blonde poker forum

This Got Me Thinking...

In a previous thread I told of my exploits trying to teach newbies the game of poker for a pub night that I have set up recently at my local.

At one of these games the other day I was explaining to someone (one of the brighter ones who is picking it up quickly), how they would have been correct to draw to a flush as the pot was offering them better than 4-1.

They replied - "...but don't I need to go on a bit worse than 4-1 as some of that money I stand to win back was already mine in the first place.."

I must admit I was a bit stumped as to what to say. Any suggestions?

Also, a hand came up last night where there was a flush on the board, all diamonds. At showdown one player had the five of diamonds in his hole cards, while there was a two of diamonds on the board. (The other player had no diamonds). I said that the pot was the first players as his 5 could beat the 2 on the board but I'm not sure now that I think about it that I was right.

Should I have awarded a split pot? Luckily, if I was wrong it was only for pennies...

Thanks

once the money is in the pot they need to stop thinking about it as "theirs"..its not anymore

you gave the correct ruling. as an example if the board reads 

Ad Jd Td 6d 2d

player 2 is playing the board but because of the card in their hand player 1 has

 Ad Jd Td 6d 5d

and takes the pot

Best 5-card hand wins.  So the player with the 5 in the hole has a better flush than the player who is playing the board.

(what gatso said, quicker than I did, obv.)

I would be a bit wary of someone teaching people when they dont know basic hand rankings themselves though ;)

Thanks gatso.

As an aside, but sort of related to the flush, at DTD recently I'm sure I saw someone awarded a pot when both players had the same full house from the board and it was given to the player with the 'better kicker'. I'm pretty sure I wasn't seeing things.

I thought then that it should have been a split pot as we play five card poker hands and what has the 'kicker' got to do with it?

To be fair, on that occasion it was a brand new (and nervous) dealer and I was too tired and grumpy to query it, but mainly because I thought I might be wrong I didn't say anything. Perhaps I should have?

Thanks Kev for the insult.

I did know, but I wanted to check as I hadn't seen that exact scenario before.

I'd rather get it right thank you very much.

wasnt meant as an insult mate, just an observation, im sure you do a grand job.

I would say I'm about 100% sure that full house scenario wouldn't have occurred at DTD as that'd involve the dealer, 2 players in the hand and the rest of the table all accepting that a kicker plays on top of a FH. Just not going to happen.

more likely you had a board something like

 2s 2d 2c  Kc Kh

one player played the board, the other had a king in his hand for the bigger boat and in your tired state you thought a kicker was playing

Quite possibly, it was probably about 5 in the morning (and of course, according to Kev I know absolutely nothing about poker, wink, wink) so your scenario is probably what went down.

I'll drink some black coffee next time.

By the way, no worries Kev, it just came across poorly. I knew the answer (yes, I do understand basic hand rankings) but I would hate to do someone out of their rightful pot no matter how small, so I just wanted to be 101% sure that I was right and I'm not afraid to post on blonde to make sure.

It's all good

When i played my 1st ever live tourney 2 players were all in and 1 of them was more of a newbie than i was (id played bit online) they were all in on the turn one had a flush they other had 2 pair the river made the guy(the newbie) with 2 pair a fh the tourney was player dealt and the dealer pushed the chips towards the player with the flush nobody at the table was saying anything so i looked about 20x to see i was right then said that the new guy had a fh and so the chips where giving to him and the other player was out.Just wondered what people would do in this situation ?

the cards speak..I always say something.

You've always got to say something. Even if you're wrong it's better than not saying something and it eating away at you for ages afterwards. If you keep quiet then you've affected the outcome of the whole tournament.

I think it's always worth checking these things even when you're not involved in the hand, I'm always counting the pot, chip stacks and anything else I can think of as well as watching the other players. It keeps your brain in gear and stops you drifting away in to no mans land.

Always double check what the dealer's doing, for example when they're counting stacks after an all in. It's good practice for when you need the information yourself when there's a hand that you're actually involved in.