Stud H/L/8 - Passive Calling with Rolled-up Trips

Very loose 6-12 hi/lo/8 stud game, with an average of 4 of my 7 opponents seeing every 4th street. This is a "kill" pot played at 10-20 (still $1 ante), with no forced bring-in because the killer has posted a full small bet. I am under the gun and pick up a very pretty set of rolled-up Tens. I choose to raise, because (a) the game is so loose that I expect about 2 callers plus the killer to stay, and (b) I might persuade some of the weaker low draws to get out, increasing my chances to scoop.


I get fewer than my expectation. One player showing a Queen cold calls my two bets, and the killer folds. I don't remember the other upcards, but both Tens and Queens are live.


I have seen the caller play for about an hour (never seen him previously), and my only impression is that he is in a lot of hands. I tentatively put him on split Queens, but he could easily have JJ or better in the pocket, or something funkier like a straight or flush draw. (I repeat, this game is loose.)


On 4th street, I get a blank and he catches a Queen! So I have <U>TT</U> T x and I am looking at <U>XX</U> Q Q.


He bets, I call. 5th street, blanks. He bets, I call. 6th street, blanks. He bets, I call. On 7th I do not fill. He bets, I call. (It was my intention to flat call even if I did fill - because of the possibility of Queens Full.)


To borrow a Louie Landale expression, I played this like a little girl.


You could make a case for either folding, or raising somewhere along the line. I liked my middle-of-the-road approach of simply calling him down.


Results later.


Comments?


Dick

results are you won the pot easily. the right play is to certainly raise on the river if you fill up. or even if you dont as you wont get reraised without queens full. in split pot its less likely he has trips when he pairs his doorcard as there are more hands a person may call with.

I think you played this right. The QQ board is really scary. This is a hand that is very dependent on your read. Against an unknown you have to figure you're dead, but if he may just have two pair, you can call him down. A lot of players will almost always automatically bet when they pair their high doorcard (and some with a low pair). If he is one of these you need to call.


The real problem with this hand is that while you are drawign to fill, if you don't the pot is too big to fold on 7th, so you need to make your decision on 4th, before the best get big. You could even raise on 4th when they are still small to see if you get reraised and then take a free card on 5th or 6th if you want.


So what were the results?


Paul Talbot

I'm thinking you won with your trips and he had a high pocket pair which became two pair with his queens. You were ahead the whole time, but it would be hard to raise. If he checked at any point other than the river, I would have bet. Put your self in his place and looking at you board, you'd bet and call any raise.


Maybe I'm not a good enough player but I wouldn't have rasied either (but I guess it is the right thing to do). Esp. when I am heads up like this you would have only made one extra bet, a raise would have put him in the check/call position you were in.

He turned over two Kings in the hole. I couldn't be sure which down card was his river card, but it's probably safe to assume that he had the pocket Kings from the start, and made 2 pair when he paired his Queen.


Thanks, guys.


Dick

If you raise on 4th and don't get reraised, why would you take a free card with trips later in the hand? Fearing a checkraise, perhaps?

If you are against someone who will always wait for the expensive streets to checkraise you could check behind sometimes and see what he does. Or if his board gets scary in other ways. I wouldn't recommend always going for a free card, but sometimes I would depending on the player.


You also might get the bet back when you fill on 7th and get bet into, allowing you to raise.


I think this hand is really player dependent. some people will just three-bet to represent trips every time.


The more I think about it though, if you played trips pretty aggressively every time, it wouldn't be too wrong (assuming you are against only a high hand). In this case I think Dick acted pretty reasonibly given what he thought of the other player.


Regards,


Paul Talbot