I thought it would be interesting (and maybe educational for some people) to start a thread featuring interesting verbal poker behavior.

What are some hands you've played where something an opponent said changed a big decision for you? Ideally, the anecdote will feature something that changes a major action, not just something that reinforces your idea that your decision was correct. What were the reasons your decision was changed?

Also; maybe you know of a 2+2 thread that features some interesting verbal behavior. Post a link to it and a synopsis.

I'll post a couple anecdotes of my own in a few minutes to start this out.

In a $2-5 game, a kid I've never played with before buys in for $300 and sits to my right. A few hands in, he raises, gets one caller, and I call in the BB w/ K8s.

Flop is 344, he bets a small-ish amount making me think he's weak, third player calls, making me put him on a mid-pair, and I raise to $75, thinking there's a good chance I take it down. Villain calls immediately and now I put him on a high pair.

Turn comes an 8, giving me a pair but now I think I'm behind. I check, he checks behind.

River comes a 9, making the board 34489. I check, still thinking a high pair is probable for him. He bets $80 into a $220 pot. I think for a little bit, trying to think what I could beat.

I start talking to villain a little bit, saying, "You got Aces? I just can't figure out why you didn't just shove the flop or bet the turn." Villain starts talking, saying, "No, man, I'm bluffing, you got me." I usually think this kind of talk means strength and relaxation.

Then the villain says, "If you got a four, you’re good, you got me. You don’t got a four, I got you." This is strange to me; I've seen this kind of pattern from people who are bluffing and want to represent strength by stating a little believable weakness. Basically it's like saying, "I know you don't have a 4, so I'll let you know I don't have a 4 to communicate that I have something a little bit weaker than a 4, but still strong."

This made me feel better about calling. He shows 56 for a straight draw. Considering his range calling my flop bet, this was definitely a spot I would have folded if he had not said a word.

Another one, from a $1-2 game.

I called a $50 turn over-bet from a kid I thought was really weak. I just had AK (long-story short he checked a low flop and the turn put 3 to a flush out and I thought he had a good draw and was just trying to take it down). Kid was very bad and had been playing very predictably and I felt good about calling.

Turn puts fourth suit out, which isn't what I wanted to see. Still think there's a chance I'm ahead though. I check, he bets like $100 (close to all-in). I ask him if he'll show if I fold. He seems to think for a few seconds, then say, "Uhh, yeah...IF you fold." Emphasis on "if". I don't always get good information from that question, but considering he seemed to really want to make it clear and obvious that he was willing to show only IF I folded, it seemed like he wanted me to call. A bluffer would be more stoic and confident and wouldn't belabor the point, basically. So I fold and he shows AQ w/ the Q of that suit.

Kind of violating my own thread rules cause I was leaning toward a fold and there's probably very little I could have seen that would have moved me to a call, but was still an interesting one.

I like the thread.

Playing in a 1/2 game. UTG straddles to 4. Everyone limps to me with pocket 10's. I also limp because I have no clue what I am doing. Straddle raises 50 on top. Everyone folds and back to me. I was going to fold because I am tight and terrible. I hem and haw and he says "I know your cards don't match" and I say "what?", he says "I know you don't have a pair",I said "want to side bet?". After I say that he calls a clock. So I decided to shove all in because I am dumb. He hems and haws and calls with A-Q off suit. I win the flip. Terrible story, I know. Whatever

I also started this thread in Televised Poker asking about interesting televised hands that involved verbal exchanged. There were a few good links in there, if anyone's interested in that type of thing:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/37/televised-poker/interesting-table-talk-during-hands-1380298

Not a verbal clue but an outright show and tell. lol.

Playing 2/5 at Venetian during the series a couple years ago, and all sort of whack jobs are out.

Older dude (50's), looks like he is caught between a phish concert and homelessness, but he has $2000 in front when we start and I have about $1500. We go to a flop after I've called his pre-flop raise of whatever (I forget) with 24c. 3 or 4 of us see the flop. Flop comes all clubs 689. Very nice, I remember I had position, he was FTA and he bet $100. The others fold. I call. I want to see the turn blank. Turn is a red jack. He bets $200 into me. I raise to $500. I have around $900 left behind. He immediately shoves all in, making me decide on calling all-in with a micro-flush with one card to come.

I tank. He has played tight and abc and I'd been victim to some flush over flushes already that trip, so I was leaning towards folding, even had shown the guy out of the hand sitting next to me my cards saying like "Can you believe it, he must have the flush"----I was this close to folding, almost had extended my hand to push away my hand, thinking it was a good fold.

