Have you ever been in a hand where you think you flopped the best, only to discover you were way behind and drawing practically dead to the actual nuts on the flop? I have; countless (and I mean that literally) times. In those situations, are you destined to lose a lot of money? I believe otherwise. Poker is a game of maximizing your wins when you're ahead, and minimizing your losses when you're behind.
This is a hand I played a couple of days ago, with Ah9h on UTG in a 6-max $0.25/$0.50 game. I raised 3xBB, and action folds to cut-off (CO) who calls, and the rest folds, 2 players to the flop. The flop comes Ac9d2c, giving me aces up. I decide to slowplay as I had been raising quite a bit in the previous hands, which makes this a good time to seem defensive. CO raises to $3, and I happily called. The turn comes 3h which is largely irrelevant, so I decide that my hand is relatively safe. I check, CO raises to $6.50, and I re-raised to $13, having about $14 left in my stack. He puts me all in, and I call only to see I was facing a set of deuces. The river was no help.
As you can see, I was way behind on the flop from the word go. With only 4 possible outs, I had only 8% to win the hand by the river. Yet, I thought I was ahead, and even tried to slow-play my hand. Could I have avoided losing my whole stack to this hand? Maybe. The set of deuces was extremely well disguised, and aces up is a tough hand to fold. I was blinded by the apparent strength of my hand, and disregarded the fact that my opponent could have caught a better flop than me. We can probably coin a new term here - Poker Blindness: A condition where you think you have the best hand without consideration to the strength of your opponents.
With hindsight, and without being poker blind, this would have been the best way to play the hand. The raise on UTG was correct, effectively pushing out most limpers, and drawing in one player to go heads up. CO flat calls a UTG raise, which shows some strength as he could be slow-playing big pockets (unlikely) or holding high suited connectors (JT), and small pocket pairs. Small pocket pairs are generally the best hands to limp in with as you could probably flop a very well disguised monster, while being able to fold if you miss. This is called set-mining. In very rare occasions would a set miner re-raise with small pockets due to the danger of being 3 bet and thus forced to fold.
The check on the flop was also correct as I could have the best hand, but when CO bet, I should have re-raised. If CO then goes over the top, it would be very apparent that he could only be playing with a set, AK and flush draw being very unlikely as he would have raised preflop with the former, and flat called with the latter. If CO decides to be tricky and calls the raise, I could then check the turn, and fold if he bets out strongly as a flush draw would very likely check the turn as well. Strange as it sounds, check-raising postflop would have saved me the most money.
The following hand illustrates an actual played-out situation very relevant to the current topic. I had pocket 8s on SB, in a 6-max 0.25/0.50 game. UTG had just sat down and paid blinds, so the inital pot without any bets was $1.25. UTG checks, UTG+1 folds, CO calls, button folds, I call and BB checks; 4 players to the flop which comes Kd5c8c, giving me middle set. Action is checked to CO who bets $1. I call to represent a flush draw, and the rest folds. 4c comes on the turn, and I check again to CO who bets $3. I flat called again, making the pot $10. River comes 3d, and I check once more to CO who goes all in for my whole stack of $21.25.
What would you readers do if you were in my position, and why? What do you think the CO had, and would you have played the hand any differently? Leave your answers in the comments section, or email me at entropically.driven@gmail.com. I will provide the actual hand and outcome in Part II of this article.
This is a hand I played a couple of days ago, with Ah9h on UTG in a 6-max $0.25/$0.50 game. I raised 3xBB, and action folds to cut-off (CO) who calls, and the rest folds, 2 players to the flop. The flop comes Ac9d2c, giving me aces up. I decide to slowplay as I had been raising quite a bit in the previous hands, which makes this a good time to seem defensive. CO raises to $3, and I happily called. The turn comes 3h which is largely irrelevant, so I decide that my hand is relatively safe. I check, CO raises to $6.50, and I re-raised to $13, having about $14 left in my stack. He puts me all in, and I call only to see I was facing a set of deuces. The river was no help.
As you can see, I was way behind on the flop from the word go. With only 4 possible outs, I had only 8% to win the hand by the river. Yet, I thought I was ahead, and even tried to slow-play my hand. Could I have avoided losing my whole stack to this hand? Maybe. The set of deuces was extremely well disguised, and aces up is a tough hand to fold. I was blinded by the apparent strength of my hand, and disregarded the fact that my opponent could have caught a better flop than me. We can probably coin a new term here - Poker Blindness: A condition where you think you have the best hand without consideration to the strength of your opponents.
With hindsight, and without being poker blind, this would have been the best way to play the hand. The raise on UTG was correct, effectively pushing out most limpers, and drawing in one player to go heads up. CO flat calls a UTG raise, which shows some strength as he could be slow-playing big pockets (unlikely) or holding high suited connectors (JT), and small pocket pairs. Small pocket pairs are generally the best hands to limp in with as you could probably flop a very well disguised monster, while being able to fold if you miss. This is called set-mining. In very rare occasions would a set miner re-raise with small pockets due to the danger of being 3 bet and thus forced to fold.
The check on the flop was also correct as I could have the best hand, but when CO bet, I should have re-raised. If CO then goes over the top, it would be very apparent that he could only be playing with a set, AK and flush draw being very unlikely as he would have raised preflop with the former, and flat called with the latter. If CO decides to be tricky and calls the raise, I could then check the turn, and fold if he bets out strongly as a flush draw would very likely check the turn as well. Strange as it sounds, check-raising postflop would have saved me the most money.
The following hand illustrates an actual played-out situation very relevant to the current topic. I had pocket 8s on SB, in a 6-max 0.25/0.50 game. UTG had just sat down and paid blinds, so the inital pot without any bets was $1.25. UTG checks, UTG+1 folds, CO calls, button folds, I call and BB checks; 4 players to the flop which comes Kd5c8c, giving me middle set. Action is checked to CO who bets $1. I call to represent a flush draw, and the rest folds. 4c comes on the turn, and I check again to CO who bets $3. I flat called again, making the pot $10. River comes 3d, and I check once more to CO who goes all in for my whole stack of $21.25.
What would you readers do if you were in my position, and why? What do you think the CO had, and would you have played the hand any differently? Leave your answers in the comments section, or email me at entropically.driven@gmail.com. I will provide the actual hand and outcome in Part II of this article.
July 31, 2009 at 3:32 PM
My guess...
1) He had 2 mid clubs (Prolly 9c10c or 6c7c)
2) Raises small on the flop to build the pot in case he hits a flush or straight flush
3) He hit flush but not straight flush on the turn. He did not raise too much just in case another clubs comes out on the river.
4) All in on the river? Why not?
July 31, 2009 at 9:28 PM
Topdeck:
Are you saying from 4) that you would go all in on the river in my position?
August 1, 2009 at 11:34 AM
I am merely guessing his hands, if I am in your position, I might fold.
August 3, 2009 at 8:02 PM
I find myself missing your latest post. When is it coming up?
=)
Playbook
August 4, 2009 at 3:24 AM
well, he had a semi bluff hand and made his hand on the turn.
presto!
OOP with agression with you calling both flop and turn, CO doesn't even consider your hand to be strong, if im CO with 67os or mini flush, i'll do the same
September 1, 2009 at 3:25 AM
Daniel probably said that right. He hit the K and made his flush on the turn or only a semi bluff. I think CO put you on middle 2 pairs.
I would fold when he puts me all-in.
But I probably will re-raise the bet on the flop with pot size, yes he might fold it and I only can took down poor profit,but the pot still gone to me. Else, if he called my re-raise, thing is getting clearly, and probably I can get max profit in this hand.:P
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