The table claps, hoots, and hollers. And the entire room thinks we hit the bad beat.

All the drama was centered on me just playing another hand.

Lately, I have not been calling players hands out loud because it has cost me action.

This time, I was trying to avoid the “how could you call that” speech by telling the player what he had before he turned his cards over to show the losing hand.

Instead of a speech, I got a speech, poker lessons, and sarcastic ridicule from both the players and the dealer.

Here is what happened: A 50-something guy – nice guy – bets out $17 and I call from the big blind. I was simply defending my blind and I knew I could outplay the player if I did not outflop him.

Based on his body language and bet size, only one hand popped in my head: A-K. A shit hand like K-J did not seem likely. Ace King was what his hand felt like.

The flop comes 9-6-4 rainbow.

I check.

My opponent bets$30. I know I am in the lead here with bottom pair. I also get the feeling from his flop actions that he is going to the river with this hand. I want to keep it cheap, so I call.

The turn is a Queen.

I check. My opponent bets another $25. I re-raise to $75 all day to represent the Queen. He calls.

The river is a Deuce.

I figure he will try to win it by betting it, so I check. Sure enough, my opponent goes all-in.

“You have Ace King,” I say to him. “I call.”

“Wow. Good call. I have King Jack,” is his reply.

I showdown 10-4 off.

“How could you call that?”, one player, who was not in the hand, declares.

“I called his fucking hand. I gave him respect for A-K and he has K-J. I knew my pair was good, bro,” I say.

Another player jumps on the bandwagon with, “That was a bad play, man.”

“Hey, I flopped a pair. I knew exactly where I was at the whole way. The whole fucking way. I did not learn this game by watching it on TV, you know.”

Then another says, “I can’t believe you played that hand and played it so bad.”

“I called his fucking hand. I could have called his hand before I called the bet. It was $15 to see a flop. I felt like defending my blind. Don’t you ever see that on TV?”

Then another player jumps on, “I need to take you hunting in Africa. You have the heart of a lion. I bet you could kill one with your bare hands.”

About this time, the dealer piles on. For a brief moment, it felt like an ounce of respect from Charles for a great read and playing it right. But in retrospect, it felt more like ridicule. He simply piled on.

I don’t know much. But I know this: my reads on what my opponents hold are usually accurate. Scary accurate. Like I said before, you have to know where you are at in the hand. I knew where I was at. Even though I was not far off the mark, I knew I held the winner on the river.

So to recap:

1. I defend my blind with a weak hand to see a flop.

2. I generally know what my opponent holds.

3. I have the best hand and I am willing to risk my entire stack on the best hand.

5. I call my opponent’s hand blind. Out loud even. And I win the pot.

Yet, the only player that seemed to respect the play was the guy who lost. I got a speech from nearly every other player at the table. Fuck. They are not even casual card players. They play cards casually.

There is a big difference.

Then, I get bullshit from a dealer who earns part of his living from the tips I provide when he deals.

Instead of respect, I got chips. It sure would be nice to have both. I am quite certain I have earned it.

“Da fak you know wat I hod,” he tells me in Mandarin translated into English.

We are heads-up to the flop after he raised from $2 to $20 preflop.

I was in the big blind with K-10 h. The hand just felt right, so I called with a marginal hand out of position.

The flop came K-10-3. All diamonds.

I bet $60 hoping to take it down with top two pair.

My opponent raises me another $100.

I re-raise him back.

He pauses.

“You were ahead preflop and now you are behind,” I tell him. “I don’t want you drawing out on me.”

He glares at me. It just feels like he needs either an Ace or any diamond to beat me. Even though the math is in my favor, I can feel the beat coming.

“Look, you have Ace-King, probably with one diamond. Right?”

He grins.

“I have top two and don’t want you drawing out,” I continue.

“Ah fak. I fo,” he says.

I show the K-1oh.

He shows me Ad-Kc.

Dodged a bullet there …

He is a very solid player and could easily promote himself to the Rounder category of card player. (He does not need the money and plays mostly for fun)

Here is what he wrote:

I have my $300 buy-in in front of me. The table is wild with bluffs and big bets.

The guy to my right bets $10 preflop and I CORRECTLY put him on A-K.

I have 7-4 suited and there are 5 players to the flop.

The flop is K-7-4 rainbow.

The A-K bets $20 into a $50 pot.

I’m next to act and raise to $80 to get rid of everybody else.

Everyone folds except the original bettor. He re-raises me $100.

I do not put him on K-K for top set. He would have bet harder preflop with that hand. I go back to my original read of A-K.

I push all in.

He calls and shows A-K and sighs when he sees my two pair.

The turn is a deuce.

He hits an Ace on the river.

I read everything right, got all my money in being a 4-to-1 favorite and lost.

How would you have played it?

In short, you got unlucky.

That said, here are my thoughts:

The wild nature of the table was not a factor here. You were dealing with a below average player, at best, that was obsessed with A-K.

Why do I say that? With your strong table image and you playing back at me on the flop, I would have given you credit for at least two pair or a set.

You are not the K-7 or K-4 kind of guy. So, I would have played it safe and put you on a set of 4s or set of 7s. My A-K would have been in the muck.

I would have played it the same. You got unlucky.

