I just played a couple of hours of low limit Texas Hold'Em at the Bicycle casino. I had a few hours to kill. Normally I buy into the $100-$300 game but there was a wait list, so I took an open seat at an $80 no limit table.
This was a "casual game" unlike other $80 no-limit tables which are notorious for cut throat play and wild, all-in betting.
I finished okay for the afternoon -- winning $60. But I sinned -- says my son who has been a part time dealer and taught me how to play poker.
My sin:
I have pocket 9s and raise the big blind from $3 to $9. I get two callers. I put both of these callers on playing AK because that's what they always played --AK.
The flop came Q 5 5. I was first to act. I bet $20 into a pot of about $30 with the blinds.
One player called and the second player who was a short stack raised to $40 leaving himself only about $15. I had just come off a few good hands so I had him covered and went all in.
The two other players folded. One of the players asks me to "show one time." I was pretty sure he had AK or worse so I turned over my 99. His fold declaration was "in" and as he mucked his cards he flipped them over to show pocket jacks.
He would have won the pot. My "semi bluff" won. A semi bluff because I did have a "hand" though not the nuts.
That's when I reached into my wallet and went over to him, shook his hand, and put a $20 bill in his hand. Others at the table saw it and said I did a "good thing" but my son said I should never have done that.
He said my first sin was that I showed. And the second sin was that I gave back part of my win.
Will my sin send me to poker hell?