Huge Misreads, Straights from Q to 3, and Other Live Poker Oddities

Won a $9300 pot against a player that mistook his 4 for an A. What stories do you have?
byu/Absolutedisgrace inpoker

"I won a $9300 pot in a 5-5 game against a player who mistook his for an . What crazy hand stories do you have?"

"I did exactly this on the bubble of a tournament (small stakes) btn raised very large 3.5 to 4 bb and we both had like 14 bb. I look down at in the sb and jam. He tank calls his and I flip over "

"I've made the same mistake. We were playing with "vintage" old-west cards (read "blurry"), and it was hard to distinguish between a 4 and an A after a certain number of beers."

— Not a hand misread, but I won a ~$400 pot against a lady where the board was something like . I had for a set, she had and was flabbergasted that her wasn’t a straight like she’s always played in her home game.

"Yeah some people think it works this way. Poker will never die."

— I shoved on the river with for the nut flush. I was stone faced while villain asked if I had the flush. In my head I was pleading for a call. Then villain showed me his to get a reaction before finally folding. Aaaand that’s when I realized I had actually been bluffing with the .

"I can only imagine the rapid cycling of confused emotions on my face after seeing the is what got me the fold 🤣."

— I won a large pot in the end stages of a HORSE tournament when the game switched from Razz to Stud HI. Opponent dint hear pay attention to the game change and was still playing Razz.

"I used to play heads up HORSE sngs on Full Tilt back in the day, and this was one of my favorite things to take advantage of. Because Razz is the first stud game, a lot of people just assumed it was Stud hi. People would be 4 betting on the bring in with a king showing and I knew they were playing Stud high. Lots of easy money back then."

— Playing PLO5, big pot and I forget the specifics but was pretty sure I was against top set, had wrap/NFD. River a royal flush but the board was 4 to a straight, figured only way I'm getting paid is if they hero a smaller flush so I pot the river for like 6k or something. They look at the board and say "well I guess we chop" and shove for 15k, apparently completely missing the flush... could not prevent myself from cracking up when I tabled the royal.

— I was on the other end of this once in a lower stakes game. I shove turn with what I think is and the nut flush. I got snapped by a straight. When I look at my cards again, I notice my is actually the . I ended up being bailed out by the river being a 4th club.

"You mistook a red heart for a black club?"

— "That casino was using those Gemaco brand cards that have a darker than most red. Also it was near the end of a long for me session."

“I've literally flipped over two totally different cards than what i thought i had before so i can believe just about anything in regard to this sort of thing"

— Peeled the same card twice.....thought I had two red 4s. Check raise shoved the flop thinking I hit a set and got called. Announced a set and man was I surprised when it was just another random ass card.

— There have been plenty of PLO hands where at 2am…. I mistakenly thought I had 2 clubs instead of 1 club 1 spade.

— Not quite the same but I once won a $12k pot with jack high because my opponent misread his hand and called my semi bluff where I shoved my open ender . He called thinking he had the nut flush draw and he just had . Turn , river .

— Seen many times someone fold at showdown because they can't beat the straight on the board.

— Very early on, maybe a month after I started playing poker, we had just started a tournament at the bar. First hand I get . I'm new and there's not much action so I limp in. Flop is . Lucky me, I bet hard, 3 other players do too. Turn is some low brick that doesn't matter, but the river is another . Tons of action on all streets, especially for the very first hand. I've got the nuts, someone goes all in and I call.

Just as proudly and arrogantly as I can I say "FULL HOUSE" and flip over my... . I was so embarrassed that's as close as I've come to quitting forever. The stakes were basically non existent, but just the arrogance that I declared my hand with was what got me. Lesson learned.

— $1600 pot against a first time player in the casino. He thought he had a straight K through 4.

— This story is too good not to tell. Also a bit embarrassing. As a newbie to PLO, I shoved all in with what I thought was the nut flush on the river. To my surprise my ace high flush was actually just ace high. The good news is I was called by a guy who thought he had the king high flush, who actually just had king high.

