2/4 Party - burned by unnecessary trickiness

[Brannigan]

First hand played, the button has just passed and I'm in the CO seat.

I'm dealt 8/images/graemlins/club.gif9/images/graemlins/club.gif. UTG limps, folded to MP+2 who raises, I call, Button folds, Blinds and UTG call and we're 5 handed.

Flop comes 9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif,7/images/graemlins/club.gif,6/images/graemlins/club.gif.

Blinds and UTG check, MP+2 bets, and I raise it again. Blinds fold, UTG guy flat calls, MP+2 calls.

I raised it to make it look like I had a pair of 9's or a one gap straight and I was trying to protect myself against the flush. I wanted to isolate the hand against MP+2, who I put on having a high pocket pair or overs due to his preflop raise. Thing is that I'm still drawing against a high pocket pair and my trickiness will only pay off if I hit the flush or crap straight. Not only that but only a blind man wouldn't see the board and my play could easily turn it into an expensive draw if he has what I think he does. If he doesn't have what I think he has, I'm in even worse trouble.

Turn is A/images/graemlins/club.gif, this makes me a bit happy. It's checked to me and I bet. UTG folds, MP+2 smooth calls.

River is a rag that has no significance, we'll just put it down as 2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, checked to me, I bet, MP+2 raises, I raise again, MP+2 hesitates and finally calls with 10c/Jc.

I figured he had AA in the hole, Au/Kc, or A/9. I honestly didn't think about a higher flush possibility until I reraised.

I made it both more expensive for myself and kicked out some potential profit. I'm a bit disgusted in how I thought I could be tricky with a very transparent board.

I need to slow down and start thinking.

[Lost Wages]

You made the right play but perhaps for the wrong reasons. You have a huge draw plus there is an excellent chance that you already have the best hand. You do have top pair after all.

Raise the flop to protect your hand. If you get a bunch of callers that's fine too. You are in a win-win situation; folders gain you pot equity (you have read SSH right?), callers make you money to because you are going to win this hand way more than 50% of the time. The river reraise is fine, don't sweat the results.

Lost Wages

[lil']

Looks like you posted before the hand, so playing it seems OK.

The flop is great for you. You're ahead here most of the time, and you have many outs to improve. You raise the flop to A) Protect your hand (it's a good flop, but you only have a pair of nines so far) and B) get money into the pot with the likely best hand. There's nothing tricky about raising the flop here. It should be standard procedure.

The rest of the hand is also standard, including re-raising the river. I would not put him on a higher flush either.

[Brannigan]

I see, so I did the right thing by accident. I haven't read SSH yet, so it looks like a trip to the book store is in order.

I've read Poker Theory, some other book on online poker (can't remember the title or the author, gift from the gf, very basic), and I'm still working on Super System. More studying in order, whee!

Thanks to both you and lil for explaining your reasonings.

[pokerkai]

The best hand and the best draw make money in poker.
In this particular case, you are pretty much assured of being one or the other, and in most cases, both. It is definitely in your best interest to raise on the flop.

You just got caught by a big hand.

[cardcounter0]

"I raised it to make it look like I had a pair of 9's or a one gap straight and I was trying to protect myself against the flush."

???????

Please explain the trick to me. You DO have a pair of nines, you have an open ended straight, and if you had a good flush draw, raising would be the correct thing to do also.

So you were trying to trick him into thinking you had almost exactly what you actually had?
/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Brannigan]

yes, i was trying to trick him into thinking that i had a pair of nines and i was scared of the flush (i've seen people protecting top pair on a scary board and i wanted to emulate it). i wanted to hide that i was drawing to a straight, a flush, or a straight flush. if a club hit, i was hoping to induce a flush bluff for an extra bb or two. same with any 5/10.

i hope this helps. not to worry if it doesn't though, sometimes i confuse myself as well.

[StellarWind]

If the 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif was the A /images/graemlins/heart.gif, then I would call the flop in hopes of getting lots of overcallers for my draw. I know that I live or die by my draw and I cannot expect to win by thinning the field.

If the 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif was the 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif, then I would probably raise because PFR might have something like AK. I might win by making top pair of eights or nines. Knocking out other eights and nines and overcards that might redraw to a bigger pair seems more important than building the maximum pot.

With the actual 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif it is mandatory to raise. My top pair is already here and I want to crush as many overcards, gutshots, and other weak draws as I can. This weak made hand must be protected because it can win unimproved.

I am ambivalent about the river. Against an idiot I would reraise and sort it out later.

Against a decent player this may be wrong. The river cannot help a PFR. Therefore he slowplayed the turn and maybe the flop too. It is difficult to believe he would do that with a 1-pair hand against this board. Even a set of aces or nines is a stretch. What makes perfect sense is K /images/graemlins/club.gifQ /images/graemlins/club.gif or any other two high clubs that he likes to raise with.

It does not help that you are giving 2-1 odds with the reraise. You are lucky he only had a jack. Usually his flush when he has it includes the K /images/graemlins/club.gif and you will have to call a cap.

[toby]

Which book is SSH?

[AliasMrJones]

[ QUOTE ]
Which book is SSH?

[/ QUOTE ]

Its hard to believe there is someone here who doesn't know...Small Stakes Hold 'Em by our own Ed Miller. Hot off the presses about 2 weeks ago. Drop by the Books and Software forum and you'll see roughly 1,500,000 posts about it.

[toby]

I'm embarrassed. My excuse will be that it's only 2 weeks old, even though that's embarrassing in itself. Sorry Ed and 2+2er's! I'll pick it up asap.