Challenging 20-40 Hand

[Soh]

Hi danj,

I might be missing something here...

I'm not sure why I have to raise the flop when it was pretty obvious that MikeD had me beat AND he was going to re-raise me. Just because the pot was getting big doesn't mean I have to make it even bigger with a draw, does it? This does NOT mean I never raise with a draw when Mike bets, but that wasn't the right situation to do so, IMO.

Raising can be deceptive, but so does playing straight forward, especially against a good player like Mike, as he could easily put me on a flush draw had I raised the flop. In fact, he says "I was pretty upset at how bad I had read the button. I really did not even put him on diamonds because of the way the hand played out."

> if you raise him only after you have a made hand, you will never
> get any money from him.

You're right that it's not easy to make money from Mike. But here's what we can do. Lets' say Mike has 99 in the BB and I have 88 UTG. 6 handed. Flop comes 988. If Mike bet, I RAISE my quads and shut everyone out. Now it'll be very difficult for him to put me on quads, which means he'll give me a lot of action by rasing him when I made a hand. But who knows when this dream hand will come true [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Soh

[MichaelD]

Soh,

I am so very very glad that up to now I have not had this happen with the 988. In fact, I can see no danger of this happening unless you are on full tilt and decide to play 88 anywhere near utg. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Just Kidding.

However, when this does happen, it does not matter what you do, I will be my usual self which is like a slot machine spitting out a jackpot.

Just some thoughts...

Michael D

[danj]

I'm not so sure that he would have put you on the flush draw after you 3-bet pre-flop. He's already read you as a tight player which can work to your advantage. With the number of bets already in the pot, it may have been worthwhile to act as if you had pocket Aces or Kings. You are already getting proper odds to make this move on your flush draw - plus your Ace may have been good. AND, you had position and didn't leverage it - it's a must against the good players in that game. In the long run, those extra bets in that situation make the difference between a profitable player and a break-even/barely profitable player. It's easy to be agressive when you have a made hand - but it's also going to be easy for the regulars to wise up to your ways and stop paying you off.