Would you think this is an Angle Shoot?
I was UTG in a tournament and raised 3.5BB. MP raises all-in with 5 BB. I thought the action was folded to me and announced call. Unknown to me, BB had not acted. He had his cards covered and took a good 15-20 seconds to act. He eventually calls.
I wanted to go all-in but thought BB would think I was trying to angle shoot him, so I just called. Flop comes Qc9d6d. We both get all our chips in. I have KK, BB has Q9o and takes all my chips.
If I had raised after BB called, would you think I was trying to angle shoot BB? Would it have been bad form if I did raise? I'm pretty sure the TD would have let me raise. I'm a regular and the TD knows how I play. I just thought it would be bad form if I did raise after announcing call out of turn.
3 Replies
I doubt he would have let you raise, because you raised it from 1 to 3.5, a raise of 2.5. MP then went all-in for an additional 1.5 - so that was not a legal raise. So even if you had said nothing, you should not have been allowed to raise. It is possible that the BB was thinking about that, and knew that you couldn't raise, and maybe wouldn't have called if he wasn't closing the action.
That being said, let's suppose that the numbers were different, and you were able to raise. I expect that if you said "Call" and the action didn't change (and I don't think it changes when someone else calls, but someone else can confirm or correct this) you should be forced to call. You would have to really plead your case to get them to allow you to raise - and if you did that, and I was the BB, I would argue that I only called because you had said "Call" and that if you were allowed to raise I should be allowed to take back my call. I doubt they would allow that, so they shouldn't allow you to raise. Would it be an angle? - I don't think you did it intentionally to angle, but if this were allowed it certainly opens it up to people intentionally angling. So I hope the TD would not allow you to raise, and his knowledge of the way you play should have absolutely no impact on his decision.
Makes sense. I need to pay better attention to the action.
there's no angle to be had here because you made a binding action when you said "call". Your concern is more applicable to a one-chip raise, but generally speaking I've never seen anyone angle in that way either. Most people understand the spirit of your intent so I wouldnt really worry about it. In fact the only angle I've ever seen in regards to betting action is that infamous ESL pro who said "raise" while throwing in calling chips and then going "oh erhm uhh i mean call, call, i mean call!" so that he was committed to a minraise when he had the nuts.
But none of this is remotely close to your scenario so I digress.
