Hand by hand 5

So now, riding high with 8.01, I fall into one of the traps I sometimes fall into.MP takes a moment, then opens to .15 with 6.49 and, with Ac/2c I call from the next seat.

A weak suited Ace is a hand I do not mind raising with, but I think calling is less wise unless 2 or 3 other people have already called. Here I will struggle to make enough when I hit the hand for it to be worthwhile, I will face a re-raise too often to be comfortable…and worse yet, if the re-raise comes early and gets a couple calls, I could find myself priced into calling and now having put in 60 or 70 cents on a long shot drawing hand.

The small blind is the only other customer with 4.96 and in a small bit of good news…post-flop I have the button. On the dark side…I have a weak ace drawing hand…

…and flop the draw. 8c/9d/7c. A flop which also hits lots of other draws. The sb checks, the mp raises .20. This is a smallish raise, and I like it…the sb is more likely to come along, I am getting the right price if someone has 10/J or something like 2 pair…I flat-call.

The small blind folds so now we are heads up. The turn is the 5c. I do not have a mortal lock on the hand…he could conceivably have 4c/6c or something that would give him the straight flush, in which case all the chips are going in, or he could have a set.

He checks and I have to think. If he has a set or smaller flush, a bet here is the correct play. If he has a straight, it may or may not be the right play. If he has a pair of some sort or draw a bet might scare him away. Really, the two primary possibilities are A) he has a monster he is slow-playing, in which case the river will see some big bets and raises, or B) he made his continuation bet and now is done with the hand in which case I am unlikely to extract more.

The other possibilities pretty much all have him having a hand he MIGHT call a small bet on the river so I elect to check behind, slow-playing a hand which I rarely do.

The river is the 9s, pairing the board which I am not enthused about but not overly worried. I think he most likely bets a set on the turn. He checks, I look at a pot of less than .90 and decide about .55 seems right. Happily he calls. I think he probably has a pair with good kicker, maybe an over pair, and less likely but possible a straight.

He shows Jh/Jc, a believable hand the way he played. The pre-flop raise, the continuation bet on the flop, checking when the hand that beats you hits the turn, and make the crying call on the river. I could have easily been afraid of the flush with my turn check as well.

Oddly, winning this hand kind of shows why I think the pre-flop call was poor. All the elements were in place for this to be a big pot…a board that hits a lot of draws versus an over pair. The odds of flopping a flush are one in 15 or so. I put in .90 so I made .97 on the hand…so I got about 6.467-1 on my pre-flop call.

Long-term, this play is a loser even if in the short term it feels nice.

If I can figure out how to build a bigger pot here it becomes worthwhile, but in this case…the result was good but the play was arguable. If I open raise, I am fine with it….calling seems a bit weaker to me.

I pick up 9h/9c in the small blind, everyone folds to me, I raise and take the big blind.

From middle position I open with Ac/Ks and again everyone folds. I like adding to my stack with no risk.


I also like being over 9, if just barely, at 9.01.

On the button I open to .15 with Js/Qs. The small blind re-pops to .40 with 1.89. Now, normally I fold here. The vast majority of players either call or fold in that spot, so I credit him with a better than average hand. For whatever reason, I elect to call this time.

The flop is a complete whiff…3c/8c/6s. He continuation bets .40, a call I routinely make planning to have them check the turn, bet and take down the pot. The turn is the 7s and he bets 1.09 all in and now I have a problem. Normally this is an easy fold…I have to put him on a better hand than me…probably high pocket pair. I have nothing.

But…BUT…now I have backed into something where it is correct to call. There is 2.69 in the pot, it is 1.09 to call…slightly wrong odds, but I call…and he is in worse shape than I thought with Ad/Qh. I luck into the Ks on the river and win with the flush.

If the hand works backwards, I played horribly…but step by step I like my decisions.

Admittedly on the turn my odds were slightly wrong…but it is a call I will normally make anyway. There is a chance either high card wins, the flush almost certainly wins. And since I was playing the situation more than the cards…those are just bonus babies.

From middle position with 10.65 I open to .15 with 9s/Js. The next seat calls with 5 even, then the next seat raises to .67 leaving himself only .56 behind. I am in the squeeze position looking at playing an all in pot with Jack high…easy fold.

UTG with 10.50 and Qd/Qs, I open to .15 and everyone folds. This illustrates yet again why I do not regret the previous raise with the suited Jack…a fair amount of the time I pick up the blinds or win on the flop with a continuation bet.

UTG limps with 8.64, mp comes along with 2.51, I am in the big blind with 8c/10s and check. I do not mind seeing a flop with a hand like this…unlike the Q/4, K/2 type hands, this actually has some potential.

