What Was This Guy Thinking?

Ever found yourself in the middle of a poker hand, scratching your head and wondering, “How on earth did we end up here?” It’s a common scenario, especially when you’re up against players who seem to be on a different wavelength. Examining difficult spots is the best way to learn how to win at poker and beat low-stakes cash games. Let’s dive into a hand that left me puzzled and see what we can learn from it.

High Pair Out of Position

You are in a $2/$5 game at your local casino: you’re in middle position, and you look down at Q♠️ Q♥. You open to $20, and the cutoff, button, and big blind all call. We’re heading to the flop with a pot of $80.

The flop? Not so friendly—A♦️ 7♠️ 9♠️.

Sure, it’s not the dream flop for our queens, but it’s decent for our range. When the big blind checks, I decide to test the waters with a $40 c-bet. The cutoff quickly folds, the button thinks it over for a minute before calling, and the big blind bows out.

I’m not thrilled with the button’s call, but something about his hesitation makes me think he’s not too strong. The hesitation also makes me think I can extract more value from a weaker hand with a favorable runout.

Heads Up to the Turn

The turn brings the 2♣️. It’s about as blank as you can get. Time to continue the pressure. I fire $75, aiming to target the villain’s potential flush draws and lower pairs. I want to keep him in the hand with worse hands without scaring him off completely.

The button thinks for another 30 seconds before calling. This pause strengthens my conviction that he doesn’t have an ace. I’m eyeing one more street of value on most river cards.

Flushed Down the River?

And then the river hits—the dreaded K♠️. Now, not only does the front door flush complete, but there’s also another overcard to our queens.

Given the situation, I decide to check. For a brief moment, when the button checks back I think maybe, we’re good here.

He Called with What?

I turn over my queens, expecting to be shown either a weak ace or for the villain to muck. However, that was not the case, the button flips over K♦️ 5♠️.

Yes, you read that right. He called two streets with K♦️ 5♠️, needing to hit one of the three remaining kings to MAYBE be good. Or maybe he thought I was completely bluffing, and his king-high was solid gold.

So, how do you play against someone who either doesn’t know or doesn’t care if they’re beat? In this hand, I feel I made the right moves—pressing for value when ahead and shutting down when it seemed we were beat, even if my read was off due to his wild hand selection.

Share Your Thoughts

What would you have done differently? Ever encountered a similar scenario? Let’s discuss in the comments below.