When a tell isn’t really a tell

In January, I traveled to Nassau, Bahamas, to play the Poker stars Caribbean Adventure $10,000 Main Event. Early in the tournament, I was involved in an enormous pot, and I’m still kicking myself months later for the way I played the hand.

The blinds were $100$200, and a player (I’ll call him Mr. E) raised to $500 from third position. The button called, and I called from the big blind with K♣ Q♠ .

The flop came K ♦Q♦3♣ . I checked, and Mr. E bet $800. The button called, and I raised to $2,250. Mr. E responded by re-raising to $5,800, which prompted the button to fold.

I had $35,000 chips to start the hand. Mr. E had $65,000; he knocked out a player a few hands earlier. I called the re-raise, and the 8 ♠ landed on the turn.

I checked, and Mr. E bet $12,000 into a pot of $14,000. I had studied Mr. E’s body language and demeanor in previous hands. I thought he revealed a tell when he had a good hand, but now he acted completely different. I decided to move all in. He called with 3 ♦ 3 ♥ and the J ♣ didn’t improve my hand on the river.

Some people might consider top two pair versus bottom set a “cooler” (an unavoidable loss), but not me, not in this hand, and not against this player.

My preflop decision was appropriate. Calling a raise with K-Q off suit from the big blind, in a multi-way pot, when all the players have a lot of chips, is the ideal play.

Until this hand, Mr. E hadn’t gotten out of line. But with Mr. E having twice as many chips as the next closest player, I didn’t know how his performance would change. I assumed he would bet the flop with a lot of hands. When his post flop bet is called and I raise, he is only going to re-raise with strong MADE hands (33, AA, AK, KQ) or strong DRAWING hands (A ♦ 10 ♦ , or J ♦ 10 ♦ , or A ♦3♦ , etc.). I wasn’t sure how he would play any of these hands with his newfound wealth, so calling his third bet on the flop was the correct play.

The turn card didn’t affect the hand. No draws were completed, and Mr. E still made a big bet that was almost the size of the pot. I picked the worst option here. Since Mr. E kept in check (bad pun, I know) and so had I, it’s unlikely he was bluffing.

At the time, I thought he was capable of bluffing since he had a lot of chips — not to mention the tell I thought I noticed, which ultimately led me to move all in. I could have just called his turn bet, leaving myself with $17,000 in chips. It would have been almost impossible for Mr. E to bluff the river, and I could have saved my tournament life.

At the time, this hand didn’t bother me. I had a reason why I moved all in. After taking everything into consideration months later, I realize I didn’t make the best decision. This sort of self-actualization and honesty is vital to poker success. You can kick yourself, but make sure the bruises heal and don’t return.