Who's Drawing Dead?

[sam h]

Here's an interesting one I just played.

Stars $20 NL, early on. Blinds 25-50. I have 1800, opponent has me covered. I raise QQ to 200 in MP and get called by the BB. Flop comes AAA. He checks, I check. Rag comes. He bets 150 and I call. Another rag. He checks and I underbet 400 and he calls. My hand is good.

Basically, unless he had a king, one of us was drawing dead. I was pretty sure my hand was good all the way. But I wanted to induce a bluff or a call. Could I have made more money playing the hand differently?

[DoctorJ]

Here's a question for you - rather than thinking about how you could make more money on this hand, my first thought was, "What do you do if he raises you all-in on the river?" Unless you had an incredible read on him, I would not have bet the river at all.

If I have A8-suited here (a hand many people in a $20 tourney might call with from the BB), I might play the hand exactly as he did to the river to try to induce you to bet the river. The only question would be whether or not to bet 150 on the turn or check, and I think it actually makes more sense for him to bet the 150, so you put him on a steal or small pocket pair rather than the Ace.

Just a thought...

DoctorJ

[sam h]

I would probably have folded to an all-in on the river, because this player did not seem to be tricky enough to bluff their whole stack in that situation. Against a very aggressive and tricky player, a check behind on the river may be better.

[ohkanada]

I would likely bet on the flop. You raised PF so a bet doesn't scream an Ace or even a big pair. You of course are hoping he has a decent pair and he feels you are pushing a smaller pair or a King.

Ken Poklitar