Hand To Talk About

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Everyone:

Here's an interesting hand I played Friday night in the $30-$60 game at The Bellagio.

I was in the big blind with 5[img]/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif[/img]4[img]/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif[/img]. Two players limped in, and then a late position player who had been playing somewhat conservatively raised. I called and the limpers called.

The flop was Q[img]/forums/images/icons/spade.gif[/img]3[img]/forums/images/icons/spade.gif[/img]2[img]/forums/images/icons/club.gif[/img] giving me an open end straight draw. I bet, the two limpers folded, the preflop raiser raised, and I called.

The turn was the 4[img]/forums/images/icons/spade.gif[/img]. I checked, my opponent bet, I raised, and he called.

The river was the K[img]/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif[/img]. I bet and my opponent folded.

All comments welcome.

Best wishes,
Mason

[PokerPrince]

Call me a snaredrum but I don't think I'de even see the flop with this hand. Pissy position, conservative raiser, not closing the betting, and an OK at best hand would lead me to muck here preflop. But that's just me.

PokerPrince

[mikelow]

Ni bluff sur.

I think you opponent wimped out. Did he have A [img]/forums/images/icons/spade.gif[/img] J [img]/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif[/img] ? Did he have a pocket pair?

You should have been raised on the river. You would have folded, wouldn't you?

[Tyler Durden]

Mason, it's so tough for me to read your posts. Everything I've been working on and building is now coming crashing down around me. Calling a preflop raise in the BB with 54s??? I'd muck with no second thoughts. Can you explain your call?

I think you'd have a tough time convincing me that this play is +EV.

[mikelow]

Tyler,

If you have been following along for any length of time, Mason and David advocate defending the blinds (especially the big blind) with a lot of hands.

[mike l.]

really well played from start to finish! aggressive, tricky, and tough, and out of position to boot! eat em alive mason!!

[Ginogino]

Mason:
Preflop, if you can be fairly sure that the limpers will call the raise (and that seems very likely), you are getting 7-to-1 to put in your extra small bet. This seems like a reasonable gamble given that no one else is likely to hold either two diamonds or a 5 or a 4. I'm not so sure that I'd want to make this play as a routine matter, however. You might have to show a couple of this kind of hands down, and if it was a routine thing, you couldn't succeed with any frequency.

When the limpers fold your flop bet, you must have been a bit relieved. They represent your chief competition given the texture of the flop, assuming that your conservative pre-flop raiser doesn't hold a Queen or a high pocket pair or a spade draw. When the pre-flop raiser raises your flop bet it's possible he holds one of those three hands, but given the money in the pot you are getting 11-to-1 to try for your open-ended straight draw, which would beat most of his hands (unless he has a flush draw and also hits).

The spade 4 on the turn is a good news, bad news card. If he doesn't hold a spade flush at this point, the 4 can't have helped him, and it gives you quite a number of outs if what he holds at this point is a high pair or less. I like the check-raise. If you lead bet the turn and he raised, you wouldn't be able to put him on a flush, since he could be raising with a high pair and a singleton (high) spade. The check-raise represents something like a spade flush, or just possibly a set or two pairs, and you get a denial of a flush by way of his calling your check-raise.

The diamond K on the river is a scary card. If the Queen didn't pair him, it would seem that the King probably must. If on the other hand the King didn't pair him, then unless he holds AA, the K is a threat card to him. I can see how it would be worth one more bet to see if he's scared, and I'd defer to your judgment whether he'd lay down a pair of Queens for one big bet given your representation of a flush (or maybe lay down a pocket pair lower than Q's on the theory that the board K or Q must have hit you if you don't have the flush).

On the turn and river I'd expect you were prepared to lay down your hand had you encountered resistance. His passive play gives you the option of taking control. But your control is fragile. It's another reason for not playing the 45s as a routine thing in the big blind -- there are too many places where a card could hit him and you wouldn't know until you got raised on the turn or river. Each step gives you reason to take one more, but only against a conservative non-tricky player who can lay down something like non-top pair. This, in my opinion, is the key to the hand -- knowing your opponent. I also think that if at some point you decide to abandon the hand, you'd want to get it into the muck unseen (if called on the river, I'd toss my hand at the same time I was saying "Good call -- I was bluffing all the way!")

Gino

[Dynasty]

Calling a preflop raise in the BB with 54s??? I'd muck with no second thoughts.

You need to start thinking twice.

In a General thread, I was stunned posters wanted to fold 65s pre-flop in the big blind heads-up against a late position steal raise. With two other opponents, folding the similar 54s is a really poor decision.

The vast majority of the time the two limpers are going to call the raise giving you an excellent 7.5:1 on your call. How much of an overlay do you need?

[Hat Trick]

I was initially inclined to agree with the "fold with that even for one bet out of position" crowd until I read Dynasty's post. You're right Dynasty (as usual), the cards look bad but the pot odds justify it. I think given this, you played it perfectly, the flush bluff scared him off on the river, you have to figure he had a high spade and was looking for #4 on the board (As Q/J/10?).

[Kevin J]

I think the most debatable play was semi-bluff betting the flop with such a strong draw which pressures the two players between you and the pre-flop raiser to fold thereby eliminating some implied odds.

But this bet also enables you to find another way to win without necessarily having to complete your draw. As your later street play so clearly (and beautifully) shows. IMO-