Hand to Talk About

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Everyone:

I briefly sat in a $30-$60 game this evening and a hand came up that I found interesting. Note that I threw my hand away before the flop.

Here's what happened. In the game, there was a maniac player who was raising with the majority of the hands that he was dealt and played pretty nutty after that.

So our maniac raised first in in early position, a player two to his left, who I will refer to as our hero, reraised, everyone folded to the big blind who called, and the maniac called.

The flop came 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. The big blind checked, the maniac bet, and our hero threw his hand away.

I don't remember what else happened, but there should be enough right here for a pretty good discussion.

All comments are welcome.

best wishes,
Mason

[J.A.Sucker]

Hi Mason,

Not much discussion here. The hero is an idiot.

Best regards,

Sucker

[SGS]

I really don't understand how our "hero" can throw his hand away for one small bet when there are already ten in the pot and he could very well have the best hand given that the maniac bet into him. If I were the "hero" I think this is a clear raise on the flop.

SGS

[partygirluk]

This can never be correct without some overwhelming pyshical tell.

[bugstud]

If the big blind is a good player who would flatcall with his best hands here, this play could be argued for. I still don't see it, however.

[NLSoldier]

Mason,

Does the fact that the maniac just called the 3 bet rather than 4 betting mean anything? In other words, was the maniac usually 4 betting when he was 3 bet or not? If not, the non 4 bet could indicate a sign of great strength or weakness relative to his usual raising hands. Some kind of tell related to this fact is the only reason I can see for the hero to be folding this hand on the flop.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi soildier:

I wasn't in the game that long so I can't say for sure, but I don't think this was the case.

Best wishes,
Mason

[captZEEbo1]

maybe he had a hand like KQ?, then once bb called, he figured bb would call him down with A hi or any pp?

[Chris Daddy Cool]

I think the hero in this hand was concerned about the BB's coldcall.

[jimdmcevoy]

I apologize for being off topic here, but does anyone here think this is unethical?

His fold could disadvantage the BB player no?

Could this possibly be his intention, to keep the maniac with the money?