Poker Beat: Be careful what you wish for

By Mark Lasser

I’m going to revisit a topic I’ve written about before: playing weak starting cards in any game of poker from Hold’em to Stud to Razz.

By now ESPN has been running a few weeks of coverage of the World Series of Poker main event, and we’ve seen some pretty crazy play. Now, keep in mind that when you’re watching the version of poker on ESPN where you get to see the hole cards, you’re watching an edited version of the tournament. The producers and editors of this show have the hindsight of who made the November Nine, so – spoiler alert – they’re focusing on guys like Ben Lamb for a reason.

The producers are also showcasing hands that have a lot of drama, which means bad beats and suck outs get more attention than preflop raises where everyone folds.

One such example was the hand that knocked out a very respectable player, Shaun Deeb, when he re-raised another pre-flop raise with AA over a player with TT, and then was re-raised again by an aggressive online German player named Max Heinzelmann who was holding a weak A6 off suit. (Max plays online with the name HotKarlMC). Heinzelmann was facing two early position aggressive raises and decided to 4 bet with a hand that I think should have been in the muck from pretty much any position and against almost any raise.

So let’s ask the questions. Did Heinzelmann think he was going to get both raisers to fold? If he isolated the hand to one player, did he feel he could muscle them? What was he hoping to flop and what did he put the other players on? Was he hoping for a full house? Those are long odds.

What about pairing up the 6? Was that going to be the best hand or could he reasonably put the opposition on over pairs preflop? What about if he does connect with an Ace? Can he assume he has the best Ace or even the best hand with his 6 kicker?

What happens shows the problem with playing weak cards. The guy with TT mucks, and Deeb comes back over the top with a bit more than a minimum raise. Heinzelmann, for some reason, can’t find any demonstration of strength in Deeb, who had raised an early position raiser and then re-raises Heinzelmann’s actions? Sheesh.

What did this guy think Deeb had, and based on all possible outcomes of the flop, what was he hoping for? Heinzelmann shoves and, of course, Deeb snap calls. You have to wonder under what circumstances Max would have cried uncle and folded his starting cards.

The cards come Th6hKs-Qh-and the river is a – wait for it – the 6c, giving Heinzelmann the hand and eliminating Deeb. Personally, I don’t know how Deeb didn’t either leap across the table and strangle the guy or toss his cookies right then and there, but props to him for maintaining his composure.

More to my point, I see players every day playing junk and hoping for bizarre flops and defending cards that are indefensible. If you’re facing a raise and a re-raise, you should probably muck unless you’re holding AA, KK, maybe AK suited – or if you have x-ray specs and can see what the opposition is playing. Otherwise, you’re praying for miracles, and miracles aren’t going to happen most of the time in poker.

Mark B. Lasser is Denver writer and international poker player. He regularly plays in Colorado, Arizona, California, Missouri and Nevada. You can hear him talk about gambling and casinos every Friday at 5 PM on KEZW AM 1430. Readers can send questions and comments to him at ColoradoPokerMark@comcast.net.