Two PLH hands

Here are two 5-10 PLH hands I played this weekend in Biloxi.


1.) With about $500 in front of me, I have Kh Ks in the big blind. Three playes in middle position call, the sb calls, I raise $50 more. Only the first limper calls. There are 2 players and $150 in the pot. The flop comes Jd Jh 6d. I bet $100. My opponent raises $200 more. I have $300 left. What should I do?


2.) I now have about $750 in front of me and get dealt Qs Qc utg. I raise to $40, and five people including the blinds call. The flop comes 9c 8c 4s. The sb bets $140, leaving him with about $110. The big blind, who has around $1500, calls the $140. Now it is up to me.


All comments appreciated.


Thanks,

Mike Watson

1) Fold. He has three jacks.


2) If you think that there is a good chance that the bb will fold then raise and spin with the sb for the balance of his money. Alternatively call and give him bad odds on the turn if the draws don't materialise. No - don't. You're winning - raise him up and make him pay.

1. unless you know the raiser is a rock, move in.


2. harder question. would not have raised before flop in that position, but since you did you now must either fold or move in. seems that if bb had AA or KK he would have reraised,since he did not, I would move in to knock out bb.

Hand 1) Move in unless the opponent is the rockiest of rocks.

I would be more afraid of him holding Aces.


Hand 2) Raise on the flop hoping to shut out the BB and getting

to see the next two cards.


Bruce

On the first hand I would re-raise all in. you are short stacked and there is at least a 50% chance you are ahead.


On the second hand I would fold and I wouldn't think twice about it.

1. Fold.

2. Fold.


You have to know your opponents very well if you want to commit your stack with an unimproved overpair in pot limit, especially if you don't have a short stack. For instance, with hand #1, if you know your opponent is capable of making this move without a jack, then you have a call. Regardless, you do not have a raise. For a typical player, a check-raise here means he's got what he's representing. In fact, a really good player would bet into you if he really had a jack. A weak player will check-raise, cause that's what you do with a good hand. So it gets back to what you know about him.


Without some kind of specific knowledge that tells you your opponent will check-raise you here without a jack, I believe you have to fold. Most opponents will not push an aggressive preflop raiser around with nothing. Until you find out otherwise, wait to fight another day.


Hand #2 is a little more interesting. If you were only facing the small blind, you might be willing to go with it, since he's a little short-stacked. But since the big blind smooth-called, unless you have some kind of specific knowledge on him, you should bail out very quickly. He either has a set or a bigger overpair. With a stack of $750, if you can't get away from QQ after only putting in $40, you should stay away from pot limit. The big $1500 stack just calls a pot size bet on the flop, you need to be worried. He's got his eyes on your stack.


JJ is the hand that busts the most players in big bet hold'em. Going from there, QQ is not far behind.


Unless these players are really really bad, you need to fold both these hands. If they're that bad, then you probably should have known what to do after about 20 minutes.


natedogg

Nate,


on hand #1 Mike is in the big blind and his lone opponent is the UTG limper. I don't think there are too many players you can fold against. UTG's most likely hand is a medium pockt pair, 88 to 10-10. AA is a possibility but thems the breaks. How many hands do you play UTG in pot limit that contain a Jack? not many. Also, if by chance UTG has a jack, why would he raise? I think what happened here is UTG put Mike on AK, AQ. That's a fairly common maneuver from the blind with multiple pre-flop limpers.

Yes, I guess I got the positions confused.


Hand #1, KK vs. a board of JJx, all boils down to what you know about the player. In principle, I go with the theory that committing your stack against an unknown player in the hope that he's bluffing is not a winning play in big bet poker.


You're absolutely right that he could be putting the raiser on AK and trying to push him off, and many players will make this move. However, when you get a lot of action with your over-pair against a flop with a paired paint on it, you are losing way over 50% of the time. In this case, you could even be losing to AA. If the player is weak, he could easily show a J or AA (which would indicate poor pre-flop decisions).


If you don't know the player, I say err on the side of caution, because a mistake can cost you your whole stack. But that's just me. I probably get pushed around a little too much during the first half hour of playing with new faces. However, I still have my stack and can make more informed decisions later that will double it up, which often happens. /images/smile.gif


natedogg

In hand #1 I reraised $100 more all-in. My opponent called. The turn was the As, and the river was the Tc. I turned over my pocket kings and he mucked his hand.


In hand #2, I moved in, the player behind me folded, the sb called his last $110, and the big blind folded as I had hoped. Small blind had the Ac 5c for the nut flush draw with an overcard. Neither got there, so my queens were good.


Thanks for all the help. I am very new to pot-limit play, and your comments are appreciated.


Mike Watson