Back when I was starting out on my Bad Beat Opt Out experiment last year, a good friend of mine mentioned that he would have done it himself, but when he found out that he'd have to have a "No" Button, he immediately changed his mind as he didn't want to draw attention to the fact that he was opting out/thinking more about the game than most players/etcetera. Many other players point this out as a negative, though I didn't really see it as that big of a deal. In my opinion, the vast majority of players that would have identified a variety of subjective connotations to me from seeing that visual cue, would have probably come to a very similar conclusion in an orbit or two's worth of play. The other night, it definitely worked out in my favor...
So I'm playing in my "Vacation Poker Room" just outside of the city. I've been there for a few hours, immediately before transferring to the main table I had just chipped up nicely to around $1,150 or so (this $1-$2 plays as $2-$5). After taking my seat on the main, another player joins from a different feeder table that I had come from. This player had won the deepstack afternoon tournament that plays once a month. He plays super aggressive & fearlessly, and during the tournament at least he had been running hotter than anyone (the hand he won the tournament, last man, and a bonus high hand all at once). Someone asked the question "What's On Bad Beat mean?", the dealer explains it, I say something akin to "it's me saying I don't want to buy a lottery ticket". "The Champ" and I talk briefly about opting out, and it's clear that he fully understood the idea before seeing me applying it in the game, as well as some of the Vegas casinos not having cash play anymore.
"The Champ" continues to run super hot, takes down several big pots including a boat over boat vs the table's most gambly player, and has continued to find success in leveraging his large chip stack into pushing players out before the river (this room is a VERY open poker game, top pair is seldom not willing to put their whole stack in). I lose one hand to the gambly guy, he showed I didn't. and maybe less than two orbits in I pickup 66 vs "The Champ" when it's his button.
$1-$2 NLHE $800~ to start the hand
66 from the BB, Button straddle to $5, SB straddle to $10, I open to $35, folded round to "The Champ" he calls (larger stack than me), SB folds. Heads up to the flop @ $80.
228 rainbow, I open to $70, he calls... $220 in the middle.
2289, I think this is a brick, and I'm expecting him to pressure hard on this street. If I make a reasonable bet here, the pot's screaming to him to go all in and I should have to fold. I check he bets $170, decision time right on schedule... Most of the time I'm expecting him to be holding some kind of face card combo with his pre & post calls. so long as the river isn't AKQ I think I can call my stack off pretty safely (J or T is a mindfuck though). I'll still have over $500 remaining if I have to let it go, so lets take a chance - Call. $560 in the middle...
22894, I expect this is a brick too. I check, he ships pretty quickly. I take a brief moment to be sure just in case I missed something. In this pause I recall our initial interaction and his understanding about opting out "but it's just a dollar", and coupled with his massive momentum on the day up until this point of course he's going to try and send the "No Bad Beat guy" back to wherever he came from, "how can he call?". He's definitely looking pretty uncomfortable, so I call. He tables KQ, and looks pretty disgusted that I have 66.
Maybe I'm crazy for thinking that this little button just chipped me up $800+$1, but I'm pretty sure that's just what happened.
