Poker is weird. There are no rules. There are TDA guidelines which are mostly adhered to but there is no one set of rules or rule book that can be consulted to work out whether a player has committed an offence as each casino is free to post their own rules. There's also a lot of etiquette involved which can further muddy the waters when seeking guidance.
We're in the latter stages of a low buy in tournament - probably a few players away from the money at the final table. I'm in the big blind holding 8-8 and a short stacked lady UTG+1 has shoved her last 5 big blinds in which is called by one other player before it's folded round to me. Now I have a decision to make. Do I reshove my 20 BBs, in the hope of getting the caller to fold? Or do I call to see a flop and effectively play an empty side pot against him? His call could be construed as weakness, or it could be a trap. He has about 20 BBs left after making the call so has me slightly covered.
I think for a few seconds and elect to call. We see a flop of J-10-2 rainbow. I check and hope we're going to check it down. There's no side pot to bluff into and with 2 of us against the short stack at showdown we've got better odds of knocking her out and getting closer to a payout.
He doesn't. He shoves. I obviously can't call with my underpair and the two remaining players turn their cards up. The original short stacked shover turns over Ace-7 and the other player shows K-Q.
The turn and river are both blanks and neither player improves so the lady wins with Ace high. I'm pissed off. I should have won that. I don't say anything to either player but inside I'm fuming. Luckily there's beer to calm me down.
So - did the player who'd flopped a straight draw do anything wrong? Officially no but unofficially probably no as well. But what is he thinking? He's trebled up a shorty and we still haven't lost a player. Or is he just a typical Vegas poker player who really doesn't think that deeply and is happy to have flopped a monster draw (we've in an effective coin flip post flop) and is hoping to hit whether he gets called by me or not?
Thoughts please
