CardPlayer.com's Daily Poker Quiz

[FishAndChips]

Hello Everyone,

I was on the cardplayer.com website and read today's daily quiz from the book "Middle Limit Hold'em Poker" by Bob Ciaffone. I was wondering what you guys (and gals) thought about it, so here it is:

"Today's Hold'em Poker Topic: Reraising.

Question


A $10-$20 game. You open raise from middle position with the Ah-Th. Only the cutoff calls. There is $55 in the pot and two players. The flop is: Kh-Tc-9h, giving you middle pair and the nut flush-draw. You bet; your opponent raises. What do you do?


Answer

Reraise. This is a heads-up situation. You have the nut flush-draw (9 outs), a middle pair of tens (2 more outs), and an ace overcard (3 more outs). This is 14 outs with two cards to come. You are about even money to make a flush, trips, or two pair by the river, and you will be going all the way with this hand. It is possible that your opponent may decide to fold a weak king, fearing that you have pocket aces, a set of kings, or big slick. Most of the time he will call. If he continues to bet, you have a ton of outs. You have a big enough hand that you should keep your foot on the gas pedal. "
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I like the play, but wonder if calling might be more profitable. Mr. Ciaffone doesn't give any information about the player in the CO, but what range of hands would an average player call a preflop raise with cold, and then raise the preflop raiser on the flop. If your opponent has a pair of Ks or bottom two pair, your pot equity is between 53-49% (depending on his other hole card when having Kings) But if he has 99, TT, KK, K9, KT or even QJ your pot equity is less then 50% making the raise unprofitable. I know that a reraise could buy you a free card if you miss on the turn, but it might not. Conversely, if you make your hand on the turn, the other player may shut down and not allow you to get any raises in. It seems reasonable that if you just call his raise on the flop, he'll maintain his aggression on the later streets even if you make your hand. So what do you think?

Cheers

[umdpoker]

if i had position, i would re-raise. however, i really hate putting in 3 bets oop with what basically amounts to a draw. also, if there was another player or 2 that already called 2, i would reraise as well. i don't play middle limit though, so i would take ciaffone's word over mine.

[LittleLTluc]

new to posting...

I took the quiz earlier myself (coincidently) and also wondered if i agreed with/ understood this play. I think I would prefer calling heads up because i believe i could get the extra bet (actually a big bet) in on the turn or river if I made my hand. With more than one player in the pot, I think it would be better to reraise and build the pot. Like the original poster said... it also depends on the player.

[threeonefour]

5-bet/call a 6-bet (if you aren't against an overly passive player) you are making money on that flop.

[mikeyKay]

your raise this situation because you have a huge amount of equity in this pot. you look to win it more than half of the time. this means that for every bet your put in on the flop, you will be making more than a bet back. you have an edge, so you want to get chips in the pot.

-mike

[umdpoker]

you have a very small edge against certain hands that villian could be holding. against other possible hands, you are behind much further. villain has position. this situation is completely different if you have position, because even a small chance that you get a free card on turn(if you choose to take it) sways the value in your favor.

[FishAndChips]

[ QUOTE ]
you have a very small edge against certain hands that villian could be holding. against other possible hands, you are behind much further. villain has position. this situation is completely different if you have position, because even a small chance that you get a free card on turn(if you choose to take it) sways the value in your favor.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well put. This seems to be a situation where you are either a slight favorite, or a significant underdog. If your opponent has a set, you've only a ~30% chance to win, against KT or K9 you're behind, and against a straight you're a 2:1 underdog.

Now I realize that our hand is strong here, so I'm not considering a fold, but raising is only correct if you have a positive pot equity edge, which I'm unclear about here. (I'm assuming that your opponent won't fold a better hand and thus a raise is only for value)

This situation reminds me of such preflop problems as having QQ against an opponent who will only raise with AA,KK, and AK. While your opponent is more likely to have AK (1.3:1), you are only a slight favorite when he does, while the times he has AA or KK, you are a big underdog. I know a lot of people advocate folding QQ in this situation.

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