ShareThere’s not a poker player alive who hasn’t misread their hand at least a single time in their career. But how many of those times did it ever amount to much? Usually, the mistake isn’t costly and the game goes on.
Last week, though, San Man, a semi-regular on the Hustler Casino Live stream, managed to misread his hand to the tune of $22,000 in full view of the cameras, sparking a debate over whether his opponent should actually refund some of the loss.
Six-High No Good!
The hand in question took place on HCL’s Thirsty Thursday Game and soon enough San Man would be thinking about drinking to forget.A few hours into the live stream, a six-way pot had a flop of 10♣ 9♥ 5♠and the action checked around to the button. Dr. H fired out a bet of $1,500 with Q♦Q♣ and everyone flooded around to San Man in the cutoff who called with 6♠4♣.
The turn was the 5♥, making the pot a lock for Dr. H, and San Man check-called $9,000 more.
The J♠was the final community card to come down and San Man checked again. Dr. H paused to consider if trips was likely for his opponent but it wasn’t enough to back away from a third value bet and he pushed $14,300 into the middle.
San Man then inexplicably snap-called the big bet thinking he had three-of-a-kind, “Oh yes!”, he said before realising his mistake and exclaiming "Oh my god. I don't have a five".
The rest of the evening didn’t get any better either with San Man booking a $38,960 loss for the session.
Should San Man Get His Money Back?
With the poker community being like it is, it’s not exactly a shock to see that there was disagreement over whether San Man should get his money back.The argument is that there is no debate over San Man misreading his hand; he can never win by calling a river bet with six-high.
Alex “Thallo” Epstein was one of the first to comment, stating that returning the bet is standard if the caller can never call.
“Standard here is to give the bet back if the misread hand can never be calling. This happens more frequently than it should in big live games, bet is returned much more often than not.”
Small stakes players were the ones who disagreed with this take, not giving San Man any sympathy whatsoever and claiming Thallo could never know what the standard was, but the PLO wizard was insistent.
“What are you talking about? I play in the games. Ask around other people who play these stakes in live games. If someone clearly misreads their hand and has a hand that can’t be a call, river bets are refunded the majority of the time.”
Twitch streamer Kevin Martin was one of the well-known names who said he wouldn’t return any of the money “95%” of the time.
Mike Matusow showed how old school he is by laying into those who’d keep the money, calling it disgusting that 64% players polled would give zero back.
Nik Airball, another Hustler Casino Live regular, tried to apply some logic to the situation to calm the debate down.
He explained that Dr. H is a recreational player who routinely loses a lot and San Man is a pro who wins a lot. While he would give the money back he thinks it is poor form to be chastising Dr. H on Twitter.
