Chronicles of Moron Calls: “Only Bluff” & Few Other Tells 🐡
The hand below describes, how I got stacked during my first ever session in Manila (and probably my session number 6 in the real casino at all).
I was too embarrassed to post it, but got over myself; here is a classical example of a fish, mindfucked by a speech play and taken to the Valuetown in a white limo.
It happened months ago, so I may not be precise with the sizings.I was too embarrassed to post it, but got over myself; here is a classical example of a fish, mindfucked by a speech play and taken to the Valuetown in a white limo.
FRIDAY NIGHT, SOLAIRE CASINO, 120BB EFFECTIVE
I waited a few hours for the seat just to be running car-dead. The table thinks I am virgin-tight but I am missing the boards like a fat kid misses cake.
UTG limos, I make it 5x from the CO with A♣️K♣️ and get called by a reg in a leather jacket on the button. He sat down with a max stack and was playing typical straightforward Manila TAG. UTG comes along.
Flop comes K ♠️7❤️J❤️
I c-bet 12 bb and only the leather jacket quickly calls.
He did not squeeze preflop, which makes AQ/AK and QQ++ very unlikely. He did not raise me on a draw-heavy flop, so I would exclude all the two pairs and sets. Given that and the speed of the call, his hand looks like a draw, weaker king and an occasional jack, which means I am way ahead.
Turn is a meaningless 3♣️, I bet 32bb and get another quick call. If the reg had me beat, I would have 100% heard about it by now.
I c-bet 12 bb and only the leather jacket quickly calls.
He did not squeeze preflop, which makes AQ/AK and QQ++ very unlikely. He did not raise me on a draw-heavy flop, so I would exclude all the two pairs and sets. Given that and the speed of the call, his hand looks like a draw, weaker king and an occasional jack, which means I am way ahead.
Turn is a meaningless 3♣️, I bet 32bb and get another quick call. If the reg had me beat, I would have 100% heard about it by now.
River is a Q♣️ and I hate it, because KQ got there. I don’t think he ever has QJ, because nitty as he is, he should have folded it to a big turn bet. Now the only hands, that called me on the turn, that I still beat are flush draws except for A❤️10❤️ and 10❤️9❤️. I would expect this type of opponent to often fold a king with a ten or a worse kicker on the turn as well.
This leads me to the conclusion, than I am not getting called by worse if I bet, but might get him to bluff at it.
I check and my opponent insta-overbet-Hollywood-shoves, flashes all of his teeth and in a mean-agressive tone says:
- All in! Only bluff! Only bluff! Missed flushed draw with ace of hearts!
This is definitely a flush draw and definitely with ace of hearts, otherwise he would not mention this card at all, whether that rivered a straight, that is the question.
Generally, table talk aside, if my opponent is ever capable of bluffing here, top-pair top-kicker with no hearts is a fine hand to stick to my plan and look him up.
The problems in these particular hand are everything I meantioned as set aside:
MY OPPONENT AND HIS SIZING
An overbet from a tight Filipino reg is almost never a bluff - and absolutely never a bluff against someone he perceives as a whale I am. My AK is pretty much face up for any thinking player, I would have fired again with anything better. His idea of me is probably that I am not supposed to get away from it.
HIS BEHAVIOR
Loud Hollywood all-in and agressive behavior after betting screams strength. Bluffing people tend to be more quiet and friendly, because they don’t want to do anything that might induce a call.
A full-teeth smile is a tell of strength as opposed to the “fake” only-lips smile.
This leads me to the conclusion, than I am not getting called by worse if I bet, but might get him to bluff at it.
I check and my opponent insta-overbet-Hollywood-shoves, flashes all of his teeth and in a mean-agressive tone says:
- All in! Only bluff! Only bluff! Missed flushed draw with ace of hearts!
This is definitely a flush draw and definitely with ace of hearts, otherwise he would not mention this card at all, whether that rivered a straight, that is the question.
Generally, table talk aside, if my opponent is ever capable of bluffing here, top-pair top-kicker with no hearts is a fine hand to stick to my plan and look him up.
