Party Poker 2/4 HE, 38.5 BB Pot

[ECondreras]

As the cruel poker gods would have it, the worst hand going in won this monster pot. Check this out.

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 raises, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 calls, CO folds, Button folds, SB calls, BB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: (12 SB) K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(6 players)</font>
SB bets, BB folds, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 raises, MP3 calls, SB calls, Hero 3-bets, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 caps, MP3 calls, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: (16 BB) J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
SB bets, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 raises, MP3 3-bets, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 calls.

River: (31 BB) 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
SB bets, Hero raises $6 (All-In), UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP3 3-bets $8 (All-In), SB calls, UTG+2 calls.

Final Pot: 38.50 BB

Results in white below: <font color="white">
SB shows Jh 7s (full house, sevens full of jacks).
Hero shows Qd Kh (two pair, kings and queens).
UTG+2 shows Qc Kd (two pair, kings and queens).
MP3 shows 9s Ts (straight, king high).
Outcome: SB wins 38.50 BB. </font>

I chose not to raise preflop. Was this a mistake? If I raise, and UTG+2 just calls, then the outcome is the same. If he reraises, we most likely would have lost the SB and MP3, but I can't really say for sure. If he folds to my raise (which I might have done in that position), I am still in the same boat.

Flop - I think I might have blown it here. If I raise the SB, UTG+2 will surely reraise and we lose the SB for sure (I'm not sure how he called two cold as it was). You guys that are good at figureing odds can tell me what would be the correct play for MP3 if it was 3 cold to him on the flop with his holding. If it would have been incorrect to call in that spot, then I definitely blew it. If it was correct to call in that spot, then what could I do?

The turn. I turned into a calling station as I started to have doubts about my hand, but felt pot committed. Should I have raised the SB's bet? I can't see folding in that spot.

River - Exasperation time. Chucked the rest of my chips in and prayed.

I would love to hear how others would have played my hand.

-Ed-

[bdk3clash]

Don't sit at a hand with less than 12 BB (capped on all streets.)

Raise preflop. Raise the flop. Raise the turn, call down when 3-bet.

Given how you played the turn, I don't raise the river. A BB is a BB--don't throw them away in exasperation.

Also, there's no point in figuring out what "would have happened" based on what you now know (the other players' hands.) There's really nothing to be learned from that kind of thinking.

(Note all of the bad players at low limit tables that speculate after a fluke draw comes in what they should have done to keep the fluke drawer out of the hand.)

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

STAY AT THIS TABLE!!!!! Do not bemoan SB staying in with J7o, welcome him to your table, buy him a drink and get someone over to give him a cyber-massage while he's playing. Add him to your buddy list as he will happily pay you off in the long run. Same for MP3 who calls two cold, then calls a cap with 89s.

[ECondreras]

I had just been beat on the river the hand before and didn't have a chance to rebuy - hence the short stack.

The raise on the end was idiotic. No agrument there.

I'm not quite sure of your point with your last sentence.

-Ed-

[bdk3clash]

[ QUOTE ]
...MP3 who calls two cold, then calls a cap with 89s.

[/ QUOTE ]

Give him some credit. I doubt he'd be caught dead playing that crap.
(He had T9 s00ted.)

[bdk3clash]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not quite sure of your point with your last sentence.

[/ QUOTE ]

The point I was trying to convey was that you should generally be asking what you should be doing on a given street given the information you had at the time.

Even if the hand history revealed that someone had 7 Aces, or 23o, or whatever, your analysis of the hand should only be based on what you know up to that point--reads and the action in the hand so far.

Make sense?

Also, more generally, it is possible for more than one player to play a hand correctly. A lot of hands work out as a sort of cabal between the best hand and the best draw. Everyone else is sort of along for the ride, though sometimes they pull ahead on the home stretch, as happened in this hand.

Don't worry about what you could have done to make the hand that eventually won fold--just worry about getting those bets in when you probably have the best of it.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Sadat X]

Preflop: Whether or not to raise KQo UTG preflop remains, for me a difficult decision. Logic tells me that it is not a good multiway hand so raising with it would make sense to narrow the field. I think just calling is probably the worst option here b/c you tend to encourage more limpers.

Flop: Heads up or three-way I might slowplay this flop. Giving a free card likely wont hurt you with top two pair and no real draws out there. In a six person field, however, I ram and jam to narrow the field and make people with worse hands pay to draw. The call-reraise move you made is probably better suited to a drawing hand.

Turn: The SB bets out as if to say the jack helped him. Thats the only thing that would make sense in this case. You are probably looking at KJ or QJ, either of which you beat. He would probably try to check-raise if he hit a straight with AT or 98 based on the action on the flop. At this point you shouldn't be too worried about UTG+2 either. He wouldn't have rasied PF with 77 and KK and QQ are unlikely because there are only two of each left in the deck. I raise the SB here and become weary of a raise from anyone other than UTG+2. When MP3 3-bets, I would have probably assumed that I was beaten by a straight or a set. This is an extremely difficult laydown, however, and it turns out that you made the correct decision, having the best hand at the time.

River: What else can you do? All-in for $6 in a pot of this size isn't a terrible move.


I think the moral of the story is: as the pot gets bigger you should play it more aggressively. A pot of this size needs to be played very fast with a hand like top two pair.