20/40 Live hand I played

[PGarlic]

I've been reading and enjoying the hands posted in this room for quite some time now. I would like to contribute more but it seems like I never have any hands where I feel totally lost. I do make mistakes of course, but I usually just go over those hands myself and try to analyze the situation using my knowledge of the players at the table. I thought I would just post a interesting hand I played with comments.

The game is 20/40 NL. It's going 3 handed between myself, Marcus, and Allen. Both are good players. Allen is a tight player who likes to trap often. Marcus likes to play a LOT of hands but knows where he's at in the hand most of the time. He really likes to put the pressure on his opponents but doesn't like calling off his chips with the worst of it.

BB Jeremy - myself -($4,000)
SB Marcus($15,000)
Button Allen($5,000)

Preflop:
I'm dealt AQo.

Allen limps in, Marcus makes it $240 total.

That's an interesting raise I thought. We've been playing fairly passive preflop recently , suddenly Marcus makes a fairly big raise OOP. I was thinking of re raising him right there, as AQ is a good hand playing 3 ways but I chose to play the hand with position.

Jeremy calls, Allen folds.

Flop:
Qh 8s 5c

Marcus bets $400

At this point I felt I had the best hand. This looked like a continuation/feeler bet. Marcus knows I'm a tight player, when I call his big raise preflop he should put me on an appropriate range of hands. Out of those hands, which ones would like this flop? JJ? AK? He knows I'm re popping it with AA or KK and most likely QQ, and I'm just calling with worse hands. It seems like I could only have one hand that likes this flop and that's 88 55 or AQ.

If I re raise now he will fold all hands that I'm currently beating. I chose to play this hand with position so that I could extract the most money when I'm ahead and lose the minimum when behind. I opt to just call the flop and give him a chance to make a mistake.

Jeremy calls $400

Turn:
Qh 7s 4c 9h

Marcus bets $1,200

I was really surprised by this bet. I noticed he liked his hand more on the turn then the flop, how could that turn card have helped him? Maybe it didn't help him and he did indeed hold AA or KK. I did call his flop bet and there aren't many draws out there. I decided that if he had me beat at the moment I was gonna pay him. I thought that would our history (him pushing me off of hands quite often) and the strength of my hand I was gonna have to go all in.

Jeremy bets all in, Marcus calls.

He called instantly.

River:
Qh 7s 4c 9h 2s

He ended up holding JhTh, which makes sense.

Preflop he gets a hand which he believes can be played profitably against two tight opponents if played aggressively. On the flop he goes ahead and makes a continuation bet, a Q high flop is likely not desirable to me. I just call him. In his eyes, this could either be a few hands , from moderate to monster. On the turn he picks a lot of outs to beat any hand. So he bets enough to put my whole stack in question. He knows I will likely drop everything from KQ on down, with AQ being a borderline decision. Even if I have something as strong as a set he still has decent pot equity.

Well I thought this hand was interesting, hope you liked it.

[fsuplayer]

the third person thing confused the hell out of me.

but with only 100BB against an aggro player, im not folding this, esp. on the turn. nh.

[yvesaint]

def post more, i like this

i was confused for a while though, didnt realize jeremy = you

however i think if its obvious you only re-raise AA-QQ, AK preflop 3-handed, you need to open up a bit

as you say, hes a fairly aggro player, so his range is big. you have position on him, and a decent holding. his large raise is weird, so i dont fault calling at all, im just saying that it shouldnt be easy to put you on a hand when you re-raise preflop, especially 3-handed.

however im more likely to do this with T7s than AQo

[BobboFitos]

[ QUOTE ]
the third person thing confused the hell out of me.

but with only 100BB against an aggro player, im not folding this, esp. on the turn. nh.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah... This is very standard, although you had options, such as reraising pf. But the way you played it was nice.

[mscags]

Very nicely played IMHO

[Ray Zee]

hi jeremy,
you have come a long way since i first played with you. i am glad as you deserve it.

you did fine here but include in your thoughts whether he would have bet again if he didnt pick up somethng or out draw you. then maybe you would be better off raising on the flop.
good luck and hope to see you down there in late jan. sometime.

zee

[Matt Flynn]

Is this the same Marcus? The one Ray played the AKs hand against?

If so, may I ask what time he was at LC's?

[PGarlic]

Thanks Ray. I look forward to playing with you again, the game has gotten more popular since you left. As for the hand, this was a rare occurence of me playing with two good players short handed. The only reason I was playing because it was the must move game to a juicier table.

I have only played a handful of hands with villain otherwise. At the time of this hand I had very little experience playing against him. When he called on the flop I wasn't sure if he would only continue with the hand if he picked up a big draw or a better hand. I did feel like I was way ahead though. At the time, I felt like I was playing too straight forward, bet and raised when I had something, checked and folded when I didn't. I was planning on shifting gears and I thought this would be a good hand to start on.

[cero_z]

Hi Jeremy,

It's always good to see posts from these games on this forum. Thanks for posting it.

I don't really like either your or your opponent's play here, though yours is better IMO. A lot hinges on how well he thinks he reads you, and whether he understands when to back off. From this one hand, it appears that he does neither that well.

[ QUOTE ]
It seems like I could only have one hand that likes this flop and that's 88 55 or AQ...If I re raise now he will fold all hands that I'm currently beating. I chose to play this hand with position so that I could extract the most money when I'm ahead and lose the minimum when behind. I opt to just call the flop and give him a chance to make a mistake.


[/ QUOTE ]

Right, but if your read of his read of you is correct, then how could he make a mistake? If he knows your hand is at least AQ, and you in fact hold that "minimum", then you're just giving him a free shot to hit a card on you and probably bust you (it'd be different if he was right about your range, but you actually held a set).

As we saw, though, he either didn't read your call the way you thought, or couldn't help himself when he turned a OESFD; either way, he has issues. If I was in his spot after you called the flop, I'd only put the most nit-tight players on AQ+ as their range, but if I somehow did put you on that, I damn sure wouldn't bet 1200 with a fantastic draw. That bet doesn't move AQ, gets raised by sets, and I have to call. I'm either checking and responding to a bet as though I have 13 outs and will get it all in if I hit, or I'm moving all-in myself. Moving all-in says, "You called me once with a pair or a draw or whatever; I have one pair, it's better than your hand, and you're not moving me". His bet of 1200 was god-awful.

I think you played AQ too weakly for the conditions (shorthanded, in position, against a LAG), and got lucky because you hit. Usually, of course, he's taking your 240 bucks on the flop.

[mikech]

[ QUOTE ]
He ... doesn't like calling off his chips with the worst of it.

[/ QUOTE ]
but he did. even with his big draw he's at best 3-to-1, the pot's not giving him enough to call your push.

i would've checked the turn in his spot, with the intention of c/r'ing all-in if you bet.