W
wreckoning
Enthusiast
Silver Level
So picture this. $1-2 NL Holdem, $200 max buyin, cash game, local casino. The table is pretty loose- and by loose I mean will call a raise of 8xBB with A10offsuit loose. With 4 more people to act behind you.
It's 11pm, and I've been at this table for 4 hours. My image is semi-tight. I've bluffed some but haven't been caught yet. I have $650 in front of me as the big stack. Other stacks range from $50-$450.
In the small blind I receive AK of spades. I decide to raise to $15. I get like 4 callers, which surprises me because I thought my image was "semi-tight". If it was aces or kings I'd be displeased but with this hand I'm delighted. I'm hoping to flop a flush draw. The flop comes A J 4 with one spade.
Well it's time to see who's for real. There is about $90 in the pot so I bet $50. The guy next to me in Seat 5, who has just sat down, calls. It folds around to the guy on my right, an older man in Seat 6 who has about $250 in chips. He seems like a strong player to me and I don't like to get involved in him. I'm not sure if how much he respects my play. Still I know he doesn't call unless he has some sort of hand. He calls. From his call I put him on AJ. He knows I have AK and he thinks he is going to trap me. I hope the turn is a spade.
The turn comes 8 of spades. Well now I have a flush draw. I don't know about Seat 5. He just arrived from another table and I have no reads on him. He has $150 left. There is a lot of donks tonight. He could be on anything from a gutshot to smaller ace or something like J4. He could also have a legit hand, but then why didn't he raise the flop to shut people out? I supposed $50 was a big bet. I bet another $50. Seat 5 again calls. How perplexing. Seat 7 raises to $150 and is all in.
HMMMMM. Now I think very hard about seat 7. He can't have a set of aces or jacks because he would reraise before the flop. He might have a set of fours- he has the button, and there were a lot of callers to my preflop raise, giving him ok odds and maybe making it correct for him to call if he thinks he has enough implied odds. So. 9 cards give me the nut flush and complete nuts, and the J of spades is already on the board. Then 3 kings will give me a two pair that beats his- if he has aces and jacks, which is what I put him on initially. There are 3 ways that he can have pocket fours but 6 ways he can make AJ. So I have 12 safe cards if he has aces up- which he will 66% of the time- and 8 safe cards if he has trip fours (since the 4s will give him quads). So overall I have about a 24% chance of winning. There is now $500 in the pot and it's $100 to me to call. If Seat 7 calls with trip 4s I still have 8 good outs and I'll be getting 6-1 on my money ... not a great deal, but there is the added chance that he will fold his fours thinking perhaps one of us has a higher set.
So I call because at this point I feel I can't fold. But did it have to be this way? Looking back it kind of feels like I manufactured the situation. What about if I had checked the turn?
So many things could have happened:
-Seat 5 checks if he is weak, and Seat 7 might choose to make a value bet, which I am forced to call, then seat 5 can call or fold and I see the river for like $50 instead of $150
-Seat 5 value bets, Seat 7 can call or raise- if he raises I can fold with no investment in the pot, if he just calls then I can call and again we see the river for cheap
-Seat 5 goes all in, Seat 7 goes all in and I am forced to call again because of the odds
Really my $50 bet on the turn was pretty weak into a $250 pot, but I thought Seat 5 might make a bad call on the flop- especially if he thinks the others were going to call behind him- and I was giving him a way out on the turn. I don't know what he has and I want him out. At least vs Seat 7 I know if I'm good or not.
What was the correct play here?
It's 11pm, and I've been at this table for 4 hours. My image is semi-tight. I've bluffed some but haven't been caught yet. I have $650 in front of me as the big stack. Other stacks range from $50-$450.
In the small blind I receive AK of spades. I decide to raise to $15. I get like 4 callers, which surprises me because I thought my image was "semi-tight". If it was aces or kings I'd be displeased but with this hand I'm delighted. I'm hoping to flop a flush draw. The flop comes A J 4 with one spade.
Well it's time to see who's for real. There is about $90 in the pot so I bet $50. The guy next to me in Seat 5, who has just sat down, calls. It folds around to the guy on my right, an older man in Seat 6 who has about $250 in chips. He seems like a strong player to me and I don't like to get involved in him. I'm not sure if how much he respects my play. Still I know he doesn't call unless he has some sort of hand. He calls. From his call I put him on AJ. He knows I have AK and he thinks he is going to trap me. I hope the turn is a spade.
The turn comes 8 of spades. Well now I have a flush draw. I don't know about Seat 5. He just arrived from another table and I have no reads on him. He has $150 left. There is a lot of donks tonight. He could be on anything from a gutshot to smaller ace or something like J4. He could also have a legit hand, but then why didn't he raise the flop to shut people out? I supposed $50 was a big bet. I bet another $50. Seat 5 again calls. How perplexing. Seat 7 raises to $150 and is all in.
HMMMMM. Now I think very hard about seat 7. He can't have a set of aces or jacks because he would reraise before the flop. He might have a set of fours- he has the button, and there were a lot of callers to my preflop raise, giving him ok odds and maybe making it correct for him to call if he thinks he has enough implied odds. So. 9 cards give me the nut flush and complete nuts, and the J of spades is already on the board. Then 3 kings will give me a two pair that beats his- if he has aces and jacks, which is what I put him on initially. There are 3 ways that he can have pocket fours but 6 ways he can make AJ. So I have 12 safe cards if he has aces up- which he will 66% of the time- and 8 safe cards if he has trip fours (since the 4s will give him quads). So overall I have about a 24% chance of winning. There is now $500 in the pot and it's $100 to me to call. If Seat 7 calls with trip 4s I still have 8 good outs and I'll be getting 6-1 on my money ... not a great deal, but there is the added chance that he will fold his fours thinking perhaps one of us has a higher set.
So I call because at this point I feel I can't fold. But did it have to be this way? Looking back it kind of feels like I manufactured the situation. What about if I had checked the turn?
So many things could have happened:
-Seat 5 checks if he is weak, and Seat 7 might choose to make a value bet, which I am forced to call, then seat 5 can call or fold and I see the river for like $50 instead of $150
-Seat 5 value bets, Seat 7 can call or raise- if he raises I can fold with no investment in the pot, if he just calls then I can call and again we see the river for cheap
-Seat 5 goes all in, Seat 7 goes all in and I am forced to call again because of the odds
Really my $50 bet on the turn was pretty weak into a $250 pot, but I thought Seat 5 might make a bad call on the flop- especially if he thinks the others were going to call behind him- and I was giving him a way out on the turn. I don't know what he has and I want him out. At least vs Seat 7 I know if I'm good or not.
What was the correct play here?
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