Bellagio 15-30: What hand do I have?

[Dynasty]

I must be too predictable. The #1 choice of the voters was correct. I had J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].

I raised the flop mostly so that I would be checked to on the turn. If I waited to raise on a later street, it was going to be tough for anybody to call two big bets cold. I think the Ace on the turn hurt my action a bit. Although, the one opponent at the end called me down with 66.

I could have played all 5 hand listed the same way.

[AJo Go All In]

i must not understand poker. you would have played 9d8d the same way? please explain.

[Dynasty]

You play it that way for the same reasons you would play AJ or KQ that way. You want to fold out hands behind you and make sure you win when you hit your 6-out hand to a full-house. When the Ace comes on the turn, it's a great scare card to bet.

[Paluka]

I would think making strange semi-bluff plays against ultra-loose opponents when you might be drawing dead in a smallish pot was a bad idea. So, I don't see how anyone makes a play like this with 89.

[Dynasty]

98 should be drawing very live here. There was no pre-flop raise, so it's very unlikely anybody holds AA, KK, QQ, or JJ. As long as somebody doesn't have the Ten, your six-outer is good. It's very valuable to get something like QJ to fold so that you can hit your 9 or 8 and not get outdrawn by overcards.

[skp]

You may have played the flop the same way with all of those hands but I doubt that you bet the river with 77 and I would say that checking with AJ on the turn is better than betting (particularly when the button coldcalls your flop raise).

I found it interesting that so many people picked AJ but hardly anyone picked KQ or 98. As you point out, they are all the same in the sense that you have 6 outers in each case (i.e. surely, someone has a pocket pair already with that many interested players on the flop). And out of those 3 hands, AJ may be the worst because of the greater likelihood of a split pot when you go on to pair on the turn or river. Well arguably, AJ is better than 98 as the pot is getting sizeable and you don't want redraws against you on the river if you happen to pair up on the turn. In any case, KQ is better than AJ.

[Dynasty]

[ QUOTE ]
but I doubt that you bet the river with 77

[/ QUOTE ]

You can doubt all you want. But, with nobody raising anywhere, I would have thought 77 was good on the river. If somebody had an Ace, they would have raised the turn. There's no reason to think somebody has a 9.

[Paluka]

I disagree that anyone with an A would have raised the turn. You bet last to act. If I was acting first I think I make much more money by just calling with an A and hoping the guys behind me drawing dead call too than by raising you. And when you raise this turn with an A you only really get called by other aces or quads.

[ACPlayer]

Not in my games. There are enough BAD scaredy cats that they would call with A hign on the flop and call again when they make T's full of A's.

I like my games.

[Paluka]

[ QUOTE ]
98 should be drawing very live here. There was no pre-flop raise, so it's very unlikely anybody holds AA, KK, QQ, or JJ. As long as somebody doesn't have the Ten, your six-outer is good. It's very valuable to get something like QJ to fold so that you can hit your 9 or 8 and not get outdrawn by overcards.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't even see how it is valuable to get QJ to fold to be honest. The only time that ever matters is when you hit your 8 or 9 on the turn and then they hit a Q or J on the river. That will happen less than 2% of the time. Unless you think somehow you are taking the pot down with 9 high, so you need Q high to fold?