Another Hand from the 340 WPF No Limit

This hand came a little later in the tournament and I'm not sure if I did the right thing. I was in the small blind with about 8000. A very aggresive player raised from mid-late position. I had noticed that whenever he raised twice the big blind it was a steal, and if he raised more, he had a hand. This time he raised twice the big blind which was 600. The blinds were 150-300. I'm sitting in the small blind with 44. raise, call, or fold?


I called to see what the flop brought. The big blind came along as well. The flop came 533 offsuit. Should I bet or check?


I checked, BB checked and the raiser bet 600. What to do. Raise, call, or fold?


I called again. The BB folded. The turn paired the 5 so now the board was 5533. Should I bet or check?


I checked again because I felt that he would bet an Ace. He bet 900. What should I do now? Raise, call, or fold?


Results later.


Peace

Goodie

Even if he is on a steal you are at best 50/50 assuming he has 2 overcards or a bigger pair then you. I muck the hand.


It is not a bad flop for you. What you need to decide is does the raiser have a bigger pair then you or just big cards. If you feel he has a bigger pair then obviously you check/fold. I probably lead out the betting. Make it 600 and see what he does. If he makes a big raise then muck.


The issue on the turn is the same. If you feel he has overcards then you could lead out the betting or check/raise.


The advantage of leading out the betting is you can see how he reacts to your bet instead of you trying to guess where he is.


Ken Poklitar

I think that if you truly put him on a steal then the correct play would have been to raise pre-flop and hopefully take it down there. Once you see the flop you will either be badly beaten or a small favorite. This is especially true if this is the type of player who is capable of laying down middle pairs pre-flop. If he is not, and he also won't lay down big overcards on and after the flop, then I would suggest you either A: fold pre-flop or B: check/call all the way, and let him give you all his chips. Either way this is a high risk play and I would only do it if I didn't like my chances in a tourney. W/ 8000 in chips and the blinds 150/300 I would wait until I had more of the "best-of-it".

This is what i would have done...


callling with 44 to a double BB raise is not too bad of a price to see a flop. Tiny pairs are weak, but very very sneaky when you do hit.


When the flop comes 533, i'd bet right out with the 44 for a significant bet, perhaps the size of the pot. If you check on the flop, you should KNOW he will automatically bet regardless of what is on board, so that won't give you much information. If you do bet it, his reaction can tell lots about his hand. If he has a larger overpair, he will obviously raise your bet, in which case it will be easy for you to lay the 44 down. Check-calling is appropriate here >>ONLY<< if you're planning a checkraise-all-in semi-bluff move on the turn, as long as the turn is not an A or K. That takes balls and can cost you your stack.


If you bet the flop, when the turn comes a 5, you have some options now. You can bet it big, representing A5 or some other hand, and see what he does. OR, you can check and see what he does first. A check here is quite intimidating, because when you check, you can project to the player that you've planned on check-raising the turn. He may actually check behind you.

Perfect spot for a semi-resteal-reraise (to coin a phrase). Let's see blinds 150-300, he makes it 600, call the 600 and raise 1500 sounds about right. If he reraises, probably fold. If he calls, and then you flop 533, bet all-in. If he folds, woo-hoo ! You can consider showing your 44 to the table. No tough decisions on the turn for me :-).


It's an option. The best alternative is probably to fold pre-flop, but for 600 with a small pair you could call yes. As I said before, it depends on your opponents. You have a read that he is on a steal - OK let's go with that. No point having a read if you won't back your judgement ! Has anyone else re-raised these small-raise steals ? What did he do ? Does he think you are a tight player ? Will he put you on a big hand if you go over the top ? Many opponents will fold enough of their hands to make your bet of 2100 to win 1050 worthwhile. And that's not even counting the times you get called and win !


Just keep an eye on the BB, see if he is exhibiting any "play" tells, but if he respects you and is on the tight side then he's not a factor unless he has a monster hand. If you are going to add this play to your armoury, this is a perfect spot to do it. You read your opponent as weak ; you have enough chips to get away from the hand if necessary ; and you have a hand which is not dead in the water to anything and is 50-50 against a lot of even his stronger hands.


And finally, if you do it, he flat calls with 99 and wins the hand - oh dear how sad never mind. Don't blame me ;-)


Andy.

The call b4 the flop is fine. Understand that you're really trying to hit a set and double up, with the optional re-steal depending on the flop.


Play a little poker and check-raise this flop. Represent a 3. Pick up the extra money, it will come in handy later. If you don't win the pot right there, you're done with the hand. You're risking a total of about 2k on the hand to win 1200, on the chance that neither of your opponents has a piece of 5-3-3 rainbow. That's a good gamble.


Check-and-call is the worst option, as is often the case.


dangerous dan

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who is very envious of all you guys who got to play! he can't get to Foxwoods until next Wednesday, when he hopes he plays as well as he's been recommending in these posts /images/smile.gif

Well Dan I will be there late friday.


Back on topic, Dan's play is the best. You should call an check raise the flop, at which point you are done.


The reasons (in case not clear):


1) Just because he is on a steal does not mean he missed--it actually increases the probability that he hit that flop


2) You are in the blind calling a small raise. That means NOTHING. You could easily have a 3 (or 55 for that matter). He MAY be bad enough to call your check raise with AK, except if you believe he was on a steal then he does NOT have AK, so he would have to make a bad call with overcards like K-10 (or whatever junk you put him on). Even bad players will rarely make this call in this situation. AND if he does, you will probably get to check it down whether he hits or misses.