Mirage 10-20: 7 Bets on Fourth Street (and possibly more)

[Dynasty]

Lots of action in this heads-up hand. My opponent in this hand is a Mirage 10-20 regualar who plays very well. He just might be the best of the 10-20 regulars. I haven't seen any substantial defect in his game.

The third street boards are:

(x,x)2c
(x,x)5d
(x,x)9h
(x,x)3h
(x,x)Js
(x,x)3d
(Ts,Td)8c
(x,x)6h

The 2c brings it in for the minimum $3. My opponent in this hand limps with (x,x)5d. Everybody folds to me. I raise with my pocket Tens. The 6h folds. The bring-in folds.

My opponent then rechecks his card, which is certainly unneccessary. He thinks for a few seconds and then calls.

The fourth street boards are:

(x,x)5d,Qd
(Ts,Td)8c,Tc

And off we go. My opponent bets into me. I raise. He 3-bets. I 4-bet. He 5-bets. I 6-bet. He 7-bets. It should be noted that we both have about $500 in chips in front of us so we are a long way from going all-in.

I had a definite thought process as I made each of my 3 raises to this point in the hand. I'll go into it when I post my results.

Would you have gone as far as I have so far?

Would you have stopped when my opponent made it 5 bets?

Would you make it 8 bets here?

And, of course, what are my opponent's hole cards?

[Andy B]

What can he have other than rolled-up Fives? Pocket Queens should have raised third street, unless perhaps he thought it was better to slowplay given that his pocket pair was higher than all the upcards out there. I would absolutely have made it six bets, and I would probably make it eight. If I didn't make it eight, it would be because I wanted to get a raise in on the more expensive streets. If he made it nine bets, I think at that point I'd back off.

[CJC]

Hi Dynasty,

My input goes as follows..

"Would you have gone as far as I have so far?"

Quite honestly, given that we are heads-up. I probably would have waited till the big bet to raise. Since you know this opponent better than I do, you probably ( like you said ) have reasons for playing it the way you did.


"Would you have stopped when my opponent made it 5 bets?"

At this point.. NO. I would have raised again as you.

"Would you make it 8 bets here?"

If this opponent is as good as you say he is, I can't imagine him SEVEN betting with anything other than 3 queens. I know this is very unlikely given your description of him, and the fact that he didn't raise third. But it is precisely times like this that the best players will get you. ( this would have been a good time to mix it up and slowplay pocket queens ) More than likely you are against rolled fives ( given that look again tell ) and are still ahead.. BUT, there are times against certain players that you just have to sit back and let them take control.

So to answer your question. NO. I wouldn't eight bet it here. I would just call and see how the boards develope.

It is interesting that both of your hands are suited-suited. Given your description of him, I don't think he would pound a big flush draw that much.

Before I can answer the last question I need to know...

What are his perceptions of YOUR play?
Does he respect You?

I'm going to give it a shot though..

"And, of course, what are my opponent's hole cards?"

Well we know he has 1 of three hands ( if he is as good as you say )

1) most likely.. rolled fives
2) Three Queens ( and this is what I'm going with... given your description and the seven- bet)
3) A big flush draw ( including AKQ )


Nothing else makes sense. and if he has something else. He is not a player to respect.

CJ

Excellent set up, Dynasty. For him to raise and reraise you here, I've got to think he has either pocket queens that just tripped up or rolled fives. I can't see a strong player ever playing a four-flush this aggressively, especially heads up against a strong opponent. I'd probably have skipped bet #7 fearing the queens. Once you reraise, he has to think it's pretty likely you just hit trips yourself and would be more likely to just call unless he filled, no?

Clarification: I meant your opponent would be likely to just call your reraise if he had lower trips than your showing cards.

[JTG51]

Well, I don't know anything about Stud, but I've got a couple of thoughts anyway. I'll give them for my own education.

First, wouldn't an excellent player put you on trip tens or rolled up 8's by your 4th or 6th bet? He still raised, announcing that he can beat either. I could see if he thought you were on a steal before the flop, but not by the 6th bet.

