A few hands/situations

[josie_wales]

Hey all here are a few situations that I wanted to throw out.

All are at $1BB $100 buy-in. In all situations relevant players have even stacks (=/- $10 of each other, unless specified.)

Hand 1: You are a fairly aggressive/new to the table player raises to $2, there are 3 callers to you with QQ. You raise to $9, at which point he re-raises you to $18, and you are the only caller.

Flop: Qh Ah 7d

And he pushes his remaining $80. You have $90 left. Your move?


HAND #2

You have a fairly tight/aggressive image (is anyone really paying attention at these tables /images/graemlins/confused.gif) and raise UTG to $5 with AKo. Two callers to a flop of:

K /images/graemlins/spade.gif3 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif7 /images/graemlins/heart.gif

You pot it and are set in for $90 by the next to act and its folded to you. Your move?



HAND #3

You get a free ride in the BB with K /images/graemlins/diamond.gifT /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. There are 4 to a flop of

5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif3 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif

SB bets out for $5 (Time to raise?) I smooth call, MP folds, Button raises to $10, SB calls.

Your move?



Josie Wales

[Richie Rich]

Hand 1 --> Obviously you have to be concerned that your opponent may be holding AA. His initial min-raise, and then min-re-raise, catches me a little off guard. Instinctively, one might assume he's got pocket As and a better set than yours. But if that were the case, then wouldn't he at least try to milk you for it? It's about 60/40 for me...leaning towards you calling and hoping he's got AK/AQ instead of AA.

Hand 2 --> Hmmm...assuming you've been playing tight-aggressive poker so far, your UTG raise (5xBB) should represent AA/AK/KK/QQ to anyone paying attention. Unlike the case in Hand 1, I would actually be more likely to lay my AK down. Since you've pretty much "revealed" the strength of your hand btf, I think your opponent is hoping you're married to TPTK/AA and willing to go all-in against his set.

Hand 3 --> I would min-raise again on that flop. You're very likely to have the best hand at this point, which is when you want to get more money in the middle; but I suspect that Button may be holding A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif and is trying to control this hand. Assuming a diamond doesn't hit on the turn, I'd bet slightly less than the pot on the turn to induce (an incorrect) call from either a smaller flush or the nut flush draw.

[cornell2005]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 1 --> Obviously you have to be concerned that your opponent may be holding AA. His initial min-raise, and then min-re-raise, catches me a little off guard. Instinctively, one might assume he's got pocket As and a better set than yours. But if that were the case, then wouldn't he at least try to milk you for it? It's about 60/40 for me...leaning towards you calling and hoping he's got AK instead of AA.


[/ QUOTE ]

I fold his first hand about never

[Richie Rich]

cornell- I think you're right...a call is in order.

However, assuming you're not up against complete idiots, how many hands can justifiably min-raise from EP, and then re-raise again after someone raised from LP? AA/AK/KK/QQ are the only ones that come to my (narrow) mind. And since QQ is out of the equation, that leaves?...

[Justin A]

[ QUOTE ]
However, assuming you're not up against complete idiots, how many hands can justifiably min-raise from EP, and then re-raise again after someone raised from LP? AA/AK/KK/QQ are the only ones that come to my (narrow) mind. And since QQ is out of the equation, that leaves?...

[/ QUOTE ]

He could have KK, AK, AQ. You have the second nut hand with QQ, and I find it hard to believe that a guy holding the nuts would bet $80 into a $40 pot. Auto call.

Where are these hands played? If it's online that makes this call even easier.

Justin A

[Richie Rich]

First off, I wouldn't put AQ on my list of hands to raise and then re-reraise with from EP. Would you? Not saying it isn't possible, but more than likely improbable.

Second, we know the villain is aggressive, but is he smart/tricky aggressive or loose/crazy aggressive? Big difference. Considering Josie's raise to his min-raise btf, what range of hands do you think HE puts her on? I'd say something painted. If he really was holding KK, do you think he'd be stupid enough to go all-in against someone who could easily beat him with AA/AK/QQ/AQ/Ax? Instead, we're hoping he's the one holding AK/AQ and Josie's QQ will be able to take it down.

