Play a Hand With the Masters #2 Flop

[jccookjr]

My guess for villain is JJ or 10/10 and he's going to put Gig all in after his continuation bet. I don't think he would have re-raised with either of these two hands and he called hoping to hit his set.

[Cactus Jack]

Gee, I would be so much better off if I'd limped this hand instead of raising it. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] He has to be putting me on at least a strong A or better up to AK. If he's coming along, he either is a donk or may have me beat. Sure wish I was playing my nicely disquised hand, but oh well.

I've got top 2 pair, I'm going to the felt with this one. I put in a half-pot bet. If he thinks this is weak, so what, I'm coming back at him. If he calls, getting his proper odds, here's the money. If he misses the turn, I'm throwing another bet at him. I want him all in, although that might end up being the bad news.

I just busted out on a stone-cold deck in an MTT. I've seen a lot of times when I never see a chance this good to get a big pot. I'm not worried about what he has--I'm either ahead or behind--I'm only worried about getting as many of his chips as I can get.

CJ

[AtticusFinch]

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My guess for villain is JJ or 10/10 and he's going to put Gig all in after his continuation bet. I don't think he would have re-raised with either of these two hands and he called hoping to hit his set.

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I don't know, I think my Q-falling on the turn scenario is also a strong possibility. Maybe he has JJ and just calls on the flop, then a q falls. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[betgo]

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If he raises my bet, I have to figure he flopped a set or a straight and as much as it hurts, I've got to lay down. Check raising an UTG raiser shows balls or a strong hand. If he calls, I'm also going to worry he has a set or a straight and check it down from there unless I hit a full house on 4th street or the river.

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Weak/tight alert.

[fnurt]

I am typically betting 250-300 here, to encourage action. A half-pot bet doesn't look nearly as suspicious as checking. If he has the typical hand with 2-4 outs, his chances are small enough that I don't feel compelled to charge him the max.

The thought of laying this hand down is silly. I didn't encourage action just so I could end up folding to it.

In a typical Party tournament, I don't even bother putting my opponent on a hand at this stage. I have seen more than one person defend their BB with 72o, flop a 2, and play it like the nuts, so I'm not going to fall into the trap of assuming he plays reasonably.

I respect the people who analyze the situation by saying "he needs a decent hand to call an UTG raise" or "he knows he's going to be out of position for the rest of the hand" but I think these kind of thoughts make the mistake of assuming the other guy plays like you. Against an unknown on Party, I think it's a mistake to assume they know or care that the raise is coming from EP.

[kuro]

It's hard to put BB on a range without some information about how he's played and how you've been playing. Ranges that people defend with are all over the place. So something like AQ,AK,AA-77, and then depending on how loose he is AJs,ATs,KQs,66-22 and premium suited connectors/1 gappers, and broadway hands depending on how loose he is.

I would bet 425 on the flop, because I want to charge villain to draw to a set,boat, or straight and to protect myself from folding the better hand if the turn is a scare card and villain bets it. I think the board is too scarry given the range of hands villain puts us on to expect for him to bluff the turn/river on a blank with any frequency if we check. By betting we likely fold out hands that aren't planning on putting more money into the pot unless they improve to a better hand than ours.

If villain check-raises the flop, I think you've got to lay it. If he calls your bet then you have to play poker on later streets.

[KneeCo]

Note: Being as this is the hand choosen for this cool series, one is tempted to make each move anticipating future streets and such. I have tried to avoid that, and the move I describe below is the one I would generally make if this situation actually came up in play (and I thought there was a chance we wouldn't get to the turn).

Yesterday I said raise to 300, hope to play a HU pot with one of the blinds for position and flop TPTK.

Well we have something similar here.

The BB could have any number of hands here, despite bad position, a lot of players will call here rather than give up their blind partially because they are thinking that if they get a good flop an EP raiser would have trouble letting go of what is probably a premium hand (I'm not saying this approach is wrong or right, it's just a consideration to be taken into account in narrowing the villain's range).

Accordingly, it is difficult to pin down the BB's range. He can be holding any pocket pair fives or up (maybe even 22s and up), KQ-KJ, AT+ and perhaps some suited connectors. In other words, I haven't the slightest what he has.

In times like that, I try to see if I can figure out what he doesn't have. Particularly, I wonder if there's a fair chance I'm behind (to a set or the straight). JJ is probably the only hand he can have that I'm behind right now, but there are a lot of hands I think he might have played that can draw out on me AJ, AQ, AT, KQ, QQ, TT, JTs. So, assuming I'm ahead, he probably has 6 outs or less. If I'm behind, I probably have 4. But I think I'm ahead.

Nevertheless, even though I think I have the lead, I think a check here is too risky. If a Q, J or T comes off on the turn and he bets out, I will have put myself in a tough spot. So I bet on the flop, about 600.

If he raises me, there's a good chance IMO he is doing so on a semi-bluff or with AK-AJ-AT, and I would probably re-raise all-in. If he flips over the nuts or a set, I hope to hit one of my outs to fill up. But with AK, I don't mind getting all the chips in the middle on this flop.

[DonT77]

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I bet 2/3 of the pot. If he raises, I call and shove any turn.

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Why call and lead the turn instead of pushing over his raise ATF?

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Villain clearly has outs; I don't give him odds. The pot is a good % of my stack now, and I'd like to take it right now or to stack villain without having to see a scarecard first.

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Yeah, what he said. I'm ahead now, most aces held by an idiot call this anyway, all two pair hands get it in, at least 11 cards either kill the action or my hand...I'm playing this very strong all the way down until something convinces me not to.

edit: What villain has is not particularly important. On this flop, either he's going to give action or he's not.

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What villain has is very important to us if he check/raises or check/calls us here.

Checking it down after villain calls is really really horrible, IMHO. Incidentally, a smart villain rarely calls on this flop with any hand, and almost never calls and then checks the turn without a drawing hand.