Second, if he has rolled up 5's, he was obviously planning on slowplaying, probably waiting until he can get in a big bet to raise. Why would he change his mind and suddenly go nuts on 4th street? Would the fact that it's heads up make him give up his slowplay?

Are my thoughts way off here?

Why couldn't he have Q5 in the hole? That would explain the limp. He could have put you 10's and 8's, that would explain why he then went crazy.

[SittingBull]

Q's up or a set of 5's.
I believe he would have re-raised on 3rd with pocket Q's.
So I would dump ALL my chips with a set of T's.
Even if he has a set of Q's, U still have a shot at filling if he doesn't.
If U and he have been locking horns in the past,he has a fix on your aggressive style. So, how he perceives U comes into play.
He's probably playing U for a flush draw or two pairs.

Happy pokering
Hope U took it down!
Sitting Bull

[Sooga]

Here's what I think happened:

opponent: I have a hand. *bet*
Dynasty: I have a good hand. *raise*
opponent: I bet I have a better hand than you do. *3-bet*
Dynasty: No, I have a very good hand and I think you're just posturing with a 4-flush. *4-bet*
opponent: What do you have? trips? I can beat that. *5-bet*
Dynasty: Can you beat 3 tens? *6-bet*
opponent: What do you think? *7-bet*
Dynasty: Hmm...

So I'm gonna bet opponent had trip Q's...

Wow, Bull, I'm surprised by your read. I'm with Sooga. If this guy's an excellent player, he's going to know Dynasty's a strong player, too and it's hard to see him making it seven bets with anything less than trips.

MRBAA maybe he thought he was playing against you instead of Dynasty.

the only hand he could have is rolled 5's. his checking his card is just a weak play at getting you to think he doesnt have much. if he has any other hand then he probably is not as good as you give him credit for.

as far as the play i might have stopped earlier with the raises if only because there is a chance you wont be able to get a raise in on the later streets. but i presume you thought of this also, so i guess you figured you could do both.

you have to be a big favorite here no matter what his hand is unless he limnped with pocket queens which is very unlikely.

Pat

[Dynasty]

Here's my thinking with each of his bets.

1st bet: He's got something. It could be as little as a four-flush or a pair of 5's with a couple overcard kickers. So, I think I'll get some action on this hand at least on the early streets.

3-bet: He's got more than a simple pair of 5's. If he's got a four-flush, it has 3 overcards to a pair of 8's (my doorcard). He could have Queens-up already.

5-bet. He's got at least Queens-up. A flush draw is no longer a possibility. Trips 5's is now a serious consideration. Things are looking very good for me in this hand.

7-bet. He wouldn't go this far with just two-pair. His minimum holding is now trip 5's. I hadn't really considered trip Queens an option but now it has to be considered. Let's find out quickly.

The rest of the hand:

When he 7-bet, I had him on trips and only trips. This player just wouldn't go so far with less than that. The only question left was whether he had trip 5's or trip Queens. I figured trip 5's were about 65-75% likely.

So, I made it 8 bets. The betting between us was taking place rather quickly to the enjoyment of everybody else at the table. He made it 9 bets without hesitation. At this point, I decided that trip Queens had moved ahead of trip 5's as his most likely hand and finally just called.

On fifth street, neither one of us paired our boards. He bet. I called.

On sixth street, neither one of us paired our boards. He bet. I called.

It was interesting that my board was now (Ts,Td)8c,Tc,6h,7s which meant that any 9 would give me a winning hand over trip Queens.

On the river, he looked at his last card and checked. I caught the 8s giving me a full-house, Tens full of 8's. I bet and he called.

My full-house was good. He had trip Queens.

I put in 9 bets on fourth street as a huge underdog.

[deadbart]

I wouldn't say you were a "huge" underdog - you win 28% or so /forums/images/icons/wink.gif.

[Pot-A]

I would have put him on three queens a little earlier. He would almost certainly have raised on third street with 5's and a facecard kicker, a little less likely with QQ.