Be gentle on this play -- It was my birhtday!

I'm in a Limit Hold 'Em tournament and playing some of the best poker of my life -- I'm not always getting the cards, but I'm seeing everything perfectly. Our table is down two players when we get replacements.


A Yahoo sits down to my left and I know I'm in for trouble. This guy has a goofy hat with about 4 dozen pins in it and immediately starts commanding attention. The first thing he does is reach across the table to another players "chip guard" and ask her what it is. Then he asks another player where her t-shirt is from. I remain cool and try to get a bead on his play: he's typical, he acts agressive and confident when he has bad cards and acts cool when he has the goods. He bet UTG and when it is folded all the way around asks, "Every one is folding against my 7,2 offsuit? Well I'll be." He will also try and steal the blinds when in late position and it hasn't been bet. He'll also guard his blinds at any cost.


I am in the SB and play is folded around to me. Blinds are $50, $75 and betting is $150, $300. I toss in a $25 chip and the Yahoo calls. I have 5h,6h. The flop comes Ah, 5s, Ad, giving me two pair. I have a good read on the Yahoo and I know he doesn't have an Ace -- call it whatever you want, but my playing skills have put him on absolute garbage. I decide that I will call and check-raise if given the opportunity, which is what happens. The Yahoo calls me smoothly and I know that indeed he has no Ace. The Turn comes with a 10h giving me two pair with a flush draw. I decide to use the same strategy as I know the Yahoo will again bet if I check. He bets and again I check-raise. He calls. The River comes with a 8c. I check, he bets, I call.


I'll release the results a little later, but upon review, I think that I didn't need to even be in this hand. At the start, the only thing I can win is $75! I've made a couple of sweet plays against the rest of the table and they respect my play, but this guy hasn't seen me yet. Any other player without an Ace should have folded when I check-raised twice, and this guy didn't. So what do you think?


1) Should I have mucked pre-flop?

2) Should I check-raise or just bet? Or should I have folded?


What do you think about playing heads up in this situation?


Thanks!

If you have high confidence in your read, you must go with it. If you turn out to be wrong with your read, then you know you must get better at it.


If this guy had no A, no 5, no T, no pocket pair and hit the 8 on the river to beat you, so be it. You got him to put in double bets with the worst hand, and then lost 1 bet after he hit. Them's the breaks.


Again, assuming he rivered you, the lesson here is some people are more inclined to fold to a check-raise vs. a bet, and some less inclined. If you want them to fold, consider which they are likely to be.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

First of all yes you shouldnt have even bother to play that hand. Second of all you were beat by and A,10 or 8. Not to mention a pocket pair bigger than 5's. This is exactly the kind of garbage this guy would be playing with. You should have backed off once the first check-raise didnt scare him.

I have not looked at the other responses yet, so here is my real answer.


Your preflop call is automatic, even with absolute garbage you have to call. You are getting immediate 5:1 pot odds and more in implied odds since you feel he is aggressive. Pretend to look at your cards and throw that chip in.


The flop bet is fine.


On the turn, I don't like the check-raise. If you feel this guy will defend his blinds with nothing then he is not the kind of opponent who will lay down a hand that you don't already beat. So you are check-raising for value with a vulnerable hand that could be easily repopped if he does have an ace or even a T. So, your semi-bluff move is useless, if the other player will not lay it down often enough. Given the description of the player, I would have bet again since I picked-up a flush draw and maybe checked if not. I'd rather let him bleed his chips away if he indeed is on a bluff.


Also, you said he acts cool when he has the goods which is exactly what he is doing here. You said he is aggressive with nothing. So, shouldn't he have something here?


Given his type, I would have checked-called the river.


Nicolas Fradet (ThePrince)

1st of all you don't tell us any stack sizes which makes a huge difference.


2nd of all it is bad to focus on one player for the reasons you state.


1) I wouldn't have mucked pre-flop. It only costs an extra 25.


2) The problem of course is that even if he doesn't have an ace or a better 5, he could have a slightly bigger pair in his hand or he probably has 2 overcards to your 5. So assuming your read is correct, how will you know if he hits his overcards? I think your stack size makes a huge difference. Why spend a bunch of chips on 2 ugly pair with no kicker. If you choose to play it, I think I checkraise the flop and lead the turn betting.


Ken Poklitar

Thanks for your response. Turns out he had 5c,8d and beat me on the River with two pair, Aces and Eights.

I am assuming this is a misprint. If he A5 then you were beat in the flop (albeit likely to end up splitting as you would have by the turn) because he had your 6 outkicked.


I agree with most of what The Prince said. You have to call preflop, you may flop big.


One thing I disgareed with related to a point Sklansky made in HFAP (I think). When you pick up a flush draw on the turn you DONT want to bet (As Nicholas suggested). The reason is that you wont fold when raised because you have "outs." If you miss the flush draw you can bet because if raised you can probably fold.