But, I probably would not have played 7-4 suited in early position (or any position) with a wild table like that.

If I was feeling frisky AND was playing with their money and not my original buy-in, I may have played the hand.

The problem with having suited connectors with one or two in the gut is they are not profitable hands over the long run. With two in the gut, you can hit only one nut straight.

Compare that to a J-10 where you can hit five straights and four of them are the nuts.

When I am at a table with bad players, the range of hands I normally play gets reduced by 67%.

If the table of bad players is a wild one, I reduce it again by 67%.

This translates into playing 8-8 or better and J-10 suited or better from late position.

I cannot recall the last time my bottom two pair held up when someone flopped top pair. Bottom two is a dangerous hand. If the board pairs or they hit their other hole card, it all over baby.

Until recently, I took refuge with the fact that I put the money in good and could only be beat with pure luck.

How many times does one have to get unlucky with less than premium hands against bad players?

That experience forced me to tighten up my game.

And even then, luck is a factor.

Just like when I was at a wild table of bad players and got it in good on the flop with A-A and got beat by a player under the gun that called $100 preflop in a $1-$2 game with J-8 offsuit to protect their $10 straddle.

One of my key strengths is my ability to read other players’ hands blind. My accuracy is well over 90%. This has made me and saved me a boatload of money at the poker table.

There was a big hand at my table and a player whispered to me what these players had. I said, “No. Monica is holding A-K for top two pair and this other player has a club flush.”

When the cards were turned over, my read was spot on.

The table looks at me and another player said, “Sammy, you should play poker.”

I replied with, “I was looking for a poker game but could not find one. So, I ended up here.”

My sarcasm is justified on my experience that players at this level simply cannot play poker.

They cannot read other players’ hands. They cannot calculate pot or implied odds.

The reality is most players at this level play their own hand against the board and hope to get lucky.

Case in point: Let me describe a hand my friend was in that illustrates both bad play and the luck factor.

Everyone limps in and the action is on the small blind.

Let’s say the small blind is a below average player and limps in.

You are in the big blind and have A-K. You are a solid player and subscribe to the Doyle Brunson principle that A-K is a raising hand in the A-A and K-K category.

You raise to $40. Keep in mind that at this level, a raise to $20 pre-flop with A-A is par.

Everyone folds to the button.

The button is a calling station and plays any Ace. He calls.

The small blind now re-raises to $80.

What the fuck?

If the small blind had a big pair, say A-A, K-K, or maybe Q-Q, wouldn’t he have raised and not limped in?

Did the small blind have a read on the big blind that a raise was coming? Surely, the small blind would not want to risk 10 way action with a big hand.

In my opinion, A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-K are only good for heads-up action. Further, A-K is only good for heads-up action against a smaller pair.

What now? You know the button is going to call.

We are in the danger zone. A marginal hand, three-way action, and out of position because we have to act second with a calling station behind to “price-in” the small blind.

The flop comes A-K-10 rainbow.

Top two with $250 or so in the pot.

The small blind checks.

The question is this: Is top two pair any good against the small blind?

The small blind could have re-raised pre-flop with A-A, K-K, or 10-10.

There is a straight out there. Does he have a suited Q-J for the nuts?

Does he have Q-Q for a gutshot straight?

Why would the small blind check the flop after re-raising pre-flop?

Why no standard continuation bet?

Is he setting up a check raise knowing the big blind will bet anyway?

This has become a complex hand because of the texture of the board and the odd play of the small blind.

Check. Bet. Or fold.

The big blind bets $100.

The button raises to $200.

What?

The calling station is raising the original raiser?

Does the button have a straight or a set of 10s?

The small blind calls.

The turn card is a 4.

The small blind now bets all-in.

The big blind and button both call.

Everyone is pretty much all-in to the river.

Fifth street is a 10.

Now, there is a potential full house and potential quads on board, in addition to the straight or sets that could have been flopped.

I would have had a tough time calling the turn bet with A-K. I would have put one player on a straight and the other on a set of 10s or set of 4s.

I would have also been wrong.

I also would have been beat.

The small blind was holding A-10 offsuit.

Ace fucking 10. He raised to $80 pre-flop with a hand that is mathematically slightly better than 7-2.

He was a 12-to-1 underdog going to the turn and a 19-to-1 underdog going to the river to catch a 10 to beat A-K.

This donkey was getting somewhere between two and four-to-one on his money and got lucky on a longshot.

It gets better: the button had A-4 offsuit.

Ace four? The only way this guy could have won the hand is with runner-runner 4s. That is a 989-to-1 longshot. I am fairly certain he was not getting 989-to-one on his money to stay in the hand.

This fucker RAISED on the flop with an ace and no kicker with a STRAIGHT onboard.

Frankly, neither the A-10 or A-4 had any business in the hand after the flop. Aces are hard to get away from for most people. The right move for them was to fold.

Here is why: The big blind was the original raiser. I would have given him respect for A-A, K-K, A-K, or maybe Q-J suited.

Any of those hands had A-10 and A-4 beat.

The small blind played it wrong and got lucky.

The button played like a calling station. How he could think HIS two pair was good escapes me. But that is the kind of action I am looking for in this game.

My friend put the money in good. If the only way they can beat you is to get lucky, then take comfort knowing that luck runs out.