just like the fishies!

[mike l.]

i have Ad5d and limp after 2 limpers in a good live 15-30 hold em game. 2 players limp behind me, button raises, all call incuding both blinds.

8 of us see the flop of 8h7c4d. all check to the button who bets, 2 callers to me, i call, cutoff calls.

5 of us see the turn which is Js. checked to the cutoff who now comes alive and bets. button calls, utg calls, i call, someone else calls.

5 of us see the river 6c. checked to me and i bet, only the cutoff calls, he shows J8o.

comments?

[astroglide]

fold to the wakeup bet on the turn. he didn't pick up a flush draw.

[DeezNuts]

[The _Grifter]

Not sure what you were trying to accomplish in this pot since winning it wasn't ever going to happen.

[Billy LTL]

At first I thought you were wrong to check to the button on the flop, thinking much better to try to get into a raising war with him to get out better aces and higher straight draws.

But upon further thought, with 21 small bets in the pot I doubt that would happen anyway. In fact I guess your ace is almost or completely dead, so much better I think to check call your way down to the river. Which you did.

Nice hand. Billy

[Billy LTL]

Not sure what you were trying to accomplish in this pot since winning it wasn't ever going to happen.

I read it as Mike winning a monster pot.

[gaylord focker]

Cant fold here, you are getting about 13 to 1 when the action gets to you on the turn. Thats plenty more than what you need, even assuming that your ace is dead. I think its pretty straight forward. Good hand.

[StoneAge]

Considering I might be drawing dead to 9T or a split to someone else with a 5, plus the fact that I am not going to get a lot of action from lesser hands and a lot from a T9 (or yes even a 59 suuuited!) I can't count my outs as 4, so 13:1 is not good enough for me, I'd fold.
But heck I sometimes play too tight.

[brad]

i dont know if this really makes sense but in real loose games like this (everybody throws chips in but not much if any 3 betting) i really think drawing to a big hand is profitable even if its slightly EV.

ok that came out real bad.

but what i mean is that its not like a normal game, here losing a bet here and there is no big deal simply because theres so many chips flying around its real easy to get them back.

[mike l.]

i think brad makes a good point. i have been trying hard to find ways to lower my variance in games like this though.

for me this pot was a no brainer. im getting correct implied odds on the flop and turn. if someone had T9 for the upper open ended straight draw a lot of bets wouldve went in on the flop and i wouldve folded. i posted this cause a: it shows how in big pots seemingly fishy things like gutshots are really perfectly reasonable drawing hands and b: as a reality check: i knew some of you would say something completely ignorant like "fold". so to those of you who were confused in some way by this hand let it serve as a wake up call that you lack understanding of even the most basic hold em concepts. go read theory of poker about ten times and come back then.

only reason i remembered this hand was because a woman across the table from me was noticeably shaking her head in disgust at my clearly fishy horrid play as i stacked the chips. she tries to play well (whatever strange thing "well" happens to be in her mind at least) but seems constantly angry and baffled by this game that takes up so much of her free time. i dont think ive ever seen her win a session. she comes close to epitomizing my favorite opponent.