Hand to Talk About

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Everyone:

I think this is my first no limit Hand to Talk About. Here goes.

I was playing in the $10-$20 blind no limit game at The Bellagio. First off this is a true no limit game with no cap on the buy-in.

I had about $900 in chips and my opponent had a lot more.

One player limped in early (for $20). It was folded to me in middle position and I made it $80 holding A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. Everyone folded back to the limper who called the additional $60. This put $190 in the pot.

The flop was 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. My opponent checked. I bet $100 and he called.

The turn was the A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. We both checked.

The river was the 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. My opponent bet $300 and I called.

All comments are welcome.

Best wishes,
Mason

[bugstud]

Impressive. Other than having a short buyin, I see not much wrong with this hand. You check the turn to manage the pot and ensure you can see a showdown reasonably and possible induce bluffs.

[soah]

The flop bet does not seem very big. Were underbets frequently taking down pots on the flop? The rest looks good. Turn check saves money in case you're behind and may induce a weaker hand to bet the river (and may prevent a checkraise bluff that you can't call? Or maybe this wasn't a concern). The hand seems pretty basic... so I must be missing something. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Everyone:

I think this is my first no limit Hand to Talk About. Here goes.

I was playing in the $10-$20 blind no limit game at The Bellagio. First off this is a true no limit game with no cap on the buy-in.

I had about $900 in chips and my opponent had a lot more.

[/ QUOTE ]

Gee whiz Mason, with all the money you must be making selling books and off this web site you think you could play a little deeper? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

~ Regards,

Rick

PS Still love the forum but it's just too darn big these days [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Arsene Lupin III]

Hi Mason,

I understand that people will read your posts simply because you are the poster, but could you be more descriptive in the subject line?

I don't enjoy making this call on the end, but it's necessary and the exact reason you checked the flop. Good control of the pot size there, but the underbet on the flop is strange. Why not go 150 or pot it? You don't get the free street often enough to make the 6-out SB often enough and you may induce a reraise.

Other than the flop, tho, it seems fine.

[quix0tic]

How is he not good here? With the exception of villain flopping some monster, He checked behind to induce a bluff and let the other guy think the ace was a scare card. Pretty standard, and when you induce a bluff, you call on the end especially with aces up on this board. I definetely think he is ahead. I would (and regularly do) play same on all streets with slightly larger flop bet.

[coltrane]

Hi Mason,

I think you played this hand perfectly if you had $9000 in chips......with $900, I don't love it.....with a 45xBB stack, your preflop raise amount is suspect IMO....from MP, I think you should've either limped or raised more.....the pot is like ~25% of your remaining stack on the flop.....what if the turn had blanked, were you gonna fire off half your stack with a second barrel?.....and if you checked a blank turn, would you have called a river bet with A-high?....

I'm not sure what regular preflop raise amounts were at the table, but I just think with such a short stack your play on early streets needs to be tighter and more aggressive....

[start_to_finish]

"You check the turn to manage the pot and ensure you can see a showdown reasonably and possible induce bluffs.

[/ QUOTE ]"

Since this is no limit, I don't see how checking the turn ensures a "reasonable" showdown. The 1st player could move all in on the river whether or not the turn is checked.

[Shaun]

Looks good to me. I wouldn't play it much differently.

[technologic]

it would be helpful if there were any reads on opponents, and the stack size of the opponent when he limped, and your table image if it's available.

i don't know about the turn check "inducing" a bluff. since the limper limped in the EP, i'll assume his standards for limping in this position are high, either a pocket pair or two big suited cards. if he is betting on the river, he either thinks he has hero beat for sure, or, he is on a pure bluff. i don't know if villain would throw out a blocking bet for that much of the pot, noting hero's short stack.

if he's on a pure bluff, that means that he was on the draw on the turn, and mason let him get there for free. only if mason thinks that if villain would take a shot at the pot if he missed should he check the turn. also what does mason do if the heart does drop in that spot. if mason bets there, villain is not getting any implied to draw, and his hand will be more defined, and if he is willing to bluff the river, mason may able to stack his short stack with this hand.

if villain has a hand, he most likely has 99 or AK. in that situation, he'll probably repop the turn, in which case mason can throw his hand in the muck.


in essence, i would have bet the turn, because you make more when you're ahead or don't let hands draw for free, and lose the same amount when you're behind.


but yea, mason, try to post hands that have more than 45x BB.