NL Hand

Hello all,


I was at the Stardust in LV last month and I decided to jump into the Friday Night NL game. There was a hand that has been bugging me so I am finally going to post it here and let the more experienced NL players here respond.


Early in the session. No read on players expect the one on my left. 3 Handed at this point. I am Big Blind. Standard Stardust NL game with 1-2 blinds. I have $67 in front of me.


Player to my left folds leaving me and Small Blind. Small Blind raises $20 hugely overbetting pot.


I have AK off.


What's my play? ( He has me covered with over $200 in front of him )


Later,


CJ

Three handed, getting AK? If he can't play back with this, he might as well quit the game.

Oops, I didn't notice the part about 3 handed.


A fold is still not necessarily wrong. Three handed is a funny game scenario and nothing is cut and dry. Your move here totally depends on what has been going on in the game.


Unless the players have been over-pushing their hands preflop, you still have a fold in my opinion. If they have been very aggressive preflop, you have an all-in situation. I've gotten 1400 in before the flop with AQ in a three handed game (and it was good... until the flop that is).


However, in my experience, the best way to beat really aggressive short-handed no limit players is to let them take the $3 pot when they overbet by 10 times and wait until you have a hand. They always, always hang themselves eventually. And that means I like to wait til the flop so I can outplay them. If you get it all in preflop, the luck factor is on their side.


So, back to the problem at hand. If this guy is never raising preflop, fold. If he is overbetting a lot, you can easily commit, but a fold is not necessarily wrong since he's too aggressive and waiting until you see a flop together is the safer, surer way to get his money. There's only $3 in the pot, and you might actually be drawing.


natedogg

Wow Natedogg, you sure like to contradict yourself. Last week it was commit $1,400 with AQ against a drunken idiot, and now its fold AK against a likely tough player with only $67 in front of you.


Reraise him allin CJ. If he had AA or KK he would likely raise much less heads up and try to trap you. If he has a smaller pair, you are only a slight dog. If he has Ax (his most likely hand) you are a pretty decent favourite. That's assuming he calls you, which may not even happen.

Thanks to those who replied,


This was my first live NL ring game so ( obviously ) I wasn't really sure.


I decided it was either a ALL IN or FOLD.

I decided to go ALL IN and ran into pocket Kings and got no help from the board.


Here is another question.


What do you think of my opponents play?


He is Head's Up against the BB and overbets the pot by that much with pocket KK. ( $3 pot and raises it $20 ) There is really only 3 or 4 hands he is going to get action from! ( unfortunately I had one of them )


Later,


CJ

I don't like a raise that big at all in a heads up game.

Like I said, at first I overlooked the part where it was 3 handed which does indeed make a huge difference. Not only that, but it totally depends on the flow of the game up to that point. If he hasn't raised like this yet, I would still probably fold. If he's been speeding somewhat, or even a little, then it's obviously an all-in, and that's what I said.


Also, I merely said folding probably wasn't wrong, mostly due to re-thinking my position based on YOUR comments on the AQ hand. No kidding. /images/smile.gif


Anyway, I want to reiterate that the MOST important factor in this situation is how the flow of action has been up to that point.


Last thing: when I said that I think the best way to beat really aggressive players in short-handed no limit hold'em is let them have tiny pots that they way overbet and just wait for them to hang themselves, I still believe that is true.


My AQ situation is a little different because I had already put almost 300 into the pot. If my opponent had simply opened for 1400 with a pot of 10, I would have folded in a heartbeat.


With no limit, it can be very subtle and some situations which appear to be the same can be quite different.


natedogg

I could see you picking up 7-2 in that position, and if the stacks are very deep compared to the blind, making some huge-out-of-character raise. Of course, everyone in their right mind will fold unless they have Aces, Kings, maybe Queens, or AK, simply because it doesn't make sense, as Nate said, to tangle with that pot since you only have a tiny bit invested. Then, when they all fold, (or re-raise you), flip your cards over, and say, "Whoops, didn't work." The next time you raise, you will get action. I like that form of advertising. Getting caught with a bluff once in my PL game here has this one guy convinced I bluff every pot I'm in. He either calls me, or urges the rest of the table to call me everytime I bet. I love it.


Max