing everything he could to tell me the truth, to tell me he had a big hand, and I didn’t listen to him and I didn’t listen to my gut.