Hand by Hand 8

Apparently I think a suited Ace is a good drawing hand because when the cut-off opens to .17 with 5.00 I call in the small blind with Ad/9d and 3.18. I do have the right implied odds…but out of position like this, it will be real tough to hit them, so while a strict statistical standard says call…I should fold.

This time I call and we take the flop heads up. The 9c/2h/Qs flop probably misses us both. I check, he bets .25, and I continue my bad play with a call. I would not mind a check-raise here, but a call? I have second pair. Do I really want to go deep in this hand with almost nothing?

The turn helps nobody, the 5c. I check, he thinks for a bit, then checks. There is a club draw, but only of the backdoor variety. Likely hands are pair smaller than the queen, a 10/J, or maybe A/K, A/J, A/10 type hands.

The river is the 2d. I figure to have the best hand, I bet .45 and he folds. I think many players better than me check to induce the bluff here…but since about half the hands he has beat me but I think I could get him to fold something like Q/10, I like the move. Later as I get better, this may change.

So with 3.51 and the cut-off, I think As/3s is worth opening. The big blind calls with 4.95.
The flop again probably missed us both…9d/Js/Jh. There are a few draws and a few hands it hits but when he checks I test the waters with a .20 bet.

Usually after I bet .15 pre-flop, I want to bet half the pot as my continuation bet but in this case, that would be .15….and I do not like betting the same amount so I add a nickel. He calls.

This represents the downside of that on hands like this where I have no hand, no draw, and could be in trouble if he called with something like Q/J. Now there is an extra 10 cents in the pot which ups the level of betting on subsequent streets. This is good if I have a Jack in my hand…bad in this case.

But when the turn is the 2h and he checks, I think my dry ace is probably good enough to take it down with a bet. I bet .35, he folds, I collect the pot.

If he leads out on that turn I probably fold but since he checked twice I had the opening I needed.

Later, utg limps with 2.44 and I have pocket 4s in middle position. The cutoff limps along with 2.55 and the big blind checks with 5.37.

The reason I limp here makes sense to me. I have a modest hand at best I would not mind seeing a cheap flop with and maybe stacking someone. There is a decent chance a limp will encourage later calls and build a larger pot as I do not particularly want to isolate here with this hand, nor do I want to face a re-raise after raising myself.

So I am happy to see a cheap flop with decent position, the chance to flop a big hand or get out cheap.

The flop is Ac/3h/8d. If anyone bets, I give them credit for the Ace, 8, or better pair and fold. But 2 checks in, I decide to take a stab at the pot and bet .15. Everyone folds and I am happy.
And even happier when I pick up 8s/9c in the big blind and everyone folds to me. Free blinds are always a pleasure. Unless you have Aces…

So I have worked my way back up to 3.91 and am feeling good about myself. So good, in fact, I again open to .15 with pocket 4s utg+1. Middle position is my only customer with 3.88.

The flop is gorgeous…Ks/4d/Ad. Ideally, he has something like A/K, A/Q. If so all the chips are going in and I will be a big favorite. I lead out for .20 and he flat calls.

Okay, so A/K is probably out or he would re-raise. In fact, the call makes me leery of a draw, more than anything. The turn is the Jc which completes things like the Q/10 but otherwise I am probably still ahead. I lead out for .35 and he again calls.

Now I am very convinced he has a draw and outside of the Kd, there is no Diamond I want to see on the river. Which naturally means the 5d falls. I check and will have to debate the call when he bets. There is 1.38 in the pot. A half pot bet I snap-call even thinking I am beat as often enough I will get someone with A/K, A/Q, A/10, K/J or K/Q making that play. A pot size bet I am more leery of but will probably make the frustrated, crying call.

And all in bet…that probably garners a fold. I flopped big, bet my usual and got out-drawn. But he makes me happy by checking behind and shows Qd/Qh…he was happier than me about my river check.

I probably made about as much as I could off this hand, but he might call another half pot river bet. I just did not want to make the half pot river and get re-raised big which would force a fold. I figure I see a show-down here more often by check-calling my selection of bets here and pretty much only get called by the flush.

I must be feeling good about being back up to 4.59 because from the hijack I open to .15 with Qh/Jc and get a call from the button with 16.83. I plan to raise the flop, have him call, then raise the turn and have him fold.