Right before I say the word fold, he flips a card up. The 7c. This pulls me back in the tank, I tell him I have that beat trying to get something more, but before I can say or think anything else HE FLIPS OVER HIS SECOND CARD and says "Can you beat that?" His second card is a red 10 revealing a flopped straight with a straightflush redraw.

I snap call, fade the club and double up. Schweet. TYTY

Just a funny reply to a cliche question that we thought was worth a chuckle at the time:

"will you show me if I fold?"

"I may not even show you if you call"

Wow. That's pretty sweet. It's amazing how many people will tell you their hands and even show you their cards. He must have thought if you were thinking about it that long you didn't have the flush and he felt safe showing it to you.

Kind of reminds me of this hand (below) from the Big Game where Negreanu bluffs the river. His opponent acts upset and Negreanu thinks that he's just deciding between calling and folding, when he's actually very strong. Negreanu, trying to imitate how he might act with a strong hand, feigns taking pity on the amateur and shows a card, implying that he has trips. (In Negreanu's defense, he's not used to playing with guys who put on such an obvious show of a tough decision when very strong; usually those guys are either calling or folding.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNyTB2qULVA

Sometimes I ask, "Will you show if I call?"

I like, "Will you fold if I show?"

Sometimes confuses them and gets a laugh if they're relaxed.

This was a hand emailed me by Wendy Weissman. (Some of you may know her from her Live At The Bike commentary.)

This one is a case in point how people so often tell the truth, even when you can't figure out why they would. Some players (like this one) seem genuinely glad to just take a pot down no matter how far ahead they are. I'm sure we all have some stories like this.

Playing a 2/3 100-300 buy in at the bike. Lady limps with about 200 total in stack. I am next to act and I have KK. I raise to 12, my standard raise, and the standard
for the table. One caller after me in bb and the lady goes all in and says that I should
fold. I ask her point blank if she has Aces and she say "yes" and "I will show you." I laugh and fold other player folds and she shows AA.

The other day I was playing some 2/5 and had KJs raised from mp got 4 callers. Flop comes KJ3 rainbow. I lead for 50 get called by a weak player raised by a tight player, 1 fold. Comes back to me and I shove all in.

Long story short he was tanking asking if I had flopped a set of Jacks, I talked a little too much and after saying "well I think we actually have the same hand" he snap called after that showing a set of 3s. I will never say that again haha, in the end it's still kind of a cooler.

2/5 at horizon Vicksburg. Lots of regulars... Older woman immediately to my right is very tight (as a player you dirty minds), and passive.

I have KK. She limps ahead of me and I raise to 30. Folds back to her and she re-raises to 200. Red flag one. At this point she's 50% aces, 30% kings, and 20% AKs. Nothing else. So I'm tanking preflop and leaning to a fold.

I ask if I call does she want to check it down. No eye contact and no response. Red flag number two... She normally would respond if she had any shred of doubt. Then i ask their I fold will you show question... She looks at me then, thinks for a moment, and says, because it was me, yes.

At that point, I had no doubt... I muck my kings face up, and the fish at the table gasp with horror, until she tabled Her aces...

in some random casino i told the hand a limprr had, i NOW know that was a douchebag move, but the other guy still called with a worse hand...

so i think fish just wont change their mind if they got a hand they want to play, while the regs get probably pissed off

yesterday i bet A2 on a flop of K Kc 2c. one caller.
turn Ac. i check and he bets. i said, "Do you have a King?" and he showed it.
He said, "I was scared of the flop."
Sounds reasonable.

Interesting hand I played a few weeks ago...

1/3 NL, V has about $600 infront of him, hero covers. Both H and V have been playing solid TAG all night and are both clearly aware of it.

V opens in MP for $12, folded to H in SB w/AKo, who 3B to $35. V calls without too much thought. I'm ranging him at 22-QQ at this point, with maybe AJs+ in his range considering our stack depth.

Flop KJ6dd, I c/c $40 since I know a bet will get him to fold out all hands I'm beating, but he will bet almost his entire range.

Turn Ax, I c/c $60, since he will barrel this card with all his underpairs to fold me off 99,TT and QQ type hands.

River 9x, I lead $120, since he isn't going to fire a 3rd barrel as a bluff, but might hero-call with AQs/AJs type hands that would otherwise check back.

As soon as I make the bet he says 'That's so sick, you flopped a set of kings'. When he says this I realise that he flopped a set, and given how quickly he called the preflop raise, JJ is the most likely pair for him to have. (66 would tank longer before calling I think).

I quickly respond with 'You flopped three jacks?'
He quickly says 'Exactly that.'

