I like Malmuth’s play on this hand. I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but I probably would have passively, and wrongly, called on fourth-street, giving my opponent credit for probably having Aces, and giving me no clue of what I was going to do on fifth-street. As the hand played out, Malmuth may have hit his one out with the case King, but because of his raise on fourth-street, the hand paid off nicely.

But that’s not all. I think Malmuth’s play would have been better even if he had never hit the King. If both players hit blanks on fifth-street, what do the Aces, who have to act first, do? It’s a good thing when your opponent is in a quandary.

By just calling on fourth-street, the Aces have no reason not to bet the hand to the river, and I would have been the one scratching his head. The bottom line, I think, is that the raise on fourth-street was defensively as well as offensively superior to just calling fourth-street.

Tom D