MovieChat Forums > A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966) Discussion > Bad strategy

Bad strategy

posted 10 years ago by marmac2768
4 replies | jump to latest

I have loved this movie for years!! However, for a bunch of card sharps, Ballenger and "the little lady" sure did screw up at the end. Whenever Ballenger came in and extended credit toward her and her hand, if he had just seen the pot and raised it $500 instead of going for a huge bit of $5000, they could have picked their pockets. You never want them to fold, you just go a little higher, bit by bit to keep them in the game for a bigger payout. It was obvious that Ballenger was going to stay all the way with the money of the bank behind her, but they spooked the "high rollers" out. Earlier, even Henry Drummond said that the pot was going to get bigger and bigger and bigger even if she was able to stay in the game. They could have gotten a lot more if they "had played their cards right".

[–] movieghoul 10 years ago

True, however neither Ballinger nor the lady are supposed to be clever poker players, so they reasoned it would be less suspicious to prod the others to drop. That's probably more than a million in todays money on the table!

[–] PreachCaleb 9 years ago

if he had just seen the pot and raised it $500 instead of going for a huge bit of $5000, they could have picked their pockets.

Unless everybody calls the same amount. Then all the hands have to be shown. If the Little Lady didn't have a good hand, she'd lose everything.

They did play their cards right. They didn't want to clean them out by that point. They wanted to bluff them into folding so they can take what's already there.

Greed has cost many players a good pot.

Can't stop the signal.

[–] amazon-189-743097 9 years ago

In the settling at the end it is mentioned the banker merely wanted back what was stolen from him many years ago.

[–] bizerta 8 years ago

Yes, Robards said the pot was going to get bigger. When Ford showed up with deep pockets, everyone's attitude probably changed and further raises were not likely. If Woodward/Ford had raised by only $500, at least one person would have called their bluff.

So, in order to scare the bejesus out of the other five, Ford needed to raise by a very high amount.