How Would You Play This Hand?

[grandgnu]

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If your goal of the tournament was winning the most number of pots, this would be a good strategy.

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Like I said, I feel we're very much ahead in this hand and I hate the "oh, I'll call and see what the river develops" because you're just allowing your opponent to draw out on you. This is extremely weak thinking and playing.

If he has the nuts (ace high flush) at this point, why is he raising you and not trapping you?

If he has the Ace of spades and no other spade, why did this "tough" opponent call you on the flop when he'd need runner-runner spade to catch his flush? We're ahead, push and take it down, it's a good-sized pot, no sense in letting him outdraw you.

Here's another way of looking at it: You likely have your opponent beat.

I think that the amount of money you might extract out of him extra on the river (provided he holds two pair, a set or a smaller flush at that time) is minimal compared with the amount of chips you stand to lose (i.e. all of them) if his hand improves on the river.

You stand to lose a lot more on the river than you might gain given this situation. Your best bet is to be agressive and push, take the 10-12K chips and let your "tough" opponent know that he ain't so tough. :P

[judgesmails]

My thoughts exactly Gramps! Playing the hand this way extracts maximum value if you are best and gives you every opportunity to get away from it cheaply and survive with a significant stack if you are beaten or your opponent catches up with a spade or board pair on the river.

[grandgnu]

Plan to tell us how it went down?

[Jim T]

I have to add a couple of comments.

First, the fact that this hand was remarkable enough for the player to ask you about it afterwards indicates that this was a pivotal hand. I believe that this influences many of the comments, whether conciously or not, mine certainly not excluded. If I encountered this hand in the middle of a tourney do I truly push all in as I recommended, or do I instead try to trap taking into account the high likelihood that the blind is just playing back at me? I'm pretty sure I do push, but in the final analysis it would depend on the feel I had gotten from my opponent.

Second, the effects of your decisions on this hand do not end when it's over (unless you are busted out of course), but they carry over into later hands as well. Going all-in in response to a check-raise sends a signal to the other players at the table. It's not going to prevent them doing it later, but it will make them think about it a little harder and may keep them a little more honest. That alone is +EV as far as I'm concerned.

[sdplayerb]

It is a bit player dependent, but I would flat call.
If I reraise he is only calling with the nuts, so not much of an option.
My flat call has to scare him unless he has the nuts, so if he makes a big bet after my flat call, it makes for a pretty easy fold.

SD

[MLG]

unless he has the naked A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].

[kmvenne]

I think we don't have enough of second level thinking in this thread. What do our actions against this check raise say about our hand to a tough player is the key question, beyond what do his actions say about his hand? From my experience, pushing the second nuts here may represent a hand inferior to the one we hold. Top two or a middle set may well call a push, putting us on a naked ace. I vote for the all-in, because we have in no way shown the strenght of a king flush in this hand, and pushing does not tip that fact, and most the time will either get us a sizable pot with no extra risk, or a favorable race that we have no business giving up at any point in the tourney, and the chances of the race are greater then most posters here seem to indicate. If I misread the big blind, so be it, sometimes these things happen. However a real estate raise preflop from a BB Axs from a tough player is plausable, and the lack of that is also encourging for our calculations.

[sdplayerb]

true..if he misses on the river he has a tough decision as he'd need to put in at least 30% of his stack just to try to get you off your hand, if you are implying he will bluff it if he misses.

[johnnybeef]

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hi johhny beef,
i think your line is one of the worst nothing personal of course. minraising and folding on the turn seems criminal as does folding if called on the river. our players hand is fairly well disguised and if he is up against another flush it rates to probably be a hand he is getting paid off by not the other way around imho. depending on the read of my opponent i would either call if i could expect to get bet into on the river (a straight or two pair that might be currently trying to charge me for the 4th spade) or raise if i think he has a set, or As/pair x). 15,000 buy in or not im going to have to be facing a monster bet to laydown the king high flush in this unraised pot even if its from the big blind. i think my default move here is too raise it up to about 11-12k ( im not too good at math but this i think gives him improper odds to draw to a paired board or 4th spade.) if i lose him on the turn thats life i just dont think a tough player is going to bluff again on the river if you smooth call. and finally if he has the nut flush i hope i make the read on the turn or river and can get away but im not sure if i would. once again ive only gotten this far in the thread and im not trying to be disrespectful just mho.
jason

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appreciate your opinion,

however, calling to induce a bluff without the nuts is a sure fire way to go broke....particularly in this hand in which you can get drawn out on very easily

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Pushing here is absolutely the wrong play. It guarantees that you win what's in the pot now almost all the time, and that you lose all your chips the small amount of time you lose.

The keys here are what the BB might have and what he thinks you have. Before the flop is dealt, he can have any 2 cards.

On the flop he flat calls your LP bet with several limpers yet to act between you. Thus, a strong but vulnerable hand like a set or two pair is highly unlikely. I'd say his call means 2 overcards, 99, a pair with a big spade kicker, a flush draw.

Now on the turn, after all the others folded on the flop, he checks again. However, he has no reason to give you credit for that strong a hand, so his check-raise can mean a lot of things like I suggested on the flop, except all probably include a spade. However, why would he check-raise the nut flush and give you a chance to fold?

Call the check-raise and raise him on the river if a spade doesn't come.