NL Hold'em - A big mistake I made today.

[JoshuaD]

I'm sitting in a small-stakes NL hold'em game. I'm one of the best players at the table, with two very weak players sitting.

.10/.25 blinds, my stack is about $23 deep. I'm in the CO with 2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif2/images/graemlins/heart.gif.

MP2, the player directly to my right, is a bad player sober. He's curretly very drunk. He was dead money, had just re-bought for $10 and had that in front of him.

Button, the player to my left, is a very strong player. Tends to be slightly LAG, he's also pretty tricky. He likes to get in cheaply to the flop like most LAG's do. His stack is about the same size as mine.

The hand is folded to MP2, the drunk, who calls. I call in CO. Button, the other strong player, calls. SB calls, BB checks.

Flop comes 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif4/images/graemlins/spade.gif2/images/graemlins/club.gif.

It's checked to the drunk who bets out $1. I raise to $3. Button re-raises to $8, both blinds fold.

The Drunk pushes all in, bringing the bet to me for about $7, the pot is around $21. I've got about $17 left at this point, the button has me just about covered.

So here's where I make the big mistake. I asked myself a few questions:

1) Do I have the drunk beat?

Yes. If he's got a higher set, I'm just gonna pay him. There's no point really thinking hard about this one, either I've got him beat or I don't, and I do a large majority of the time.

2) Do I have the Button beat?

I don't know. There was something about it that made me really afraid of 44 here. For whatever reason, I was scared that he had a higher set.

Eventually I decided the raise he plugged could be too many hands, and that if he had that higher set I was scared of, I would just pay it off.

So I push.

Button folds. Drunk flips up 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, my set stood up, I took the pot.

So my big mistake? Not asking question number 3:

3) I think I'm probably good here, so what's the best move for me to make?

Pushing may have been ended up being the right move, I haven't figured it out yet, but either way, I didn't ask the question. I was scared of set over set, I didn't want to get drawn out on, so I pushed. I didn't calculate the proper amount to bet. I didn't try to string along TPTK. I didn't try to minimize damages if he had that over-set. I decided that I was willing to commit all my chips to the pot, and pushed.

Not asking that question potentially could cost me alot of money. It's a mistake I won't make again.

Button told me later he had A9 with no draw, and probably would have mucked against any substantial raise I put in.

Anyway, I had never caught myself making this mistake before, so I thought maybe there are some 2+2'ers still making it as well.

Don't get caught making this mistake like I did. Ask all the questions you need to ask, don't stop half way.

[Ghazban]

Honestly, I don't think calling would've made you any money. If button is indeed a strong player, your smooth call of the drunk's all-in after having your raise reraised screams monster. A solid player will be more likely to call your push than to call if you smooth call as the push looks like you need to protect your hand while the smooth call looks like you want him to come along, too. In any case, if he did indeed have A9, there's no way he's coming along regardless. Against a poor player, just calling is much more attractive but against a solid player, the push is actually better as it might encourage two pair to call thinking you're just trying to protect something like TPTK.

Ni han

[frazwood]

[ QUOTE ]
3) I think I'm probably good here, so what's the best move for me to make?

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree that you should have asked this question, but I disagree that your best move was to call. That is, I think that you made the best move to push it all in.

There is the obvious flush draw possibility, plus a possible straight draw. What if the button had A /images/graemlins/spade.gif 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif? If the button played the Doyle Brunson/SuperSystem style, then I could see him making his raise. By re-raising, you protect your hand. You might get the button to fold, thus turning some of the money in the pot to dead money. If he calls, then you have the best hand and the pot-odds should favor you. Unfortunately, there is a third person in the pot; this almost would justify the button calling your all-in with just a draw (depending on the specific number of outs).

That said, I am a big fan of the Brunson style here. If the button is willing to gamble by going all-in on a draw, make him pay. Doyle goes on and on in SS about how to build a table image that scares your opponents -- the situation that you describe is a perfect opportunity to build such an image.

[JoshuaD]

Yea, I didn't mean to imply that pushing was the wrong move, just that I never considered calling or raising without pushing.

The mistake may not have cost me any money or sklansky bucks this time, but it was still a mistake.

[willie]

i really don't think this is a big mistake or even a mistake at all

protect your set and get it headsup- no need to get greedy.

[invast]

He is just saying he made a mistake by not considering what move would yield the most profit for him. He happen to make the right move, but that is besides the point.