Poker: Sometimes it pays to follow your instincts

The betting of a hand and the cards that hit the board might tell you one thing, but your instincts might tell you another, and a lot of the top players go with their gut. It is what allows a top pro such as Brad Booth to call down an opponent's big bet with only a king-high.

At the World Poker Tour's $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Las Vegas' Bellagio in 2007, Booth drew king-jack offsuit under the gun. With blinds at $50-$100, he raised to $400. Action folded to aggressive pro John Phan, who called from the cutoff.

"My thought process was that when he called, he was weak," Booth said. "This is going to sound crazy or stupid or confident, which is what it is, but I put him on something like 6-high or 7-high with two suited connectors.

"It's our history. We'd been playing for an hour and a half together, and there are certain things that you start to pick up, certain things that I have confidence in reading my opponents by their pre-flop action. As goofy and as crazy as that sounds, I'm very intuitive that way."

The flop came queen-4-4, two hearts. Booth checked.

"He bets $800, which is a pretty good amount," Booth said. "To me, that's reassurance that he has no hand. The amount was one thing, but also the way he put in his chips confirmed that he didn't even have ace-high. You start picking up certain tells with the way people cut their chips or put them in or announce their bet."
Booth called. The turn came the 9 of clubs. Booth picked up a gutshot straight draw and checked again. Phan bet $2,300, almost the size of the pot.

"The important thing for me at the beginning of the hand is where I put him on a hand," Booth said. "I believe he's trying to steal the pot with 7-high."

Booth called. The river came the 8 of clubs.

"I check it one more time to induce a bluff," Booth said. "It's the only option. Now he bets out a good amount - $4,300. I auto-call with my king, and he mucks his hand right away. Maybe he didn't have 7-high, but I went with my read."

Phan told the table he had 5-high and a flush draw. So, it turns out, in a game of people, Booth went with his gut and was right.

News Added: 09 May, 2008

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