The problems in these particular hand are everything I meantioned as set aside:
MY OPPONENT AND HIS SIZING
An overbet from a tight Filipino reg is almost never a bluff - and absolutely never a bluff against someone he perceives as a whale I am. My AK is pretty much face up for any thinking player, I would have fired again with anything better. His idea of me is probably that I am not supposed to get away from it.
HIS BEHAVIOR
Loud Hollywood all-in and agressive behavior after betting screams strength. Bluffing people tend to be more quiet and friendly, because they don’t want to do anything that might induce a call.
A full-teeth smile is a tell of strength as opposed to the “fake” only-lips smile.
SPEECH Such speech of a reg versus a fish is only a monster hand. It’s designed to mindfuck the victim, because who wants to fold and be shown A❤️7❤️ to everybody’s amusement?
People, who are bluffing, don’t really want to announce that to the whole aquarium.
Please, note: it has to be the exact scenario where few draws brick and the villain has some other good stuff vs the live one. At the higher stakes an tricky player might try perform a reverse tell against another player who he thinks knows a bit about the tells. I am yet to see that in Manila, probably it’s up to me to be the pioneer. At the NL100 stakes nobody knows anything about the live tells. What tells? K7o UTG? Of course, limp!
People, who are bluffing, don’t really want to announce that to the whole aquarium.
Please, note: it has to be the exact scenario where few draws brick and the villain has some other good stuff vs the live one. At the higher stakes an tricky player might try perform a reverse tell against another player who he thinks knows a bit about the tells. I am yet to see that in Manila, probably it’s up to me to be the pioneer. At the NL100 stakes nobody knows anything about the live tells. What tells? K7o UTG? Of course, limp!
Result: I call to get shown A❤️10❤️ 🤦🏼♀️
I love everything my opponent did in a hand, except making me question my choices in life. He had all the implied odds to be calling my big bets on the flop and on the turn, which he realized by overbetting the river. His speech is an obvious tell to a decent player, but if it gets the fish to call, he should be making it every time.
I love everything my opponent did in a hand, except making me question my choices in life. He had all the implied odds to be calling my big bets on the flop and on the turn, which he realized by overbetting the river. His speech is an obvious tell to a decent player, but if it gets the fish to call, he should be making it every time.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE
Masters Poker Club, NL200, because I am a big girl now.
A good reg Willy is in the hand against a bad reg. Turn brings a second flush draw, both of them miss, but there are few straights, don’t remember exactly, but kind of:
6 ♠️7♦️J ♠️ Q♦️9♣️
Willy goes all-in, his opponent looks visibly tortured tilted and tourtured, goes into the tank and talks to himself and to Willy at the same time. Everything looks like he has two pair or even a set and might make a big fold.
Over sudden Willy, who rarely ever opens his mouth during a hand, says something like:
- Missed my flush, diamond draw, only bluffs!
Well, that sounded like a straight. That would be an easy fold for me with a set, because, again, I am a big girl now.
Just like in the first hand, it works, bad reg calls with a set of sixes and Willy tables a set of queens. I was sure he was even stronger than that.
Masters Poker Club, NL200, because I am a big girl now.
A good reg Willy is in the hand against a bad reg. Turn brings a second flush draw, both of them miss, but there are few straights, don’t remember exactly, but kind of:
6 ♠️7♦️J ♠️ Q♦️9♣️
Willy goes all-in, his opponent looks visibly tortured tilted and tourtured, goes into the tank and talks to himself and to Willy at the same time. Everything looks like he has two pair or even a set and might make a big fold.
Over sudden Willy, who rarely ever opens his mouth during a hand, says something like:
- Missed my flush, diamond draw, only bluffs!
Well, that sounded like a straight. That would be an easy fold for me with a set, because, again, I am a big girl now.
Just like in the first hand, it works, bad reg calls with a set of sixes and Willy tables a set of queens. I was sure he was even stronger than that.
CONCLUSION The “only bluff” speech seems to work perfectly well against the fish, but should not be (and, in fact, never is) executed against any decent player, who might be familiar with the subject of verbal tells.