The flop arrives, I bet .20 and he calls. The turn comes, I bet .35 and he calls. Time to take a look at the board. Kh/Ac/3h, turn is the Kc. I am done with this hand. The river Jh finishes the flush, hits some straights, and generally is irrelevant to me. I figure I am beat and lay it down to any raise.

I check, he checks behind and takes the pot with his Ah/Jd. I am okay with that. I had a plan for the hand, it works against anyone who does NOT, in fact, have the Ace or King, and I got away from it cheaply. I take down a lot of pots on similar flops with that line of attack.

I do, to an extent, question the pre-flop raise…or would, except it works so often. If anything, I should open MORE often with those type hands.

Early middle position opens with 2.14, I am in the next seat with 7h/7c. I consider raising, but the same elements as existed with the pocket 4s earlier are still in play. I figure to face a re-raise about 30% of the time. If I raise first, the re-re-raise drives me out of the hand based on odds. A raise to about .25 or .30 lets me still play. I flat call.

And am glad I did, as the cut-off raises to .24. The limper calls as do I. The pot has about .79 in it and the flop comes 3d/10d/7d. Talk about a mixed bag.

On the bright side…I flopped a set. On the dark side, I am behind a diamond draw and not too far ahead of lots of drawing hands that like the 10. I will play some pot control.

We check to the cutoff who bets .55. Limper folds and I decide to just call. The turn is the 4h. Good card for me if I am ahead, bad if behind. I check-call another 1.22.

Now the pot has 4.33 in it and I am pretty much committed to calling any river bet. The Jc does not bother me…unless he is betting the 8/9 it changed nothing. If he was ahead before, he is ahead now. If I was ahead before I am ahead now.

I briefly consider leading out but quickly decide against it. If he has the flush he will re-raise. If he doesn’t, he folds…the classic “I only get called if I am beat” conundrum. I figure I will still call about half pot, maybe even a pot size bet but not much more.

He checks behind with Qs/Js for a rivered top pair and I regret my check. If he called flop and turn bets with a flush on board, he definitely calls a river bet. At the same time, I do not want to get results oriented.

Most people against this board with this betting are not calling based on “two face cards”. At no point in the hand did he have any sort of draw and usually a bet here that faces a call or re-raise is losing. So the check is correct even if my read was WAY wrong.

I have folded by the time this hand comes up; I only know about it because in reviewing hand histories, I was dealt the Qd/5d and folded utg+1 but it immediately precedes a hand I entered voluntarily. The button limps with 1.95, the small blind click-raises with 6.93, the big blind 10.14 and the button also calls.

I hate, hate, hate the click raise. If it is something like the J/4 that did so earlier, they are never getting anyone to fold and if it is something like Aces you are giving some bad hands some good odds to draw at you.

Opening to .10 is one thing…having a limper and click-raising means where as they were getting less than 1.5 odds to limp, they are now getting better than 3-1 IF NOBODY ELSE CALLS and even better if just one person calls.

And the flop is the ever dangerous 9d/Qs/8c. Anyone with 10/J is licking their chops, a Q/10, 9/10, 8/9 are pretty happy and even something like a 6/7 does not hate this flop…though they do not love it either.

The small blind min-bets, big blind calls and button folds. The turn is the 10h and the min-bet/call routine happens again. River 7c sees a third min-bet/call.

So we have two guys afraid of the flop. Nobody has a jack or the raise would be bigger. Under pair, over pair, or weak hand like A/9, Q/6 type stuff?

Well…small blind shows pocket kings. He raised small pre-flop and found himself out of position on a dangerous board making defensive bets and wins a .56 pot. He would not have been happy had he faced a big river raise.

Of course, the big bind had pocket 2s. He got excellent pre-flop odds and was allowed to see a super cheap showdown.

I think the pre-flop click-raise cost mr small blind a fair pot. He could have won much more with a standard raise to .15 or a better raise to .25 or .30.In the very next hand, I open to .15 from early middle and Kh/Kc. Everyone folds, so I win a smaller pot…but I think I played it better. I did not price in bad hands and then have to tread carefully because I priced in trash that beats me.

At this point I have an interesting conundrum. I do not feel like I am playing either particularly well or particularly poorly...but I am having decent results. The question is...are these results indicative of my ability or of me getting lucky in the hands I run into?

The sets I hit are the type hand that makes me wonder.