76 in bb

[Tommy Angelo]

Just back from playing a full $20-40 game for six hours. ::: yawn ::: I read an entire Discover mag, and an entire Science News mag, so I'm all caught up on the Mars thing, and orcas that are eating up all the big mammals now because we ate up their tuna, and tube-worms with life-spans of 250 years that live next to thermal vents on the ocean floor. What else. Oh yeah the game was way too loose for my taste. Everyone was gambling and being excited and I was wishing I had a laptop. This one hand was kinda funny. I had 7-6 suited in the big blind and nobody raised. Bastards. I hate it when they suck me in like that. Sure enough I flopped openend with a flush draw. The small blind bet. I hadn't been in this late in a hand for a while and I had forgotten how to act respectfully so I went ahead and raised. The next player made it three bets, everyone in between folded, the small blind called two cold, and I called. The turn was a blank 2 and now the board was A-9-8-2. Check check check we did, on the turn, and again on the river after a queen came. Small blind turned over 33. I mucked. The flop reraiser showed 44 and took it down.


Tommy

[bunky9590]

Classic stuff Tommy.

Three betting with 44.

I hope you send him a holiday card and put GPS on him to follow him around.

[elysium]

hi tommy
that's the stuff man. that's exactly how to play that hand. gee, it's good to see that thing played right. tommy, you fired when it was absolutely correct to do so, and you got out when it was correct to do so. tommy, i've never....this is the first time i have ever seen that hand played right. and the thing is, the way you played it tells me that you planned every move made well in advance, with a lot of thought.

now you see this people. do you see how tommy is in there punching when his feet are planted? see how he raises to limit the field? tommy isn't looking at his cards, he's driving out with his outs. tommy knows this hand will weaken on the turn, so he drives out, he drives out up front. and he does that with his outs. nothing but outs. he may have gotten a turn free-card which is exactly what helps to shore up this hand's strength as it weakens. even if he completes his straight, it could easily be counterfeited or, less likely, bested. if the river rags, his straight could be the nuts, but not the flush should he have hit it on the turn. also, do you see how tommy raises knowing that he's going to hate this hand as it develops or fails to develop. however, also notice that although tommy hates this hand on the turn and river, he is still liking that he loaded it up when he did. is there ever a time on that board in this situation that you should bluff? never. these guys are calling. tommy tied them to the pot early because tommy might hate this hand on the turn and river, but he hates nothing more than to bluff when river gravity makes its grim collection.

river gravity made a call sucking black dark poker hole out of hand whose number of outs once took tommy both hands and a foot to count. you never bluff these, and tommy didn't. in fact, his flop raise was also made so that he didn't even need to consider bluffing at it. tommy saw that his hand, that once had as many outs as there were once great tuna in the sea, alas had become a little mammal among the hungry whales. tommy goes home and is greeted by his little dog fluffy, who jumps up happy to see his master's return, having no understanding of cards, whales or tuna, for that matter, but in this way, still nevertheless, reminds tommy that there is in effect a fifty dollar fine for anyone bringing a dog to the beach. looking at it like that, he and fluffy are still ahead.

[Festus22]

I type this with the image of walking into the Great Hall of Oz and am confronted with fire and brimstone and this floating disembodied head. Trembling with fear, I manage to squeak out a question "Why raise here? Thinning the field doesn't seem like a good idea to me".


Hey, what's that behind that curtain?

[beerbandit]

Maybe..

But think the $40 call by 33 was much better.

[Tommy Angelo]

"Hey, what's that behind that curtain?"

Just like in the movie: the simple truth.

One effect of betting and raising on the flop is that as the reactee I gain a head start in figuring out who may or may not have what. Another effect is that fearlessness combined with constant folding promotes fear, which equates to powerful advantages on the turn and river. Another effect is that shameless strangeness promotes fear as well. Somewhere toward the bottom of this list is the simple truth that betting and raising on the flop gives opponents an opportunity to fold. But that is not a reason to raise. It is merely another consequence. Raising the flop comes with its own merit. The power is unseen, like the wind, but like the wind, it is quickly felt and recognized by those whose houses have been blown down before.

Tommy

[Duke]

I'm beginning to understand your hand selection better. If you can't hit a 21 outer with 2 shots to get it, I see why you don't worry about those maths and err on the side of mucking.

You run bad.

~D