20-40 Hand Wild game (somewhat long)

Hello all! Thanks again to all of the people who selflessly share their knowledge with us!


I had two hands that came up playing in my normal 20-40 game at my local casino. When I say normal I mean it to be the ongoing game. It was surely not a typical 20-40 game, here is the makeup.


A full 10 handed game. There are 6 pretty tight and aggressive players and 4 maniacs. An average of 5 people seeing the flop for an average of 2-3 bets. Two of the maniacs are winning big. The first on is 2 seats to my right, the next 3 seats to my left. These guys were 3 betting 8-10 off...j-8 suited..just about any two cards were worth a raise.


So onm with the hands. The first hand I am in the big blind with A-Kh. There are 7 people in for 2 bets. ( the original raiser is the loose player to my left) I raise. The big blind calls 3 cold and we are 9 handed for 3 bets. 540 in the pot. The flop comes 8-9-5 with 2 hearts. What to do here? I know they are not going anywhere, but if I bet Lp will raise and hopefully knock some of them out. So I bet and of course he raises. Everyone drops to the other Lp and he 3 bets it. I call and the other LP calls. 810 in the pot.

The turn is 6h BINGO!!! Now what to do here? Bet? or try to check raise?...The pot is already pretty big, but theses guys are not going anywhere so do I try to make the most money or what? Anyway..I check raised and got three betted but the late LP. I cap it and off we go. River is 5 of diamonds..uh oh...what to do? I check. The early LP bets and the Late LP raises..80 to me..The pot is now huge. So I call and Early loose player calls.


The Late Lp shows7-10 of clubs, and Early position shows J-2 of hearts. I take down a huge pot.


Do you have any comments on the way I played it? Would you have mucked the river facing 2 bets and a paired board? How about the LP's how do you think they played their hand? (Beside the interesting hand selection)

Thanks again for any comments and advice!!!!

Against two tight aggressives that were jamming on the river, I would lay down knowing it is $80 to me and could be capped behind. With the maniacs, no way I'm folding. A single five or 98 seem like distinct possibilities...if it gets re-raised and capped behind you, you might want to fold rather than paying another two bets as you're almost surely beaten. Nice hand.


Jeff

Preflop you say you are in the big blind but I suspect you are in the small blind. Your raise is fine. 9 people seeing the flop for 3-bets doesn't sound like there are 6 "pretty tight" players.


On the flop, you should not want anyone to go anywhere. You have the best draw and the more people that come in, the more you can raise for value. I'd probably check the flop, planning to checkraise or call once I had an idea of how many people were in the hand (3 or more, checkraise, less than 3, call).


On the turn, the checkraise is ok, since someone likely has a 7 and will bet for you. Capping is obviously perfect since you have the nuts and they seem interested so there's no reason to try to trick them.


Quit hiding under your bed and bet and reraise the river. There are a lot of hands that these maniacs could have that they think are worth raising the river. I'd be putting my money in for four bets on the river and if they beat me, well they beat me. When the board is 5-5-6-8-9, they will be coming with a 7 and they will be coming with a lower flush. Hell, they'll probably be coming with a dry 5. You caught a bit of a break in that they bet the hand for you, saving you 4 big bets on the river. By not betting the river, you gave them every opportunity to try to move you off your hand; if you bet the river, they are pretty hard pressed to raise and reraise you with those hands.

David,


I disagree with "On the flop, you should not want anyone to go anywhere." The pot is very big already, you should certainly want to knock people out, especially if it could turn a K or A into a out for you. The question is, will the hands you want out actually fold, even if the player to your left raises?


Eitherway, after it does get raised I would usually reraise, your draw here is just soooo big.

Granted, I can see your point to some extent. It would be nice to turn aces and kings into outs for you; however, you have the nut flush draw and the "nut overcard draw". Anyone who doesn't have a pair already is drawing very very slim (6 outs at the absolute best). So, in this case, I agree; the hands you want out will probably stay in and the hands you want in will probably get out.


I'm just as happy to have one pair hands calling my flop raise here. I just keep in mind that the more people in the hand, the less value my potential overcard outs have, and I play the hand (and judge my own hand's strength) accordingly, which is to say I don't go nuts on the river when an offsuit king hits. The real value in hands like this is to spike the flush and to have made the pot so big that all the Mason-tattooed foreheads call you on the river (credit to natedogg since I'm still laughing at the mental image a week after reading the post). I like to think of this as the "2+2 implied odds" - when you have made the pot big, people will call you on the river if they have any piece.