sweetjazz
04-26-2004, 08:23 PM
I'm in a seven-handed home game. UTG limps, then it's folded around to the SB who completes. I check in the BB with Q /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 5 /images/graemlins/club.gif.
Flop: 8 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 5 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 3 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. SB checks, I check, UTG bets, SB calls, I call.
Turn: 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif. SB checks, I check, UTG bets, SB folds, I raise, UTG calls.
River: T /images/graemlins/heart.gif. I bet, UTG calls. He shows A /images/graemlins/heart.gif 8 /images/graemlins/club.gif, and my hand is good.
I think this hand is pretty routine, except for my flop call. Here was my reasoning. I think that my hand is likely good, but it could be behind and it is definitely vulnerable. I'd like to wait for the turn to come to decide whether I am going to showdown. My plan was to bet out if a 2, 3, 4, 8, or diamond came. I was also considering betting if an ace or king came, figuring my opponents were unlikely to have these hands.
Since the button almost always fires a second bet on the turn if his flop bet is just called, I felt pretty confident that check-raising was the right play if I caught one of the 5 cards that improved my hand. This is especially so since I believed that SB was likely to stay in this hand (he's a calling station when he has weak hands, like a pair of 3s or ace high). I think the turn play is pretty routine, but any comments on my flop strategy. Does anyone consider check/folding this flop given the fact that the pot is only 3 SB before the flop? Or betting out but folding to a raise? (I think my opponents are a little too aggressive for this strategy to work in my particular situation, as they will often raise with overcards/pair of threes/draw here. But I have a hard time making these kinds of judgments.)
Anyway, I am starting to try to focus more on having a plan on the flop for future play. Obviously, it has to be subject to change depending on how things develop. I am trying to be relatively straightforward (making good solid plays), while looking for opportunities to make plays that might add a little EV (or at the very least be close to EV neutral) that will make it appear that I am playing unpredictably or inconsistently.
Flop: 8 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 5 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 3 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. SB checks, I check, UTG bets, SB calls, I call.
Turn: 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif. SB checks, I check, UTG bets, SB folds, I raise, UTG calls.
River: T /images/graemlins/heart.gif. I bet, UTG calls. He shows A /images/graemlins/heart.gif 8 /images/graemlins/club.gif, and my hand is good.
I think this hand is pretty routine, except for my flop call. Here was my reasoning. I think that my hand is likely good, but it could be behind and it is definitely vulnerable. I'd like to wait for the turn to come to decide whether I am going to showdown. My plan was to bet out if a 2, 3, 4, 8, or diamond came. I was also considering betting if an ace or king came, figuring my opponents were unlikely to have these hands.
Since the button almost always fires a second bet on the turn if his flop bet is just called, I felt pretty confident that check-raising was the right play if I caught one of the 5 cards that improved my hand. This is especially so since I believed that SB was likely to stay in this hand (he's a calling station when he has weak hands, like a pair of 3s or ace high). I think the turn play is pretty routine, but any comments on my flop strategy. Does anyone consider check/folding this flop given the fact that the pot is only 3 SB before the flop? Or betting out but folding to a raise? (I think my opponents are a little too aggressive for this strategy to work in my particular situation, as they will often raise with overcards/pair of threes/draw here. But I have a hard time making these kinds of judgments.)
Anyway, I am starting to try to focus more on having a plan on the flop for future play. Obviously, it has to be subject to change depending on how things develop. I am trying to be relatively straightforward (making good solid plays), while looking for opportunities to make plays that might add a little EV (or at the very least be close to EV neutral) that will make it appear that I am playing unpredictably or inconsistently.