Loose Lips

I'm generally down to playing one multi-table SnG a night these days. I was far more interested in watching Heroes and catching up on BSG (good ep, but why bother with the arc at all?) than rushing to the keyboard.

But I did play a medium-sized multi-table SnG. At one of the early tables, two players got all-in on the flop, one with TP, the other with pocket aces. The aces held up and the other guy went down. I wasn't paying attention, but caught the followup comment in the chat from one of the other players. "You'd better have the goods when you go against that guy. He only plays top 10 hands."

I checked the hand history to review that hand, and saw that the guy in question hadn't played much at all. The comment was duly noted.

At the final table I was in 2nd with a healthy supply of chips. The nut-peddler was alive with one of the shorter stacks. In the BB, I found pocket aces (only my 2nd or 3rd of the game of course). Considering that I usually get a walk when I have big pocket pairs in the big blind, I wasn't expecting much. But nuts-boy pushed his chips in the middle and I insta-called. He flipped over KQo, and while the board got a wee bit scary on the turn, he didn't improve enough to beat me.

Granted, with pocket aces, I'm calling anybody, any time in this position, so the advice seems moot. However, I'd folded hands to this guy pre-flop once or twice earlier in the game that I might have considered seeing a flop with against someone else. In fact, I'd kept the earlier comment in mind the entire game, waiting for a chance to catch this guy with either premium pockets or a hidden draw if he let me in cheap.

In short, he was pushed into my sights by someone else. In fact, by being a smart ass and pointing out his observation to the entire table, the chatter took away HIS advantage as well as the other guy's. Before this, he may have been the only one with notes that labelled the nut-peddler. By talking, he spread this information to everyone and might have screwed himself as well. It's these brief moments in a game that can turn the tide dramatically. Poker is a game of connections, where a small thread can change the entire tapestry.