2 NL hands

2 NL hands, that occurred 4 hands apart, with th esame opponent. Curious as to whether you agree with my play.


Near the end of level 4, blinds are 30/60. I am the chip leader with 2,550. 7 players left, all with very close to their starting stacks except for 1 other at 2,000. I am dealt Ks Js second to act. UTG raises it to 160. He has 1,010 at the start of the hand.


Does anyone play here? (Call or raise?) I have no reason to believe he is trying to steal.


I mucked, but not easily, should this be an automatic laydown? Does my chip position enter into your thinking here?


Everyone folded to him.


5 hands later we are at 50/100 now, I am still chip leader with 2,190. I get Ac Jc in the cutoff. Same guy on my right open raises to 250. What would you do in my position?


I called. thought about raising, but not seriously. BB calls too.


*** FLOP *** : [ 9c Qc 5h ]


Pretty good for me. 9 clubs to the Nuts, and maybe an Ace is good. Player to my right goes all in for 760. There is 650 in the pot already. The odds for the flush alone are very close, so I called. Good or bad??


I hit the flush on the river. He had KK.


Two hands somewhat similar, but the second hand I had better cards, and much better position. Did I play them allright?

*Near the end of level 4, blinds are 30/60. I am the chip leader with 2,550. 7 players left, all with very close to their starting stacks except for 1 other at 2,000. I am dealt Ks Js second to act. UTG raises it to 160. He has 1,010 at the start of the hand.*


Just about every poker author in the world has sited KJ as a "trouble hand" at one time or another. This is especially true in NL. I would NEVER play that out of position unless my opponents were really tight passives and there was no raise in front of me. Don't think twice about throwing that junk away.


*I get Ac Jc in the cutoff. Same guy on my right open raises to 250. What would you do in my position?


I called. thought about raising, but not seriously. BB calls too.


*** FLOP *** : [ 9c Qc 5h ]


Pretty good for me. 9 clubs to the Nuts, and maybe an Ace is good. Player to my right goes all in for 760. There is 650 in the pot already. The odds for the flush alone are very close, so I called. Good or bad??*


First of all, you have to put more pressure on him from the beginning of this hand. I would have probably raised or folded here (obviously, fold to a rock). As the chip leader, you need to be putting serious pressure on this guy, because it may be likely that he is making a move at the blinds. In little tourneys, you can't really afford to be folding hands like AJ suited pre-flop, anyway; the blinds are moving up very quickly, and you need to control the table while you have the lead. I would have probably put him all-in hoping that he would fold, but would feel good about my situation if he called.


After the flop, he bets the pot (BTW, the pot was 750 if there was a raise of 250 and two calls pre-flop). He's laying you 2-1 odds here which is a 50-50 proposition with a four flush and TWO cards to come. Then, if you factor in 3 outs for an ace you are looking at 12 outs. Calling his all-in is profitable from a purely statistical point of view. But, additionally, you MUST give yourself opportunities to eliminate players because, as you know, the money goes to the top places only. In a nutshell, you call was a good one. /images/wink.gif


-Marlow

The KJ is an easy fold. The hand itself is a shaky proposition, and your position is the worst possible.


A key idea is that you have bad position not only relative to the button, but also relative to the raiser. If a couple of people call behind you and the raiser bets the flop, as they often do, you are caught in the middle.


I mention this because it applies even when you're in late position, e.g. on the button, after three people limp in and the cutoff raises.


As for the AJ, I think you ought to reraise preflop. The cutoff could be on a weaker ace or a middling pair, and you might be able to win the pot right there. If he reraises you can put it down I think.


After the flop, you might be winning, but more likely you have between 9 and 12 outs. If you've got enough chips to be able to afford the draw, take it. Win the pot and coast to an easy first place!


Guy.