The Answer

Yesterday I wrote a post about a hand that caused a hold up at Foxwoods.  It was a heads up hand; me in the big blind and the other player on the button.  We both checked the river.  I checked first, then he checked and asked "What do you have?"

I answered "A pair of 4s, turning over the first card".  He responded that he had tens, flipping over a Q-10.  As the hand was over I just tossed both cards toward the muck, and that's when this happened:
(If you've already read the info below, skip to the unitalicized font)

the dealer was about to pick up the muck and shuffle, the villian asks the dealer "Can I see her other card? I paid for it."

"No" said the dealer.

"But I'm entitled to see it!" he said.
Then the dealer intentionally took my two cards and buried them in the muck while he said "The hand is over, it was checked down, you didn't pay for anything. You don't get to see it."
Now, had they asked me I wouldn't have minded him seeing that particular hand, but no one asked me.
The guy just wouldn't let up and said the dealer didn't know the rules. The dealer said the player was thinking about cash game rules and this was a tourney. I didn't have to show him my cards once I gave up and threw them in the muck.
The player said that since I was first to act after we both checked the river, I HAD to show both cards. Finally the player insisted we get a floor guy over here. Play stopped while the floor man got a quick recap of the events.
In the end the floor person sided with the player and said the dealer should've shown him my other hole card. The dealer started arguing with the floor person, which is something I'd never seen before. Usually when a floor person makes a ruling, the dealer doesn't disagree. After the floor person left the dealer mumbled "He doesn't know all the rules, but I do! There's a four page rule list in the office. We need a copy here on the floor".

While the play at the table was at a stand still for an insignificant hand, I thought "If Rakewell were here, he'd know what the correct ruling should be."  And I was right!  Poker Grump, lays it all out for us RIGHT HERE, along with a detailed explanation that supports his opinion. 

Poker Grump did not disappoint.  He said......

Final judgment: (1) Josie was wrong to show one card instead of either showing both or mucking. (2) Other guy was wrong for not taking advantage of his position by insisting that Josie either show or muck, and was further wrong for announcing his hand rather than showing, and was even further wrong for claiming that he had a right to see Josie's cards after she decided to muck. Worse, he was a completely douchebag for stopping play at the table while they called the floor to make a ruling on a situation that was so utterly trivial, especially since it was moot and the hand couldn't be retrieved to be shown by then anyway. A better course would have been to wait for the next break, then ask the tournament director what the applicable rule was. (3) Dealer was mostly right, but probably wrong about the cash/tournament point. (4) Floor guy was probably wrong, unless Foxwoods has some non-standard house rule that covers this situation--which is certainly possible, given all the variants that exist.

He actually said alot more than that, so visit Poker Grump for the entirety.

That happened at the end of a long day and the latter half of this day was chock full of losses.  Crazy 2 outer losses that hit on the river.  Over and over again.  Unfortunately, that didn't stop me from playing.  I'm a firm non-believer in luck and believe good playing wins out long term over crazy bad beats, so this couldn't be a run of bad luck.  Except it was like I broke a bunch of mirrors, walked under a few ladders and had someone hit me with Malocchio (the evil eye). 

I was chip leader in the first tournament I played only to be rivered during an all in three times.  Then I sat down to the cash game.  I didn't play smart like I'd played the last two times I'd played the cash game successfully there.  This time I was in a hurry to make my money back.  Haste makes waste!  After thinking on it I decided that many people must confuse playing badly with bad luck.  When I suffer a loss, I want to make it back asap.  Art cannot be rushed people!!!  That's the lesson to be learned from this session at Foxwoods.

I'd won a few hands in the cash game and then split a pot when I jammed all in with A-Q on a Q high flop.  Another A-Q called me.  Grrrrrr.....about 20 minutes later I was in a hand with the same guy who had A-Q.  This time I had K-Q.  Flop was queen high again!  He bet $30 and I jammed all in.  I truly don't know why, except perhaps greed.  He called me with Q-J and hit a jack on the river to take my stack.

So then.......

I decided it was time to play the 6pm tourney.  DUMB!  But I thought I could cash in it and get my money back.  I didn't.  A few hours into it, I felt like I'd trapped a guy but found myself in the trap.  I limped in with A-K and flop was A high rainbow.  I checked, he bet, I raised and he called.  Turn was some sort of diamond.  He bet and I jammed all in.  He had A-3 diamonds and there were two diamonds on the board.  River was the third and I was out.  I hate my play in this hand from beginning to end.  Why?  Because I wasn't playing the way I play when I win.  I'm not saying slowplaying a big hand is bad, but sometimes acting weak gets you action you might not want.  I cannot tell you how many times I've "acted" weak in order to get action.  This is a tricky path to take because when I do this, I invite alot of action on myself.  Not so bad when you have the extra chips to play with, but potentially lethal when you don't.  Even when you're ahead going into it.  That doesn't matter!  NLHE is playing with FIVE community cards, not three or four.

So many times I hear stories about how "I was ahead after the flop...blah blah blah..."  Big fucking deal.  You don't win when you're ahead after the flop; you win when the hand is over.  Of course I never say that.  Instead I nod my head, my eyes glaze over and my mind wanders.  I'm not rude (like some people) but don't give undeserved sympathy either.

Poker Grump, you rock for explaining everything so well, yet I have two words for you:  ten, seven.  Grrrrrrr

Play smart.

Josie