A Feast For The Lion!

I’ve spent a lot of time sorting through the assorted hands of poker history, and I can say without doubt that today’s Hand of the Week is the one that gives me the most pleasure to review. It doesn’t come from the World Series of Poker or even tournament play, but it demonstrates the cunning required to achieve true greatness in this game.

Jack ‘Treetop’ Strauss was a larger than life figure. He lived by the credo better a day as a lion than a lifetime as a lamb’, often gambling for his worldly possessions scaling mountains and achieving every adrenal maximum that lies in between. It was Staruss who coined the phrase ‘all you need is a chip and a chair’, after coming back from one last chip to win the 1982 WSOP.

Jack was on a massive roll in a high stakes cash game in Vegas when the hand I’m talking about occured. He’d won some half-dozen hands in a row when he looked down to find himself holding Hold’em’s worst starting hand, 72o. With the action folded to him mid-table and on a good rush, he dutifully raised.

His one caller had been taking a beating throughout the session and was playing with a defeatist attitude. When the flop came 7-3-3, Jack bet out for $2k, but knew immediately he was losing; his opponent reached for his chips a little too quickly and raised. Strauss called, apparently sensing an opportunity to steal later in the hand. All accounts of the hand suggest that Strauss was putting his man on pocket aces or kings at this point, making one wonder why he’d match the bet instead of getting away from the hand.

The turn brought a two, giving Strauss a useless third pair. He immediately fired out an $18K bet. This time, his opponent didn’t call as quickly, thinking instead of the way he could be losing the hand in the face of this kind of move. “Got acces?” he asked, as if there were no other hand Strauss could have when the man held pocket kings.

Instead of answering the question, Jack put forth a proposition: "I’ll tell you what; just gimme one of those $100 chips of yours and you can see either one of my cards - whichever one you choose." After a long pause, the lamb tossed Jack the chip and chose a card, revealing the deuce. A minute later, figuring Strauss must have twos full, he folded.

If you think about it, it’s actually a terribly played hand. Why would any opponent with the boat want to let you off the five-figure pot for $100? Why would the deuces call the raise on the flop? Why would the turned full house bet out instead of trapping the raiser? The answer to these questions, as Strauss later explained, was in basic psychology: the man was waiting to lose and he played that way. Might as well throw yourself to the lions.

About the Author

Author Gary Wise is the Poker Expert and associated with Gnuf – A New Online Casino. He also like playing Video Poker at Gnuf online casino.