playing position in a tight game

I open raise on the button with 66. The big blind calls.


He's been playing the blinds like a typical semi-decent-but-not-great player, i.e. he'll defend with almost anything and if he catches any piece of the flop he puts the late-positon raiser on a steal and there's going to be a showdown. I think this is a bad way to play, but it seems to be working for him.


Flop is Q88 two tone.


I bet, he checkraises, I three bet, he folds.


My opponent assumes my late position raise is a steal, which is correct. He check-raises me assuming I have nothing on the flop, which is essentially correct. I assume he is assuming I have nothing and therefore has nothing himself, and make it three bets, and take it down.


I happened to be holding a little baby pair, which is worthless if there's a showdown anyway, but the same play is called for regardless of my cards. This is one of those moves that can leave you looking like an idiot when it fails, but it's the right move, I think.


nate

can't see how a pocket pair is a steal here, even if it is just sixes. And the flop was a good one for you.


What are the odds he has a Q or 8 or bigger pocket pair? If he has overcards to your sixes of course he has outs to beat you but he is going uphill not you.


You have to make this play with a J4 in the hole to qualify for nerves of steal poker. ( which is doomed to fail against this opponent as you describe him) IMHO

This is all pretty automatic. I might look to raise the turn instead of 3 bet the flop - as a showdown prevention measure.


66 is not a steal in a 3 handed game, esp. with position.

If he had an 8, he would not play so fast in most cases.


This hand is nowhere near worthless in a showdown. I won a $100 pot the other day with 9 high - it was 3 handed to the river, and all 3 hands checked the end.


Maybe his check-raise meant " I have a tiny pocket pair", just like your 3 bet indicates. Odds are your tiny pais is bigger then his (4:1, with a 30:1 chance he also has 66).


Stealing the blinds with nothing against such a player will be very expensive. But your hand is worlds better than nothing.


Dan Z.

By "useless", I meant that if he has anything he can call me down with after three bets on the flop, it almost CERTAINLY beats my 66, so I might as well have had J4.


natedogg

"By "useless", I meant that if he has anything he can call me down with after three bets on the flop, it almost CERTAINLY beats my 66, so I might as well have had J4."


Nate, I think you're missing something big here. A typical showdown in spots like this goes check-check on the river. This is when your pair is huge because the other guy could easily get through the turn with ace-high after playing a spunky flop.


I think it's bad word/concept usage to think of any pair or any ace as a steal hand, precisely because we start out with a valuable check-check-the-river showdown value.


And if 66 is a steal, then what about 77? 88? AA? I can't imagine drawing a line in there somewhere and saying one is a steal and then next one isn't.


Tommy