What would you do (hand/action survey)

There’s been some back and forth about Acespade’s advice on RGP that I’ve been monitoring, so I thought I’d ask 2+2 folks what strategy choices they would make.


These are all based on a low-limit game:


1) Early position player at 9-player table opens with a raise, all fold to your BB hand of 86s. Would you defend this blind, and under what specific circumstances?


2) UTG raiser, who you reraised pre-flop check-calls the flop of JQT rainbow. Turn was 9s, putting a two-flush on board. UTG reraises you on the turn (you have Ah 8d on the button). Would you have raised originally with your straight?


River is Qs. UTG bets. Would you raise, call or fold? And what hand(s) do you put UTG on?


3) All fold to your SB of Q5off- what is your action, and what kind of player would the BB have to be for you to take that action?


4) You are in the BB with a free play holding 5c 3h with 3 other callers. Flop is Ac 4d 5s, the small blind bets into the field. Do you raise here?


Your call leaves you heads up. Turn is Ah, SB bets again. What is your action? What hand(s) do you put the SB on?


River is Jd. Small blind bets again. Once again, what is your action, against what type of player (loose, aggressive, etc)? What hands could the SB have?


Thanks for the input

Easy E

1) I would defend based solely on the play of the raiser. But as a "concrete answer" against an unknown I would muck ~%95 of the time here.


2) Doesn't make sense as no one would 3 bet an UTG raiser with ace-rag. Neither does the turn play (reraise). Rewrite it.


3) I would fold this ~%98 of the time, only exception being where the big blind is a person who never defends his blind of course. I need a much stronger hand to try to steal from the small blind.


4) Tough one. Against a typical loose passive LL opponent I would call the flop and fold on the turn. Against a trickier, more aggressive opponent I would probably call the flop bet to be honest in most cases, and see what happens. If the rest of the field folds I would raise the turn bet and fold to a 3 bet - of course, a good player would realize that another aggressive player would raise on the flop to protect a vunerable ace. If just called on the turn I would check behind the SB on the river, as most LL opponents will not throw away a show-downable hand for one more bet on the river. The best case is that the SB is wildly flailing away hoping you'll fold with 76 - unlikely though. A turn raise would probably make him muck better hands than yours, like 88 or a better 5. Calling on both the flop and turn, where your 9 outer has likely been turned into a 0-4 outer, is a terrible mistake. Naturally you should be shot if you call a bet on the river.

1)fold... not enough people in the pot to defend a hand like that


2) i don't get it. why call two bets on the button with A8 unsuited?


3)fold the sb. wait for a better oppurtunity.


4)raise and try to get a free card. if you're re-raised, call to see the turn. after that you're done if he bets.

1) More often than not I would muck except if I was getting continually bullied then I might call/raise.


2) yes, call, hard to put on a hand but I got a felling I'm gonna lose this pot.


3) Need more info (i.e. how much to complete - if a 3-6 game where small blind is only $1 then I'd probably muck if no chop). This is a "seat-of-the-pants" hand IMHO anyway. Gotta mix it up, but if it costs me 2/3 of a small bet I'm likely to muck.


4) Raise?!? This is a low-limit game, right? Game likely too loose-passive for a raise to accomplish much. Next question: muck 70% of the time, otherwise semibluff raise and muck if reraised. I put him on having me beat 80% of the time, perhaps overpair or an ace set. If a tricky player maybe just 2 major overcards. If I made it to the river I'm outta there if he opens. Too many hands beat me, but I'm gonna guess a big pair of aces or maybe something like a big jack pair.

Too much HU play, too tight and too aggressive.

1) fold, IMO it's not a blind steal from EP

2) depends on player -- if no info. fold turn as most LL are weak

3) fold, unless I've busted the guy out on a blind steal with AA, or KK

4) raise/fold decision on the flop which makes all other decisions easy -- if I raise and get called on the flop and then SB bets out the turn, it's an easy fold, otherwise I bet the turn. If I get to the river, I'm checking it through as any worse hand folds.

1) Fold

2) Don't play this hand. Too easily dominated.

3) Borderline raise, depending on opp. Would like 5 to be higher, like a 9, then easy raise. Would like BB to be tight/passive.

4) Fold on flop. Aces are widely played, so second pair is likely no good. You only have a 1 card draw, and it isn't to the nuts. You could be drawing dead, or close to it, and at best playing for split of pot.


On turn, fold. SB led the flop betting into 4 opponents, so if he's sane, he has something. The flop wasn't 2 toned, so it's hard to see him betting something worse than your hand.