That potential is partially realized with the 10d/Kh/Jh flop…I hit bottom pair. I think about leading out but the 10 and jack make me nervous, there could be a heart draw…I really do not want to play a big pot. I check, next guy checks, third guy raises the pot, we both fold.

With position I might call here, but acting first, dangerous and draw-heavy board…nah.

UTG+1 limps with 2.81, I am in the small blind with 10.52 and Ah/9h. The bb is likely to check so I can take a look at a cheap flop with a strong drawing hand. It would be better if I had the button, but I will take a flier on this situation more often than not. I call and the big blind, with 4.96, does indeed check.

The flop is the 3h/7h/7d. I briefly consider raising…I will sometimes raise a draw. But I decide to see if I can see a cheap turn and check, as does the big blind. We then face a pot size bet. I call, the big blind folds.

The turn is the 9c. Again, probably the right thing to do to bet here but I check, he again bets the pot and I call. The river is the Qd. I missed my draw and have 9s and 7s. I beat a fair amount of hands that would limp-raise and decide to check raise. I check…and he checks behind.

And wins with Qh/10h. He played the hand the way I should have. If a Heart had hit on the river I would have had a nice score. As it was, I got off easy when he checked the first time he was ahead.

UTG+1 limps with 2.69, I am in middle position with 9.78 and pocket 3s, so I call, the big blind checks with 16.04.

I am not real excited about the 4h/10c/7h flop as there are certainly some draws and it could easily pair either of them, but when they both check I bet 2/3rds the pot and they both fold. I am not unhappy with that result.

I am not exactly Doyle Brunson when it comes to always playing the next hand after I win one, but I do tend to loosen my raising requirements if I am first into the pot so when I pick up 9s/8c in the cutoff the next hand and it is folded to me, I go ahead and open to .15. The big blind calls with 4.16.

The flop is not spectacular…8s, Ah, 6s. He leads out with 2/3rds pot, .20. Now, if he REALLY had a hand, he would check-raise me. He is trying to steal the pot, so I re-raise to .55. If he re-raises me, I am done with the hand, if he calls, which I expect, he probably check-folds the turn if he has nothing or check-calls the turn and checks the river.

My thinking is that if I flat call here, there is about a 50-50 chance he checks the turn or raises the turn. If he raises the turn I am in a tough spot as he could have the Ace or even just a better pair. I would rather find out now while it is cheap.

And my instincts prove right…he probably bet with air, because when I re-raise, he folds and I take down the pot.

In the cut-off I open with 10.15 and 8h/Kh. The goal is really to win the blinds here, but if someone calls I have potential to hit a good hand. Unfortunately, the big blind has 3.95 and an urge to re-raise to .10. Often I fold here, but this time I elect to call. Mixing up my game, I guess…I am not sure I like this call.

The flop is the Jc/Qd/Ad. He checks and I have to think. I do not really like this flop…the three non-diamond tens give me a straight, but other than that I am not real excited about any particular card. But I do not want to give a free card, either, so I bet half the pot and he folds.

I like the fold. I am unlikely to win a showdown unimproved, and unlikely too improve my hand. If he calls, I will be hard-pressed to either call or make a turn bet, so this was a pretty good result for me.

UTG+1 takes time and then opens to .15 with 5.02, the button calls with 1.12 and in the big blind I look down at Kc/Ks. With this much action, I am re-raising something like 100% of the time and do so to .70. The utg folds, the button re-raises to 1.12 all in and the .42 call is easy.

He shows 2d/2s and I am pretty happy. He is drawing real thin, never improves and I pick up a nice pot. Thing is…when he faced the re-raise, it pot-committed me and he had no business going all in or calling. With my re-raise, there is no way I am folding to such a small bet…it does not even match my raise. He only had .15 invested at that point ,why ship the other .97 with a hand that is ALWAYS an underdog?

I do not hate his first pre-flop call…he has position and a hand that can surprise people. But once it was re-raised…he should have been done with the hand.

The very next hand utg+1 open limps with 1.83 and, in the small blind, for the second consecutive hand I have pocket Kings. I re-pop to .35 with 11.65, the big blind calls with 6.57 and the utg+1 comes along.

So now we have 1.05 in the pot, I am out of position against two callers. I am happy for the action but leery as well.

The flop is the 5h/5d/2s. I figure to still have the best hand, I was the pre-flop raiser. Since I raised to ..35 pre-flop, I am going to go a little bigger than normal.

Here is a weakness…with a safe, rainbow flop like this, I should probably bet about half the pot…55 or so. Instead I bet 1.05 and they both fold.I probably did not maximize my winnings on that hand.

So definitely the fear of being drawn out on continues to be a weakness I need to figure out how to get past.