[Justin A]

You're right about not putting Villain on AQ, unless playing online. I've seen reraises with worse online. I thought that a less likely holding than AK or KK. We don't know that this player is aggressive. Josie wrote: "You are a fairly aggressive/new to the table player raises to $2." I don't know what this means, but I think it means either Josie's new to the table, or the villain is. Either way, we have no read on the villain. With no read on the villian I call here easily. Folding here is too weak IMO.

Justin A

[Richie Rich]

I was a little confused by this sentence as well. But I assumed it was a minor typo...so I extracted "You are" from the beginning of her statement.

[gergery]

I must be playing against worse players than the others replying here, because I’m probably getting my money all in on all three of these and I don’t need to think too hard to do it.

Hand #1: Clear all-in to me or at least raise. What does calling get you? I’m not laying this down, and if he’s got AA then I’m losing all my money either way. You have 2nd nuts and KK, AQ, AK are dealt more than 4x as likely as AA. Not getting all your chips in by showdown seems very weak to me.

Hand #2: Closer decision, but is 77 or 33 really going to call my 5xbb bet (particularly 33)? Or is it more likely to be AK or KQ, KJs, QQ, JJ, TT, 99? It’s much more likely statistically that he doesn’t have you beat given range of hands he plays. The clincher is that he’s making a giant overbet. Why not raise smaller with trips to keep the opponent around longer? He could be overbetting trips but its more likely he doesn’t. I call here and expect to win > ~66% of time (sure, I scream in pain the other times).

Hand #3: I try to get as much money in the pot as possible. I try to price this so a set and a paired Ace diamonds will call. In an unraised pot, you could also have some flush/gutshot draws or smaller flushes here. Since they think they have a good hand, I bet to offer them around 1.5 : 1 so I overbet pot a bit. Partly because I’m not laying this down if another diamond hits and they seem to like their hand, so I don’t want to give them implied odds that are too good.

And if you haven’t figured it out yet, my style is pretty aggressive, so they should be used to seeing me fling chips in the (relatively) few times I play, and more likely to give action.

--Greg

[Jon Matthews]

Hand 1

Call call call. If this is online then clicking call is like clicking win. You have outs to a boat if a flush hits. Don't worry about AA, that's too rare here.


Hand 2

Fold, I sense a set. You probably lose this more times than you win. Save your calling of overbets when you have a hand that isn't so vulnerable, like bigger sets!

Hand 3

Call and keep them both in. A small raise may build the pot for the turn but the play will be that more cautious on that card that you may make less money overall.


Jon

[Jon Matthews]

Hand #2: Closer decision, but is 77 or 33 really going to call my 5xbb bet (particularly 33)?

Yes.

Rule of 5 and 10. $5 is 5% of the $100 standard stack that was mentioned in the first post.


Jon

[josie_wales]

Plenty of comments on hand 1.

How aboput some more on hands 2 & 3?

As for Hand 1, I laid it down, and he flashed AA. Whew.

josie wales

[RichB]

I'm pretty much with Greg, no way am I laying that first hand down. If he has AA then he's getting my chips and I say nh. It's a clear call to me.

The second hand is tougher, it really depends a lot on if I know anything about the player. I actually do know people online who would play a small or medium pair that way in the hopes of busting someone who can't get away from tptk when they hit their set. Probably fold, but it depends.

The third hand I want to get money into the middle. No way would I be min raising here. If someone holds Ad I want them to pay to draw out on me. I probably go up to about $20. If I'm lucky, maybe Ad even re-raises all-in after that. It's roughly 2-1 against him hitting the flush on two cards if he only has a draw, so I'd like to get the chips in now if possible. If the turn blanks for him, he'll be less likely to call a big bet.

I slowplay somtimes too, but if the other person is on a draw then it's pretty backwards to slow down. They are more likely to get their chips in when they have more chances to improve.


Rich