King Yao
04-13-2004, 10:50 PM
It was six handed. The Under the Gun player folded and I raised with Ad-5d. It wasn’t a premium hand, but I felt it was just strong enough to raise with in this shorthanded game. Unfortunately for me two players behind me both called as well as the Big Blind. The first player who called was a very good player. The fact that he did not raise made me think he was calling with a hand like JT or A7s. Normally I don’t think he would have cold called with a hand like that, but the existence of a very loose player behind him, who was calling all Flops made it correct for the good player to be playing a bit looser, especially with drawing hands. We saw the Flop 4 handed for 4.25 Big Bets.
The Flop came Qd-8h-8s
The Big Blind checked to me. Even though the Flop completely missed my hand, I thought that with the pair on the board, there would be a smaller chance that one of the opponents had a pair. There was a small chance that I could win the pot with a bet if the Flop missed everyone, so I took a stab at the pot with a bet. Again I was disappointed as both the good player and the bad player behind me called while the Big Blind folded. But the fact that the good player only called told me he was likely on a draw of some sort, and I put him on JT.
The Turn was 2d
Now I checked as I was afraid one of them was slow playing an 8. The good player checked behind me too (aha, he must have JT now, I thought). But the bad player bet. Now I thought there was a chance he had a Q or an 8, but there was also a chance that he was completely bluffing as both of us checked to him. I weighed my options.
I could call and hope I hit an Ace, and that an Ace would be good. But there were several problems with calling. First, it would give the good player, who I had put on JT, the correct pot odds to call as well. That would mean he would have 10 outs over my hand. Even if the good player folded, the call still showed weakness, and I would likely see another bet on the River. I did not like this option at all.
I could fold and be done with the hand. But with 6.75 Big Bets in the pot, and a horrible player betting into it, it did not feel like the best option. I would prefer folding over calling, but maybe there was a third option that was better.
The third option that may be better was raising. By raising, I would for sure get out the good player if he held JT, which would allow me not to have to worry about giving him the 10 outs if I had just called. It also gave me the ability to win the pot right there if the bad player was on a pure bluff. Although the pot was not all that big, I thought it was big enough to take this chance given the opponents involved.
So I raised. The good player folded, but the bad player called. Now I was a bit worried. The bad player could have a Queen, a 8. I was hoping he was on a straight draw or had even worse cards than that.
The River brought a 9h, so now the board was Qd-8h-8s-2d-9h
The good player to my left spoke a swear word involuntarily. Based off of that, I was pretty sure he had JT and would have hit his straight if he had called. The only other possible hand was pocket 9s which would have hit a full house. But I was still worried. If the bad player was betting and calling my raise with a straight draw, he may have hit it. Or he could have hit a pair of 9s if his straight draw was with J9 or T9. He was loose enough that I was positive he would call with 9s, so I had no choice but to check, with intentions of giving up on the hand if he folded.
The bad player checked as well. I turned over my A5. He showed me Ks-Ts and mucked his hand. Why he even bothered to call my raise with that hand is beyond me. I had a bit of luck that he was such a bad player. But there was skill here too as my raise on the Turn was intended to get out the good player, and that worked to perfection and was the sole reason I won this pot
The Flop came Qd-8h-8s
The Big Blind checked to me. Even though the Flop completely missed my hand, I thought that with the pair on the board, there would be a smaller chance that one of the opponents had a pair. There was a small chance that I could win the pot with a bet if the Flop missed everyone, so I took a stab at the pot with a bet. Again I was disappointed as both the good player and the bad player behind me called while the Big Blind folded. But the fact that the good player only called told me he was likely on a draw of some sort, and I put him on JT.
The Turn was 2d
Now I checked as I was afraid one of them was slow playing an 8. The good player checked behind me too (aha, he must have JT now, I thought). But the bad player bet. Now I thought there was a chance he had a Q or an 8, but there was also a chance that he was completely bluffing as both of us checked to him. I weighed my options.
I could call and hope I hit an Ace, and that an Ace would be good. But there were several problems with calling. First, it would give the good player, who I had put on JT, the correct pot odds to call as well. That would mean he would have 10 outs over my hand. Even if the good player folded, the call still showed weakness, and I would likely see another bet on the River. I did not like this option at all.
I could fold and be done with the hand. But with 6.75 Big Bets in the pot, and a horrible player betting into it, it did not feel like the best option. I would prefer folding over calling, but maybe there was a third option that was better.
The third option that may be better was raising. By raising, I would for sure get out the good player if he held JT, which would allow me not to have to worry about giving him the 10 outs if I had just called. It also gave me the ability to win the pot right there if the bad player was on a pure bluff. Although the pot was not all that big, I thought it was big enough to take this chance given the opponents involved.
So I raised. The good player folded, but the bad player called. Now I was a bit worried. The bad player could have a Queen, a 8. I was hoping he was on a straight draw or had even worse cards than that.
The River brought a 9h, so now the board was Qd-8h-8s-2d-9h
The good player to my left spoke a swear word involuntarily. Based off of that, I was pretty sure he had JT and would have hit his straight if he had called. The only other possible hand was pocket 9s which would have hit a full house. But I was still worried. If the bad player was betting and calling my raise with a straight draw, he may have hit it. Or he could have hit a pair of 9s if his straight draw was with J9 or T9. He was loose enough that I was positive he would call with 9s, so I had no choice but to check, with intentions of giving up on the hand if he folded.
The bad player checked as well. I turned over my A5. He showed me Ks-Ts and mucked his hand. Why he even bothered to call my raise with that hand is beyond me. I had a bit of luck that he was such a bad player. But there was skill here too as my raise on the Turn was intended to get out the good player, and that worked to perfection and was the sole reason I won this pot