Minimizing Losses Pt:2

First off, I'd like to apologize for not updating the blog the past three days. I have been involved in a crazy live poker schedule, and barely slept. To top it all off, I had to compensate for being away from work for a week; Yes, I do have a job!

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Now all that's out of the way, back to business at hand. The answer to the last hand posted was this. The CO had the flush on the turn, K high, and was trapping. He was probably also applying pot control, as there could possibly be an Ac out there, which might make a higher flush on the river. This was a great scenario to illustrate minimizing losses as it happens on both sides. To minimize losses on my end, I had to raise the turn, and fold the river. For the CO, he minimized (potential) losses by making a small bet on the turn, in case another clubs or paired card came on the river. Of course, in this particular scenario, I did not minimize my losses, and called the bet.

Pot control plays a huge role in minimizing losses. We have been talking about pot control so often, but what exactly is it? Pot control is when you know you're possibly ahead, but could be behind when the cards on the other streets come. Here's an example to illustrate this. This happened in a live game $2/$5, 8 handed table. I was on the button with 57o, and everyone from UTG folded to the CO who called. I had fantastic position here, and wanted to isolate the CO who has demonstrated that he was a loose passive player in previous hands, only getting aggressive when the opponent shows weakness. I raised to 4xBB, and SB folds, but BB surprisingly calls.

I have played with BB a lot, and consider him to be a solid player, which immediately made me wary for what he might have called me with out of position. BB had also been calling a lot of raises, so I put him on a wider range than I usually would. The flop comes 3d4d6d, which gave me the nut straight but placed a possible flush on board. I have a very aggressive reputation, and would usually place a c-bet, so action was checked to me. This would have been a very good opportunity to cash in on my reputation, as most players in a hand with me in that particular live game would generally call my c-bet regardless of what they had. However, this was also a drawback as they might outdraw me on the turn or river. This fact, coupled with the dangerous board called for pot control, so I checked.

The turn was a Qh, which may have helped either the BB or CO. BB checks, and CO bets half the pot, making it $35 to call. I call and BB calls, which makes the pot slightly less than $200. River puts a Kc on the board, which by now has me convinced that I have the best hand. BB checks once again, and CO folds without bothering to wait for me to bet or check (a strange move but a money saving one). I put a value bet of $125 into the pot, same as what I had been doing in previous hands with bluffs which was called down. BB called and mucked his hand once I showed my straight, and I took down the pot.

Would you readers have played this hand any differently? Let me know your views in the comments section.