Interesting 1:1 Proposition

About a week ago I was involved in an interesting hand while playing $3-6 at Palace at about 5 am.


3 poor players limp, I limp in the cutoff with ATo, a loose aggressive limps on the button, SB folds, BB calls.


Flop is KQ3 rainbow. All check to me, I check, and loose-aggro checks.


The turn brings another 3, also bringing 2 clubs on board. All check to me, I check, and to my surprise the loose-aggro bets.


A key piece of info for this hand is that I have been playing against loose-aggro for a while and he will bet a flop if he has ANY PAIR or decent draw.


So on the turn when he suddenly bets, I am quite sure that he has precisely a flush draw with no pair. A lady who is very new to the game calls, and another weak player calls. I have no idea what the two callers have.


There are 6 BB in the pot. I have only 3 gutshot Jacks for nuts, but I believe my Ace-to-spike is probably good also. I don't remember if I had the club ace in my hand, but I don't think so, so let's make that 2 more outs. So, strictly talking best hand value I am only getting about 8:1 drawing odds but I also have some implied odds. Also, the loose-aggro will most likely take a stab at the pot on the river, so if the other two callers fold I can pick up the pot with ace-high. I call.


An offsuit 7 hits on the river and the first two players check. I check and loose-aggro bets. It gets to the new lady and we discover that she was actually all-in on the turn! I had not noticed this (it wasn't announced and I could not see her chips). Also, she is very easy to read and is now wanting to flip her hand up. I know she has at least two-pair the way she is acting. The other player folds to me.


I have no shot at winning this pot. But the loose-aggro's river bet is sitting neatly on the felt as a 1 big bet sidepot. I decide to go with my read, and believe I have a better than 50% chance of beating the maniac, so I venture a big bet out there and call.


He shows Tc5c for no pair, and my Ace high wins $6 /images/smile.gif


Jim Roy

n/t

Your getting 8to1 drawing odds but the pot odds don't reflect a call on your part at all. I think it was a bad call on your part. Your putting in 6 dollars at that time to win 24,which I am sure you know is only 6 to 1 for your money and like you said you need 8 to 1 to draw out. If it would have been heads up against the loose aggressive player and you had a read on then I could see you making that call,but not when two people call before you in which you have no read on how they play or what cards they hold. It my have paid off in your favor this one time,but in the long run it will cost you more money then what you will win by calling.

Remember that is only the current pot odds, there are implied odds too. I need to make 2 big bets on the river to break even. Based on loose-aggro's play I felt I could get a check-raise on the river if I hit the gutshot Jack. Alas, I also have a bit of negative implied odds if the Jack of clubs comes, because I will check and call. Still, just based on the draw I felt it was close to break even.


The main reason I called was because I thought there was a strong chance I could get the other two to fold (which was an error I didn't see until the end because the lady was all-in). Loose-aggro will bet the river, and I will get to see what the two weak players do before I act. If they both fold (as $3-6 players often do when they miss a hopeless draw), I win. I felt there was a reasonable chance of this occuring (enough that I may have called the turn with absolutely nothing). If one of them makes an obvious crying call (grimacing through clenched teeth and all) then I can probably blow them out of the pot with a check-raise.


It's hard to assign a dollar value to a possible future bluff. I thought it was worth a shot. And hey, sometimes I like to GAMBOOL!


Jim Roy