(Apologies to those of you who were looking for this in June 12. I had a computer freeze and lost the column — wow, now I lost it twice. I had better get this thing published)

I am back into a living and playing routine, finally. And I played a hand I want to discuss with you. It had some features that come up once in a while.

I was in late position with JhTh and raised after on under-the-gun limper played and everyone else folded. The big blind, a mediocre player, called and the limper reraised. So I had to decide what that meant.

Almost always it means pocket aces or kings, but sometimes it means he is tired of me raising a lot. Since I was a big winner and was raising a lot, I decided to give his bet a wider range. I also decided to 4-bet, partly for deception and partly to try to get the big blind to fold. So I reraised and, interestingly, the big blind suddenly capped it (one bet four raises in Vegas). The limp-raiser called, as did I. But what does this cap mean?

Again, it is generally a frustration raise. The guy is angry that everyone keeps raising, and he does not want to fold. Generally he has small suited connectors (76s type of hand) and feels he can get lucky. Of course, since it is a totally illogical play it could mean anything.

The flop came Q99 with two clubs. The big blind, feeling he had taken the lead with his cap, bet out. The limp-reraiser called (so much for AA or KK). I called as well. The turn came a 3s, putting two spades on the board as well. The big blind led again, and the other guy folded. I wonder what he did have? Anyway, my plan was to call the turn and raise on the river if I missed, since the bettor almost certainly had nothing.

However, the river made my straight with a king of diamonds. The big blind kept betting. Though I was certain I had the best hand, I made the possible error of calling. First, if I was terribly wrong, I did not want to face a three-bet with the board paired. Second, I wanted to validate my read, as it might come in handy to know for sure. Finally, I thought it might help me psychologically to have the guy show his nothing. I am not sure any of this is correct, and maybe I should just have raised.

Anyway, of course he had nothing, but he did pick up a spade draw on the turn with his 10s-8s, a kind of typical hand for some players for this sequence. And I am willing to bet he still thinks that if I did not draw out, he was going to win.