— At Chumash in California I saw a guy lose what might have been every cent he had because he didn’t know a flush beats a straight. The pot was probably around $1.5k

He went all in with a 10 high straight and was near tears arguing with the pit boss and then the guy who won. There were 4 diamonds on the board so it was obvious what the winning hand would be.

— My favorite hand was taking out a new player, who didn't know how to play poker, but was crazy lucky. I shoved all-in with a 10-high straight and he snap called me, and asked what kind of hand it is when you have five cards of the same COLOR. He was positive that a hand of clubs and spades was a winner.

"I've heard it called the transvestite. Looks really pretty until you find the extra bit."

— Once when we were near a big pay jump in a tournament, I was stalling to see another elimination at another table to get us up another $28,000. The player I was in the hand with was fidgeting and seemed irritated. While I looked over at the other table, all of a sudden there was this terrible smell over the entire table. He shat himself and voluntarily folded and went to the men's room to clean his drawers. He came back dressed in some of 3 Coin's sweatpants. I moved up $28,000.

I can't forget that smell. He said it was Thai food.

— I stood in line at Cesar's Atlantic City poker window (I don't think they've had poker for 15 years lol) and heard this guy tell his friends how he'll C-bet and then bomb the turn no matter what and it always works!

I, of course, wound up at his table and re-rasied him several times with air for about 400 before he finally called when I actually had something. He went bust and complained while leaving. One of my proudest poker moments.

— Boy, do I have a story here. I peeled the same card twice. Thinking I had . Playing in a $0.25/$0.50 game. Played more like $2/$3.

Playing vs a villian who is a good friends. Loves to bluff. But I never called him down unless I was nutted. Long story short. We call a 4 bet pre and 3 streets from him thinking we have an over pair. He had 9 high. And I tabled my hand thinking I have QQ. But it was QJ off. And good enough for the scoop of a $450 pot.

He still till this day thinks I had a soul read on him. Good stuff.

Luckily, it's pretty difficult to misread your cards online. One of the worst player errors in the digital poker world is missclicking the wrong buttons, but it's pretty tough to mistake spades for hearts.

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But in live poker, misfortunes happen even to the great.

In the 2009 Main Event, Phil Ivey failed to notice he had made a flush.

The WSOP awarded a pot to a player with a straight, when their opponent had a flush. Usually, the flush would win, but not that time.

News

A Flush Nobody Saw: Scandal at the WSOP Circuit Final Table

Read

A player was eliminated from a major tournament with the best hand. The incident sparked a heated debate on social media about whether reporters should enforce the rules.

Read

One of the most high-profile cases in recent years occurred at Hustler Casino two years ago, when a professional player called the river with 6-high and lost a big pot to an amateur.

The giveaway garnered a couple million views and several hundred comments. A lively debate ensued over whether the winner in such a situation should return some of the money to the opponent.

Jeff Boski held an anonymous vote, and the "no return" option won by a landslide.

However, professionals unanimously expressed a different opinion (except KMart).

• Beruizy: "Eum yup. Instantly. Fuck everyone else's opinion. People make mistakes, if you ever do it, you want this to happen. Go ahead and tell me im a hypocrite so i can prove you wrong."
• Niall Farrell: "In spots as obvious as this, I’m returning it, poor cunt snapped it off ffs. 😂"
• Rob Kuhn: "I've this in private games twice, both with the same outcome. Return the river bet if he calling and it's an honest mistake. If he's the one bluffing and misreads his cards do not return the river bet as that sets up for angles."
• Henrik Hecklen: "The important thing to remember here is what happens when H has a bluff that’s also playing the board? Does the guy with 6 high happily take half the pot when Dr H has 86hh? Probably. That being said it’s probably a nice gesture to let him keep some (maybe all?) of the river bet."
• Kevin Martin: "95% of the time I’m keeping it. In some extreme circumstances I would return it."

A similar situation occurred in the $200/$400 heads-up match between Doug Polk and Owen Messer.

Owen confused hearts with spades, thinking he had a flush, and called three barrels. Doug returned half his river bet. After this hand, PR0DIGY asked for a break and went for a walk.

Doug also held a vote, in which more than half chose the "keep it all" option.