He then tank-folds JJ face-up.

I think the "will you show if . . . . " question has been asked enough that most decent players have a stock answer, so I don't put much weight in the specific response. But I do tend to feel like they're more likely to be weak if they say more than just a simple answer.

For example, if I ask that type of question and I get a simple word, phrase, or sentence as the answer I probably won't put much weight in it. But if a guy says something like "sure, I'll show" and then adds something else like "strange that you'd ask" or "why do people always ask me that" then I'm more likely to sense weakness. Far from foolproof (of course susceptible to being leveled) but it's a general read that I have.

And although the thread is about verbal behaviors, another general read I have is that if I'm in a room that allows players to turn over one or both cards if heads up playing cash without the hand being declared and I'm put to a decision and the other guy turns over one card, then far more often than not he wants me to fold.

I was playing some 1-2 and raised PF with pocket queens and got one caller, a guy who seemed to be pretty straightforward and not that smart.

Flop comes T43 with 2 clubs, and I C-bet and get a call. (So Pot is about $85)

Turn is a 7 of clubs, I bet $50 and the guy shoves for another $130 or so.

I start thinking, and after about 20-25 seconds the guy asks if I want to see one of his cards. I naturally say "sure" and he clearly chooses the card to flip over (Ace of Clubs).

I was leaning towards a fold, but saw this and snapcalled because he wasn't capable of being that tricky. He showed AT offsuit and I dodged the club on the river.

Wyrm,

Curious: were you making it obvious that you were leaning toward a fold? Or you were being stoic. I'm curious if there was anything that you think got him to think you just needed a little bit of persuasion to fold.

Also; had this player shown any past history of being tricky in such a way? Talkative player? Deceptive before that point? I'm just curious if you would have guessed he was capable of that.

I definitely agree with this, but I disagree, in general, about what you said after that.

In my experience, the affirmative responses to this question are hard to interpret. I find the most information when players answer "no" and especially when they do so in kind of belligerent ways. Someone willing to get kind of belligerent and angry is seldom bluffing, because bluffers are generally scared of pissing off an opponent or making an opponent suspicious.

For example, when you ask a bettor, "Will you show if I fold?" and he says something a little aggravated like, "No, you never show" or "Hell no", it's very unlikely he's bluffing.

1/2 in Chicago

I had ATs on the button, a reg that has strange preflop bet sizing makes it $8 UTG and gets 3 callers, I call as well. This was at the end of a session and I had a decent idea of his betsizing, it had nothing to do with position. This $8 bet would generally mean a weak hand.

The flop came Axx rainbow and UTG bombs the pot, it folds out everyone else, I make a fairly quick call.

As I am looking at the board and the turn card comes, I glance at villain and he is watching my reaction to the flop, I actually caught myself making a face that was legitimately not happy with the turn.

And then he reached in and made an overbet. I didnt tank for too long the turn card brought the backdoor flush draw and I figured he was primarily bluffing based on my reaction, but possibly picked up a backdoor draw and was just trying to get me off my hand now. So I decided I would go to the felt on any non-heart river, as I called his bet, I did not look at the river card, I was waiting for action to get to me. And it never did, this guy needed to see my reaction before he would bet, so I just sat there counting chips with my head down, action is still not getting to me.

I dont want to hold the game up, so I look up, and I think the guy realizing that the river was a blank and changed nothing just gave up, I had a bluff catcher, so I didnt want to go for any thin-value, I had him pegged as weak since the start of the hand, so betting, only gets him to fold when I am right, which I am sure I am.

I check back and he mucks before I can turn my hand up, I showed it anyways and the guy seemed to be pretty pissed I didnt fold.

No verbal exchange, just some behavior stuff from both of us.

One thing I have noticed a lot in low limit games (1/2NL or 2-100 spread limit as we have here in MN) is when hero 3-bets preflop, or an initial raise into limpers, and the villian says "Lets see a flop."

I hear this a lot by recreational players, and I'm not 100% sure if this is a sign of a monster, or a hand like Ax or worse. Anyone else have thoughts on that? Is this a trapping phrase when a passive player has a monster? Or do you think they generally wish to see a flop with a hand like a suited Ace, unsuited Ace, suited unconnected cards, or unsuited connector?

Or they could be terrible cards altogether, and they are just trying to get lucky?

It's not a sign of strength, so it's basically like calling. Hard to take much away from it.

Yes, but some of these recreational players love hollywooding.

At least in the lower limits.

I think it's usually set mining. Depending on the amount to call and the amount of gamble in the local players, suited connectors