Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Two all-ins and a fold

I thought these three hands were pretty challenging. I'd be interested to hear comments from anyone who cares to give them.

I lost this first hand last week. I flopped a set of Aces on a all-hearts board, and then I decided to jam the flop after the small blind check-raised. I figured I was ahead of his hand range, which could include a lot of straight draws, flush draws and two pair hands. Even if I was behind, I had seven outs on the turn and 10 on the river to make a boat.

The way I see it, I either push all in on this flop, or I call the flop raise and a turn bet, then somehow find a fold on the river. I don't like that line at all though. Does anyone have a better idea?

Texas Hold'em NL $10/$20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero (button) Ac As
Hero raises $70
SB calls $60
BB calls $50
*** FLOP *** Ah, Kh, Qh
SB Checks
BB Checks
Hero Bets $175
SB Raises $350
BB Folds
Hero Raises $1,811 and is All in
SB Calls $1,636
*** TURN *** 3d
*** RIVER *** 2d
*** SUMMARY ***
SB had Jh 8h and wins $4,180 (Flush, ace high)

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I really liked how this next hand turned out.

When the big river donkbet came out, I clicked on the guy's name and checked out his stats. It turns out that he was betting out every single river! He was also a pretty loose and aggressive player, and his actions in the hand simply didn't add up. He talked for a few minutes in the chat box about how I should have folded and just got lucky.

No-Limit Hold'em, $5/$10 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is Button with Qh, Kd. SB posts a blind of $5.

5 folds, CO calls $10, Button raises to $45, 2 folds, CO calls $35.

Flop: ($105) Qc, 6d, 2s (2 players)

CO checks, Button bets $80, CO calls $80.

Turn: ($265) 3c (2 players)

CO checks, Button bets $200, CO calls $200.

River: ($665) 8d (2 players)

CO calls $788.50 (All-In), Hero calls $463.50.

Final Pot: $1917

Results:

CO has Td Th (one pair, tens).
Hero has Qh Kd (one pair, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins $1917
.
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This hand threw me a little because I couldn't understand what my opponent would limp-call with UTG preflop. My read on him was that he was the kind of player who would have raised JTs first in, and he definitely would have raised hands like AK and KQ. But I figure he would limp-call with JTo. It's hard to put him on exactly that hand though, especially given his suspicious preflop play and turn donkbet. Maybe I got bluffed:

No-Limit Hold'em, $5/10 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 9c, 9d. SB posts a blind of $5.

UTG calls $10, 1 fold, CO raises to $45, 3 folds, UTG calls $35.

Flop: ($105) Qs, Ks, Ac (2 players)

UTG checks, CO bets $80, UTG calls $80.

Turn: ($265) Kh (2 players)

UTG bets $250, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $515

5 comments:

SirFWALGMan said...

On that last hand why did you call the turn bet? Was it because you thought your 9's were good or just cause it was smallish and well I am not folding to that!!! I think I would be done with that hand when he fired the second bullet. I think he had two pair or something. Called you with KJ or some crap. You do not even beat bottom pair though.

Robert Hogan said...

This is why I hate bullets. I think you played it right, except for going on all in. Once he SB doubled you up I would have put him on making his flush, his straight or holding a high pair which he would have also tripped. I would have called his raise (thinking that I’m still in good position here) then see how he bets on the turn. In my opinion I would rather fold on the turn if he comes out strong, which he would almost certainly do at this point.

The second hand was great. It’s great to be able to practically know what another player holds based on how they have been playing, and then making them pay for it.

That last hand seems like you went up against a donk and hand to make a hard fold. Those are the ones that hurt me the most.

Fuel55 said...

Hand 1 - you cant fold. If he has a made flush he has JhXh and is a donkey and if he has a made str8 (JT) you have outs.

Hand 2 - I might have figured a set (6 3 or 2) given the preflop limp could mean 66 33 or 22. I am guessing pokertracker paid for itself many times over here ...

Hand 3 - lots of possibilities and you were 98% behind. Easy fold. 6-max UTG range could be farily wide to include a lot of King-containing hands.

kurokitty said...

True, you could be looking at a str8 in the first hand (two years ago, I lost a $200 buy-in at the Bellagio's old $2/5NL game when I flopped a set of jacks and got reraised all in by a flopped str8) but I feel the min raise really is the telling factor.

Recently I've been reraising these draws all-in as well. I'm willing to have these donks put their draw to the test and when you look at it, it's incorrect for them to call a full buy-in so they can have a chance to hit their 9-outer twice.

Re: the second hand, I feel like on Bocat people aren't familiar with the CR offense and really feel like a 3/4 pot bet is a donk bet. So you're good there.

On the third hand, I feel like I can see Taylor Caby folding here. Sure it could be a bluff, but it doesn't feel like it. Besides, your nines aren't good to any overpair anyway. The fact that he's calling your flop bet is a warning.

Guin said...

AA hand: I think check/calling saves you a ton of cash... weak but only way they have the flush draw is if they have a hand like Jh10x which also has you beat.

Do you think if the board pairs that they will not call your value bet?

KQ hand: Is this you using Brian Townsend's PA HUD display info correctly? If so then I hope we can chat about that HUD reading skill because it is something I lack currently. Nice hand.

99 hand: Not sure if I liked your cbet here... horrible flop for you and I think you should give it up. UTG limp calling is going to float you for sure and the pot sized bet does exactly that. If you wanted to cbet I think you check flop and bet out 1/2 pot on turn. I put opponent on Axs and the turn convinced him that top two pair with Q kicker was splitting most likely.