On river you might consider calling, since only need 1/6 chance to break even. But should have gotten out long ago.


Call, call, call is no way to play poker.

1) Early position player at 9-player table opens with a raise, all fold to your BB hand of 86s. Would you defend this blind, and under what specific circumstances?


I would fold unless I want to either make a variance play or make a stand against someone who gets out of line.


2) UTG raiser, who you reraised pre-flop check-calls the flop of JQT rainbow. Turn was 9s, putting a two-flush on board. UTG reraises you on the turn (you have Ah 8d on the button). Would you have raised originally with your straight?


Let's just say I've played poorly on every street so far.


River is Qs. UTG bets. Would you raise, call or fold? And what hand(s) do you put UTG on?


Since I've come this far with this piece of crap, I'll call on the end, but I don't expect to win too often. Most of the hands I'm shown will have a K, some will have a Q, and a few more will have spades.


3) All fold to your SB of Q5off- what is your action, and what kind of player would the BB have to be for you to take that action?


If I'm at a chopping table, I'll do that. If not, fold. If the BB is the type to fold too much in these situations, then I might try the steal, but he had better fold 90%.


4) You are in the BB with a free play holding 5c 3h with 3 other callers. Flop is Ac 4d 5s, the small blind bets into the field. Do you raise here?


No. The only reason to raise is to represent an A, which the SB probably has.


Your call leaves you heads up. Turn is Ah, SB bets again. What is your action? What hand(s) do you put the SB on?


I figure that I need the straight to win. The odds aren't there. Unless the guy is a real wildcat, he should have Ax or better. Sometimes he'll have 99 or something, but even then I don't have outs enough to draw.


River is Jd. Small blind bets again. Once again, what is your action, against what type of player (loose, aggressive, etc)? What hands could the SB have?


Don't raise; can't call; must fold (finally).


Eric

re: no. 4.


on the flop you have 9 outs that beat a pair of aces. you're less than a 2:1 dog to improve in the next two cards. there are 5 small bets in the pot. why not raise and get some information. i'm thinking the guy completed the small blind with an A and a medium kicker, and he's going to look at that flop and wonder what the hell you have. if he just calls, you're probably going to get a free card. (unless it's another A, and then you're screwed.) if he re-raises, then he's got a big kicker or better, and you might be a real dog.


most of the time i bet you get a free card if that A doesn't hit the turn. it's definitely questionable, and i don't think you lose anything by folding; but a raise isn't completely out of the question. the worst thing you can do is call the flop.

no, you only have six outs... fold.

no i was right the first time... going to bed now /images/smile.gif raise! or fold... it's iffy.

Your questions don't make much sense. What are you doing playing that garbage anyway?


Stop worrying about how to play 10s2h and play more fundamentally (TIGHT!) poker.


Aggressiveness is a good habit. When you find yourself in one of these games, there's not much point in playing unless you raise before the Flop.


Build the pot and then outplay them later. Don't make bad (A8) raises though!


Do you think you are playing optimally?

No, that wasn't the point of the survey. It was to determine the optimal/preferred plays GIVEN the current situations.


Obviously some of the plays, like the A8off, are overly agressive...

Would it make sense to raise an early raiser with Ax off if it is four-handed game? 2-handed in a tournament (assume final two at table)? If the raiser is a maniac?


Reading this scenario, it struck me that I wasn't sure if there was ever a good situation to play this hand in, and how to play it.


Easy E

do not reraise a raise from early position with AXo. fold it. it's going to hurt you.


depends on the tournament. limit/no-limit? big blind/small blind?


even if he's a maniac, he could very well have something better than AXo. wait for better cards to take on the maniac. folding costs you nothing here.

Some further comments on 3) and 4).


First of all, thank you for the post. It's an interesting collection of hands.


Regarding 3), since everyone has folded except BB, BB is almost holding a random hand. I say almost because the fact that everyone folded before makes it more likely that there are higher cards at the end. How much better than a random hand BB should have I'm not sure, but Q5 is better than a random hand, so is almost good enough to raise for value, and when added to the equity of the possibility BB will fold, seems like a hand you should raise with. The only way I can see this analysis could be wrong is if I'm underestimating the extent to which BB should have a better than random hand.


Regarding 4), it appears to me in the answers given that the fact that there are 4 people involved is not being taken into account. You have a weak hand, which is at best a small favorite, and at worst drawing dead, out of position, in between someone who has bet and 2 opponents left to act. This is an easy fold.