Hey yo, folks. Hopefully, you’ve had your coffee or other beverage and are now ready to discuss some poker! No? Oh. Well, this is embarrassing. I didn’t really prepare for anything else. What? Ok. I guess we’ll just do the hand thing anyway.
This was a hand in one of the $5+.50 NLHE single table SNGs I was playing on Stars. I was playing four such tables simultaneously at the time.
Blinds on the subject table were 15/30 and I had 1265 in MP when I was dealt 3
3
. I had been mostly passive with some bursts of raises and opted to raise this hand to 90 after it folded to me. It folded to the BB, Itak, who raised to 210, or 120 more. I opted to call in position, hoping to hit a set.
The flop was a beautiful 3
6 6. I flopped a full house! BOOM! I think. Or, CHOO CHOO, as the case may be.
Itak was first to act and checked. I decided to be 240 into the 420 pot. I was c-betting fairly regularly and thought that a check would be suspicious. To my joy, he raised 420 on top, or 660 total. I decided to just flat call, even though that only left me with less than 400 chips. At the time, I figured that we were going to get the chips all-in on the turn no matter what, so I may as well continue to look like I was hesitant and maybe he’d do the work for me.
The turn was a 6. Itak bet 420, to put me all-in. I folded.
The way I saw it, Itak likely had a pocket pair, and any pocket pair better than 22 had me beat. The 6 was a terrible turn, but once it happened, I had to accept it. There was a slim chance, I suppose, that my opponent had AK, but assuming that to be true, why raise on the flop and lead with a bet on the turn. Now, I suppose, he could have put me on two high-cards, but based on the action, I just thought it much more likely that he had a pocket pair.
So, opinions on the hand? Was my fold too weak? Should I have got it in on the flop or was that just a red herring (i.e., it didn’t matter either way, until that turn came and everything changed).
Your thoughts?
Until next time, make mine poker!
July 6th, 2010 - 3:10 pm
Good fold. No problem with it. As I’m reading it, I’m thinking you were going to say that the turn was a K or A. BB is definitely repping TT+. I think folding is your only option unless you feel like chasing your 1-outter
.
July 6th, 2010 - 3:16 pm
I would have re-raised all in on the flop. The flat call makes him suspicious that you have him beat. He might not put more chips in unless he knows he has you beat, which the turn probably did.
With a $5 SNG I’d probably call the final raise and expect that I might lose. If a lot more money was on the line I’d take more time to think about options.
July 6th, 2010 - 5:12 pm
get it in on flop. If he has 99 – KK there are too many cards on turn/riv that kill the action, as it looks pretty obvious he wants to get his $$ in. And you were both pretty much committed anyway. You can’t get too worried about a 3 outer there on the flop, just bad luck that the 6 came.
So were you able to battle it back, or did you go out shortly after?
July 6th, 2010 - 5:47 pm
You played this fine except for the flop, where you should have gotten all the money in. If he’s raising that flop, he either has a 6 (which gives him 4 clean outs and a running pair to win) or he has an overpair (which gives him two clean outs to win). There’s almost a zero probability he’ll fold for 420 more, so your best move is to shove with him drawing light. Just because the result didn’t bear out doesn’t mean that wasn’t the right play. But given your line, where you call, you did the right thing to fold.
July 6th, 2010 - 6:18 pm
For $5, I push on the flop after he kicks me back. And for $5, I make the crying call on the turn, and focus my game elsewhere. At the $5 levels, you will occasionally run into the bluffing doofus who will push with AK with three of a kind on the board.
You’re right that he likely has a pocket pair or AK based on his preflop bet, and his push on the turn tilts it to the pocket pair, but you also need to remember what kinds of players dwell in the microlimits.
July 6th, 2010 - 6:29 pm
Don’t like preflop b/c you’re not deep enough to set mine and at this level villains that repop from the blinds aren’t smart enough to fold anything on the flop, esp low paired ones, so you’re going to end up playing a big pot if you continue postflop whether you spike or not.
As played villain likes his hand, just threeball all-in for 400 more.
Call turn and berate villain when he shows up with A6 or 44 or something clowny like that. It’s more fun that way.
July 6th, 2010 - 6:31 pm
Hmmm at 15/30 blinds I’d be limping from mp ( probably folding from ep) and only calling a raise if there was another caller behind me.Unless you’ve been raising 1010+ I’d also be easing back on those “raise bursts” until the later stages.I also agree with the guys who’ve said to just get it in on the flop as I doubt the villain is folding.Good fold on the turn though.Even at $5 it certainly looks like he has a pair given the action.
July 7th, 2010 - 9:35 am
I like a lot of these comments if you were playing a single table or playing it live, but from one who is playing for volume, I’d look at it like this…this is a $5 bet. It’s up to you in your current session whether that’s something you want to risk. If you play for volume, keep grinding and make good decisions. That being said, I wouldn’t be raising with 3′s when there isn’t really much steal equity, and if someone calls and you whiff…then where are you at? At 15/30, there’s no need to get married to a low pair. If indeed you do get raised preflop, there has to be enough EV in his stack size if you hit…I generally use a 15-1 ratio…if he raises to 400 and has 7500, that’s a far greater amount of chips he’s willing to stack off with KK or AA, etc than if he just has 1500. Looking at it that way, raising isn’t really worth risking this early. My line would have been to limp for 15 to see where I’m at, and if I get raised, one check of the ratio would tell me that I’m not getting enough out of his stack if I hit a set.