Three bets

[MRBAA]

5-10 stud at Foxwoods. I'm winning proudly at a fairly soft and passive table. Two limpers plus bring in and I close the action with a call of the $2 bring in with (K-As) 8s. I think that's a poor call, but I felt the number of players was right and my control of the game was right and no one had a card over a queen showing. On fourth I pair my door (K-A) 8-8 and bet $10, hoping to win it right there (my limp would be consistent with having started with split 8s. But instead I get raised by a competent but erratic regular showing Q-6 (suited). Hmmm, normally she'd have raised 3rd with split queens, but I'm wondering if she slowplayed them here (when they were high card showing). The other two players fold and I decide she might raise with a flush draw too, so I reraise thinking I can fold if she reraises or catches another suited card and bets into me. Sure enough she calls and I check fifth and she checks behind. On sixth I catch a king for kings up and bet into her board (she hasn't caught another suited card). I bet the river and she calls, then disgustedly shows me queens up and leaves the table. I can't justify my reraise on fourth, but did I really play this that bad?

[kelvin474]

MRBAA,

First of all, I think we can agree she has a 4-flush or can already beat 8's to raise there. Useful info to consider would be:

Have you seen her just call 3'rd with the highest pair? How live is her suit? Queens live? sixes even? This could help you Bayes' theorem your way into an idea of what she has.

I think you have an easy call on fourth street, if your king, ace kickers are live- you'll need two-pair to win if she has Queens or Queens and sixes. Don't forget to at least consider concealed trip-sixes, i suppose. this hand would perhaps timidly just call 3rd (though against the advice of 7csFAP) and like her hand a lot on 4th catching another 6.

A raise is bad against (66)Q6, (Qx)Q6, and (Q6)Q6, unless you think she'll fear trip-8's and let you get some free cards.

Against the four-flush, you'd be about even money I think (something at the beginning of the 7CS part of Super/System where Doyle talks about raising the crap out of somebody with aces, when he has a four-flush). In that case, a raise wouldn't be disastrous.

Overall, I will say you played it well. I don't hate the re-raise on 4th, as I don't think it's terrible against a four-flush, and although it's not good EV-wise against Queens or queens-up, it may earn you a free card if it makes your hand look more and more like (8 x)8 8.

A final thing I noticed: you were already heads-up when you re-raised. If you want to play the hand after getting raised, and there's somebody in-between you two, you might have to 3-bet them then in a shot at getting rid of them. Then I would hate a call. In the situation you described, I think raise/call is close (Andy B, is it close?)

-kelvin474

[bugstud]

a reraise isn't that bad against (Q6)Q6 if you but them on that on 4th, you can catch your A or K and be good here and fold if they hit. In any case, I actually like the call on 3rd, and all the play infact. Well done.

[Andy B]

I think the limp on third street is just fine, and I make limps like that all the time. You have a two-flush, and your call closes the action, so I make this particular call every time. I would also bet double on fourth and hope to buy the pot. When she raises, I don't know what the hell to put her on. If I had trips in her spot, I'd probably wait to raise. With a flush draw, I would feel uneasy about calling, let alone raising. With your hand, I would three-bet on fourth only if I thought that by doing so I could blow her off of her hand on a later street. I don't think that that would happen often enough to make it worthwhile. It might not have been a terrible move, but I think calling is better. Check-check on fifth is fine. Definitely bet sixth when you make Kings-up. She apparently doesn't have trips, so you should be good. Good river bet. Nice hand.

Split Queens is about the last hand in the world I'd limp with.

[MRBAA]

Thanks for the input. You all like my play better than I do. My three bet was to represent trips. She was erratic and capable of raising without trip sixes (which I was afraid of). I was surprised she limped the queens -- I think she was actually trying to play trappy and doesn't understand that queens are too easy to beat to do that, as this hand shows. Had she reraised, I would have folded right there. When she didn't, I was pretty sure my outs were good if she didn't hit another suited card. Of course, when I checked to her on fifth, I think she should have bet again.

[patrick dicaprio]

boy a soft passive 5-10 table at foxwoods. what are the odds? /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

the call on third street is routine in that game. when i was playing in the foxwoods 5-10 i would make that call every time with a twoflush.

i would have read fourth street as a free card play and not a slowplay of queens. with that in mind i think the raise is a good one it guarantees you a heads up pot and represents trips. she made a mistake calling on fourth. the rest of the hand is routine.

one thing that is interesting is that a play like this is why many people think there is a lot of luck in poker. did you get lucky? yes only in the sense that you set up the hand hoping to catch two pair higher than possible q's and you did so. she was probably complaining about a bad beat, but she brought it on herself.

Pat

[MRBAA]

Funny you should say that about her thinking it was a bad beat -- she left the table after showing me her queens up, I doubt she even noticed that I also had an ace in the hole or that both kings and aces were totally live on 3rd.