I was recently playing in a no-limit holdem Texas Hold'em tournament. The mix of players at my table ranged from highly skilled to easy to read and control. The player to my immediate left (from this point forward referred to as "Lefty") was an unknown. I watched Lefty play a few hands trying to get a read on his playing style and skills, but most of the hands never made it to the river so I was unable to see his hole cards. Without this knowledge, I could not determine what hands he thought justified a preflop raise or with which hands he would make a stand. As play continued, we reached a hand with a pot-size bet on the flop and a reraise all-in. Lefty carefully evaluated the situation before tossing his hand. After the river, he angrily indicated that his pocket 8s and would have made a full house if he would have called. At that point, the alarms began to go off. I finally got some of the information I had been desperately trying to gather. Pocket 8s? Was he actually considering calling a raise and an all-in reraise with Pocket 8s and 3 overcards on the board? Time would soon answer this question.

As the tournament continued, and players began to be eliminated, you could begin to see the frustration and impatience setting in on Lefty's face. When someone raised him, he always assumed they were on a bluff or trying to steal his blinds. To the rest of us at the table, there wasn't anything unusual happening. It was a typical no-limit holdem tournament where it is rare to see a flop for the price of the big blind.

This brings us to the hand with the worst poker play I have ever witnessed. With Lefty in the small blind, play is folded around the table and he limps in trying to see a cheap flop with the big blind. Much to his disapproval, the big blind puts in a raise and Lefty calls refusing to let his blinds be taken once again. The flop comes 10-6-3 of different suits. Lefty tosses out a small bet, and the big blind moves all-in. Now here is where the worst play ever begins. With no hesitation, Lefty pushes in all of his remaining chips and turns over 9-2. 9-2!?!?! What could he possibly be thinking!?! The big blind turns over A-10 and Lefty needs a runner-runner miracle for his 20 to 1 long shot. He doesn't get it and his day is over. After the hand, I asked him how could call an all-in with that hand. His answer was that he was sure that he was being bluffed and felt like he had a 50/50 chance of catching a 9 or 2 to win the hand. With a 9-2, Lefty could have gotten away from the hand without even calling the big blind. He shouldn't have called the preflop raise or made a bet on the flop. And, without question, he should not have considered calling the all-in.

If you take only one thing away from this story, it should be that you cannot call a bluff with no hand. Even if the big blind would have moved all-in on a bluff with J-4, he would have had Lefty completely dominated. Patience is a virtue in poker. You must be willing to toss hands away for hours waiting for that 2 minutes of terror and exhilaration. If you can't, maybe bungee jumping or sky diving would be better choices for you.