Poker: Kid pays the price
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Your support makes all the difference.YOU cannot learn to play poker from books, but you can certainly get a lot of pleasure from books about poker. The most celebrated novel, now reissued, is The Cincinnati Kid by Richard Jessup. Many people who have never played poker will have seen the film, with Edward G Robinson as Lancey, 'The Man', and Steve McQueen as 'The Kid' who tries to beat him.
It is a short book, but great fun. The game, you may recall, is five card stud, which has more or less dropped out of the poker repertoire to be overtaken by Texas Hold 'em. The key hand is a classic. The Kid has a queen of hearts in the hole, and catches two tens on his second and third cards. Lancey shows seven and eight of hearts. The Kid bets dollars 500, thinking to take the pot without more ado, but to his surprise, Lancey raises dollars 300. (This is not really a credible bet, but let that pass.) dollars 1,850 in the pot, and the Kid, correctly, re-raises dollars 2,000. Lancey calls. Fourth card is dramatic.
The Kid
H Q
S 10 D 10 C Q
Lancey
?
H 7 H 8 H 10
Nice one. The ten of hearts is a ten The Kid cannot get, and he has a heart in the hole which Lancey cannot catch. The Kid's two pairs, even without improvement, make him a huge favourite. But here he makes a curious mistake. He bets just dollars 1,000, because he wants Lancey in. But at that price, dollars 1,000 to win a pot worth nearly dollars 7,000, the call is irresistible.
What The Kid should have done is bet the size of the pot and made Lancey pay for the privilege. Instead, last card gives Lancey the nine of hearts. The Kid catches another queen for his full house.
Here The Kid makes his second misjudgement. He bets the rest of his money - dollars 1,420. What for? Lancey is certainly not going to pay to see him, unless by some miracle he has hit a straight flush. When Lancey raises him back dollars 4,100, The Kid makes his worst mistake - he calls. And of course 'The Man' turns over the jack of hearts. As he remarks in the immortal line: 'All you pay is the looking price. Lessons are extra.'
The Cincinnati Kid, No Exit Press dollars 4.99
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