My last morning in Vegas I decided to play at Mandalay Bay. I got to the poker room at 5am in the morning...there were was one $1/2 NL table still going.
Apparently one of the players claimed this was his first time playing at a $1/2NL table...or any live poker table for that matter.
He wasn't drunk but he had this habit of flipping his cards over, but not to fold, before the action was finished. I asked him why he was doing this and he said he didn't know how to play and he was just showing everyone his cards.
He was not hiding anything...if he had pocket pairs he'd tell you before play was finished.
The most puzzling was when he was heads up with a big chip stack...the lady had been building her stack for the last 3 hours and now had over $400 more than when she started.
On the river, the novice player flipped his cards over to reveal he had two pair (K, J) and there was a potential straight on the board. He bet $30 and flipped the cards over.
The big stack lady looked at him puzzled as well, she wondered if he was tricking her...she could clearly see that she had the better hand and he did not..but he did not know this.
She looked over at his chips, "how much more do you have there?" she asks...He shrugs and says, "I don't know...about $70-80." I'll put you all in she says and pushes her chips in the middle.
I'm thinking she clearly has the straight and thinking the novice will fold since she could see he only had two pair. But he calls it and she flips over a straight.
She said she wasn't sure what he was trying to do...maybe tricking her into thinking he didn't know what he was doing....?
Does anyone have comments about his play? Or was he simply just "not in the know?"