Poke em in the eye and see if they blink

Time to talk about a hand I was not involved in…but could have been.

TehKitteh, with 15.51, opens to .30 from utg+2. The cut-off, Gator John, with 15.67, click-raises to .50, it is folded back to TheKitteh who flat-calls.

Now, I absolutely HATE the click-raise. Kitteh put in .30 voluntary, risking .30 cents to win .15. The raise back to him is now 20 cents to win 75, almost 4-1. There is no hand worth raising that is not worth calling that idiotic raise with.

So if he is “raising for information”…he got none. Well, a little…if Kitteh comes over the top you can put him on Queens or better or big slick.

So they take a 5c/10d/4s flop heads up with a pot of just over a buck. Kitteh checks, Gator raises .80 and Kitteh again flats it.

What a weird bet. If you are going to min-raise pre-flop, why come out betting 80% of the pot? I am lost in this hand. Is he betting for value or from fear?

The turn pairs the board, the 4c. Kitteh checks, Gator raises 1.45. Okay, another weird bet, from a percentage look he is betting in reverse, putting in 45% of the pot. Now it reads as he is scared. Which Kitteh pounces on with a re-pop to 5.40.

Check-raises on the turn scream strength. He raised and flatted pre-flop which screams drawing hand; a/x suited, medium pocket pairs, suited connectors all fit the bill. There are now two baby clubs…so I guess he could be playing a backdoor draw REALLY weird. Or two overs to the board…I guess Jacks, Queens, Kings are in his range, as are a/j+ of clubs.

Actually, A/10c would make a lot of sense here…top pair, nut flush draw, fold equity. But so would pocket 4s or pocket 5s trying to build a pot big enough to warrant a river all-in.

Gator calls the re-raise.

The river is the 5h. Kitteh leads out all-in with the last 8.81 and gets a call. I really expect to see maybe A/4, 4/5, A/10c+, or an over pair…yes, that wide of range.

Gator is more the over-pair desperately hoping his Jacks or Aces are still good.

Kitteh has pocket 10s and Gator pocket Kings.

I have mentioned before how I hate getting involved with hands in the big blind. It is virtually always something I would not play otherwise, but then I hit just enough to continue the hand because it seems I should and I get crushed. Exceptions would be the odd speculative hand I want to see cheap…pocket deuces, A/x suited, maybe J/10 or a medium suited connector.

But when utg+2 limps with 4.59 as does the next guy with 5.41and the small blind with 9.65, I look at 8s/kc and check.

I am not exactly ecstatic when the flop comes 7s/ks/7c. This hits all sorts of hands people limp with. But when the big blind checks, I lead out for half the pot, .20 cents. UTG+1 click-raises, the middle position calls.

Now, had mp not called, I probably re-raise here. Click-raise is weak. But the over call by the squeeze position worries me. I almost fold but decide to call and see what happens on the turn.

Plus, there are pretty good chances I might be up against something like A/7s or K/J type hands that have me drawing pretty thin.

The turn is the Jc. A/J, K/J now are ahead of me. I am not real interested in playing a big pot here, especially against two other players. I check, the utg+2 bets .50, roughly 1/3 the pot. MP raises to 1.40, I fold, utg goes all in and gets a call.

With that action, one had to have a 7 and best guess for the other would be over pair. As it turns out, one had 7h/10h (the first all-in) and the second had 7d/8c. They are on track for a split pot until the river drops an 8 on them.

I am actually pretty happy about this. I probably should not have called the first re-raise, but I did not keep chasing long after I was obviously beat. Had the over call not happened, I probably would have gotten stacked here.

All too often, hitting a big pair like a King is something I chase too long so maybe I am improving my level of play.

I still struggle to figure out what to do with Big Slick or, as I often call it…Anna Kournikova. Looks sexy, wins nothing. UTG+1 opens to .20 with 5.93, UTG+2 flat-calls with 10 even, the hi-jack also calls with 9.90. In the cut-off, I look down at Ac/Ks and 9.66.

A call is not going to happen here. With this many people, I am highly unlikely to win a pot and many are likely to have speculative hands or soft aces. I can either fold or re-raise. I consider both and elect to raise to 1.15. UTG+2, mp, and the hi-jack all call.

I like the flop quite a bit. Ad/7c/2c. Maybe someone hit the club draw, a bit less likely are pocket 7s, A/7s, a/2s, or pocket deuces. Other than that, I am ahead.

There is about 5 bucks in the pot, I normally bet a couple of bucks here…but this time I have some sort of brain cramp and bet 8.51 all in.

I hate, hate, hate that bet. It is way too much for too little. With the action on the hand, pocket sevens are well with the range of hands they could have.

Nor am I happy when I get a call by a guy who has me covered. He flips up…10/9c, on the flush draw. Okay, as bad as I played it…he played it worse.

Turn is a 10 but the river is a blank and my over-play pulls down a 20.32 pot.

Another difficult one to play for me is over pairs to the board. Sitting behind 20.23, I watch the utg take his time, then raise to .60, 6 times the big blind. On the button, I have two black kings. Time to decide what to do.

Over-raises like that usually represent a small pair that does not want action, though occasionally someone will trap with Aces with the fish-bet. He has 7.58, so I am risking about a third of my stack on this hand.

I decide to put on some pressure and re-raise to 1.95 which he flats. Now we have over 4 bucks in the pot and the flop comes 10s/qs/9d. He insta-bets all in 5.63 and I am completely lost in the hand.

The over bet pre-flop COULD represent pocket 9s, 10s, or Queens…but I think it is more likely to be 6s or below. His call indicates he is a poor player…if he had re-popped me pre-flop I would be more inclined to think Jacks or Queens.

At the same time, I cannot completely discount a set. I am not really counting K/J type non-sense. I actually cannot get my head around any other hand but a small pocket that missed and he was betting the flop regardless of what came.

Based on his poor pre-flop line and the instantaneous nature of his flop shove, I THINK I am way ahead of something like threes or deuces and he is trying to scare me away. At the same time, there is a chance I am drawing thin if he does have queens. I guess a suited A/Q is a remote possibility but I do not even consider it.

Additionally, I have Jacks as a probable out for the straight. I call.

I would never in a million years have put him on the hand he has. As/9h. He hit bottom pair, backdoor flush draw. He never improves and I pick up the 14.29 pot.

Wow, I cannot even describe how badly he played that hand. He opened under the gun with a weak ace, called a strong re-raise, and shoved with bottom pair on a dangerous board it was almost impossible to have not hit the re-raiser. I should write his name down and play more pots with him.

At the same time, I should also really think about my own play. Unquestionably I played the pre-flop correctly. If he comes over the top again I am not sure if I call there…but I suspect I do. I would put his range on J/J+, A/K, A/Qs and I have pretty good equity against that.

On the flop…well, utg usually represents strength but over-bets indicate weakness so on a pretty nasty board, I have to think what he could have hit. Again…if he hit K/J playing like that, he is going to stack me no doubt.

Against a set I am a 4-1 dog, against a flush draw I am a 3-1 favorite, against anything else he could REASONABLY hold…pockets lower than 7s I will argue…I am a big favorite. So yeah…I think I need to call here.

So this was a pretty nice session, and will cover a few errors along the way....