Originally Posted by Sensitivenewageguy
So this happened in 2012, but I wasn't reading these forums at that time, and I don't have many friends who play poker, so I'd be interested to hear your opinions on what occurred.
I went to San Juan, Puerto Rico in Jan 2012 for my friends bachelor party. I got in to town the day before everyone else, so I tried to find a poker game at one of the casinos on the beach. There was only one game running, 2/5. I wish I could remember the name of the hotel; I'm not even certain about which hotel we stayed at but I think it may have been the Marriott. Anyway, I walked out the main entrance of our hotel,and this hotel was the second on the right, if anyone knows San Juan.
So there's only 8 at the table and I buy in for $100 and sit in the 9 seat. I fold for the first orbit, and I notice there's a guy and a girl in the 6 and 7 seat who are looking at each other's cards, every hand, and he's whispering in her ear. I say, "hey, they can't do that" to the dealer. The player, who's got a bit of a sleazy look going on, tells me, "hey, I'm just teaching her how to play" in a dismissive fashion. I say to the dealer, "they can't look at each other's cards". He looks at me without expression and half shrugs. So I think, what can I do, it's play or leave, and I live in a state without casino poker, and I rarely get to play, so I decide to just ignore it and play. But obviously this guys a reg and this is the type of place where the rules are not as important as who you know.
So within the next orbit this hand happens. I think I was in the small blind or the big blind and get dealt AA. I've got $87. 3 callers before me and I raise to $20. Card sharing villain calls. He's got between $250-300. Flop comes A 8 5 rainbow. My heart starts pounding, I don't think I've ever had pocket aces in a live casino before, let alone a set. I bet 40. Villain casually calls while chatting with the girl he's trying to work. Turn is a 10. I bet my last $27, all in. Villain calls. I flip my Aces, he turns over QJ off! Of course, you all know the river is a King and he takes the pot with the straight. Villain smiles and makes a comment but he's not really trying to needle me, he's mostly focussed on the girl.
So I'm pretty dazed and sit there for a minute. I end up buying back in for $100 but I'm still thinking about that hand. Then I realize what's bothering me...why did he call that flop bet? I mean, calling pre flop, ok sure, and maybe on the river I had had so little left that he had pot odds to call, but on the flop he called a 2/3 pot bet with air and then goes runner runner. That's a really bad play, but he presumably is a reg here who's teaching someone how to play. Also, he seemed to be playing very solid, tight poker in the 10-15 hands that I've seen. And he had no reads on me; to this point I had folded almost every hand and certainly had given him no reason to believe I would be bluffing there. It's very strange. Then it dawns on me; what if the dealer brought in a cold deck because I made an issue about this guy sharing cards? Certainly it was possible; I wasn't paying that close attention to the dealer. It would explain why the guy called my bets like he knew what was coming.
So anyway I cashed out and left. Certainly there seemed to be no point in complaining to the casino. I know this could have happened the way it did by pure chance, but I could not figure how somebody who is a poker reg at a casino could call that ace high dry flop with QJ off. The cold deck explanation actually seemed more likely to me. I doubt this would or could happen in a casino in the U.S. proper, but this place had a definite vibe of 1) we don't follow the rules if we don't feel like it and 2) if you're a tourist your money is welcome but you, not so much.
So what do you think is more likely, I got cheated, or this reg played the hand really stupidly and lucked out?
