4-8 at the Bellagio

I played my first ever live cardroom poker at the Bellagio over the weekend (after several hundred hours, mostly at 2-4 HE and O8 on Paradise) and I had a question about one of the few hands that I actually participated in, in part to check my thought process, and in part to guage the reaction of the other player.


The game is pretty tight/passive, and at this point, I've only played one or two hands outside the blinds, and my only showdowns were out of the blinds, so I haven't been showing anything wild.


I get As3s in the cutoff, 2 UTG limps, one MP limps, I limp, SB folds, BB checks. (Good/Bad/Indifferent?)


Flop is Qc 3c X, action goes check, check, bet, I call (G/B/I? - I took a card off because I thought there was a small chance I was best, and I was planning on taking a shot at the pot of the third club fell. BB calls, early limper folds.


Turn is a rag club. BB checks, MP checks, I bet (G/B/I? - I hadn't bet anything other than top pair or better at this point, and I was planning on folding to a check-raise.) BB folds, MP calls.


River is the Ac, giving me top and bottom 2-pair, but putting a 4-flush on the board. MP checks. Now what?

It's not the best call in the world preflop. I'd want to be able to raise to isolate 1 limper or steal the blinds, or a whole bunch of limpers to give me the right price. Won't kill you if you play well postflop, however.


The flop call is going to hurt you in the long run. If you truly think you are best, then raise to isolate and use your position, but in reality you have a small pot, a flushed board, and open yourself up to a check-raise. In addition, no queen is likely to lay down in this game. Clear fold.


On the turn go ahead and bet. You give yourself a chance to win because you are almost certainly in last or nearly last place right now, and you might get some better hands to fold.


On the river, the pot is big enough that I think you have to take a shot by betting (see how the flop call gets expensive?) You might get a smaller club to lay down and a real big club would probabaly have bet out in this game.

He's VERY unlikely to call with a lesser hand. He doesn't have a set. He MAY fold AQ and MAY fold a small stiff club (like if he started with Qh9c) but if he's willing to draw to it he probably will pay it off with it. Your hand has a lot of show-down equity which you pretty much abandon when you bet.


I'd check.


- Louie

(Checked to me heads-up with As3s on a Qc X 3c Yc Ac board.)


I was trying to think of what possible worse hand MP would call with, and couldn't come up with any, so I checked and showed Aces up. MP mucks, and sits there shaking his head and muttering something to one of his friends at the table. This is what kind of puzzled me, as I was wondering what he held - if he had a strong queen or a biggish pair, I figured him to raise preflop (he didn't). If he paired X, why is he still in after my turn bet? The pot wasn't large, and it's not like I had 22 and made a set on the river or anything...any thoughts?

My guess: He had the Q or two pair and was shaking his head because you called with very few outs. He is muttering to himself because you bet representing the flush when you only had a pair of 3s.


You were lucky he did not have a club and that he played so weak. Clearly, if he did not believe you had the flush, he should have raised. If he did believe you had the flush, he should have folded.


The only other possibility I see is that he hit two pair on the turn and called hoping to snag one of 4 outs, and then he was surprised that you were actually the one sucking out on him.


IMO,

Mojay