Hand I’d Like to Talk About!

This hand was in the 6th 30 minute level in a live $200 deepstack at my local casino. Starting stacks were $35K and I have about $55K. Blinds were $400 $800 with no ante.

The villain was three seats to my right and is an older man that wasn’t playing very well at all. Consistently he kept limp/calling OOP and would then led out and be on Jack high flops (that’s one example that I remember). He was playing hands that he shouldn’t have, KJ’s and J10’s OOP into raises after open limping; but it as working thus far and he had a stack comparable to my own; about $50K.

From the cutoff -1 he limped in for $800 after everyone folded to him. I was in the SB and raised to $3600 with and he called as usual. As he called he made a speech “I’d call if I could figure out how much to put out there” referring to the array of multi-colored chips I had dropped in the pot in a purposely haphazard manner. The button and BB both folded pre-flop.

Flop: Pot: $8K

From the SB I was first to act and had not done so yet, but upon seeing the flop he nearly immediately bet $6K out of turn.

So the question is: How do I proceed?

I know that I am out of position and will be for the entire hand. I also know that my opponent likes the flop and would bet if he could. I know for sure that his action is anything but a bluff.

1. My initial thought at the table was to bet anyway but I thought better of it right there. I recalled a Mike Caro quote “It’s rarely advantageous to bet if your opponent will do it for you!” Also, if he was so eager to bet, I might be raised which would spell disaster for my hand (though I think that possibility is pretty low in this case with this player).

2. I could just shove the flop – but I don’t really like this for a number of reasons but first and foremost is that it is so early in the tournament and the pot is not all that big.

3. I could C/R – but I run into many of the problems as in option 2 as doing so would likely commit my whole stack.

4. I could check and call- taking a passive line.

5. I could check and call and consider bluff/shoving on a later street if the right cards falls. However, I think this is a terrible idea with this player.

I chose option 4 and called the $6K bet from the overzealous villain.

Turn: Pot: $20K

I stayed passive and checked. He bet $6K and I called.

River: Pot:$32K

I check and fold.

The villain shows

I’d just like to talk this one out. I don’t really like how I played it, but then again I can’t really come up with a better way either. Maybe I should have just completed the bet from the SB and check folded then. I could have just folded pre too as well, the pot wasn’t going to be very big and I lost a good portion of my stack because I chose to play here. But that’s results orientated and I’m trying to think in terms of +EV. Any help?

Flop call, maybe. A raise would have told you where you were at a lot cheaper.

Turn, fold... you said he wasn't bluffin.
River, fold

dont raise flop please.

x/c x/c seems fine!

First thing to do is to make sure you know what your options are as well as his. Any house can have its own rules covering bets out of turn (or anything else). For example, if you choose to check, can he bet a different amount? If so, can you accept his bet and just call instead of checking then calling?

i think you played it pretty good, i dont like raise pre flop like that so you played it how i would have, and with the rest of the hand if you would have raised or anything he would have called after flop with his catch so you played it as well as you could for as cheap as you could, im really surprised he didnt raise more... after turn..... and remember if that spade would have popped you be talking about this in a different thread... lol thats poker sometimes you got to take some chances.....the hard part is deciding which ones are worth it....

i think your play is fine here against an aggressive player with two overcards and a draw to the nuts, in situations like this playing passive can be for the best

I think your pre flop raise was a liitle to high.But once you hade the information you had to play it the way you did. I prefer a 2.5 raise from early position and higher from late position.

ssbn743 said:

This hand was in the 6th 30 minute level in a live $200 deepstack at my local casino. Starting stacks were $35K and I have about $55K. Blinds were $400 $800 with no ante.

The villain was three seats to my right and is an older man that wasn’t playing very well at all. Consistently he kept limp/calling OOP and would then led out and be on Jack high flops (that’s one example that I remember). He was playing hands that he shouldn’t have, KJ’s and J10’s OOP into raises after open limping; but it as working thus far and he had a stack comparable to my own; about $50K.

From the cutoff -1 he limped in for $800 after everyone folded to him. I was in the SB and raised to $3600

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Iso smaller. It lets us iso him with a wider range of hands and we lose less money when he hits.

Flop: Pot: $8K

From the SB I was first to act and had not done so yet, but upon seeing the flop he nearly immediately bet $6K out of turn.

So the question is: How do I proceed?

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Call flop, call turn. Obv get it in if you hit the flush.

steveiam said:

I think your pre flop raise was a liitle to high.But once you hade the information you had to play it the way you did. I prefer a 2.5 raise from early position and higher from late position.

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I have recently been playing with the Jonathan Little theory. My stack of $55K yields just under 70BB; thus Little would raise pre-flop to 2.5x or $2K.

However, with limpers in the pot, the 2.5X goes up to 4.5X with> 60BB making the bet $3200. Additionally, Little adds an additional SB to his bet when out of position so that’s where the $3600 comes from.

As it stands this jackass called pre with 10 high, but I’m sure it’s because “they were suited”. LOL!

doomasiggy said:

Iso smaller. It lets us iso him with a wider range of hands and we lose less money when he hits.

Call flop, call turn. Obv get it in if you hit the flush.

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And that’s how I ended up playing it – but it just sounds wrong and it felt ever worse. But I guess he kind of played it for me, there’s not much else that I can do.

I would reraised to 18K on flop and he would probably push there...So i would bust if i was you, so i guess you did better.

I don't think you did anything wrong, you win some you lose some. Once the flop came out there was nothing you can do. You was 4 flushed with a ace queen. It was just a bad play by the villain, and he got lucky. When you raised 3600 he should have folded.

Yeah I don't think you did anything wrong. Check/calling the turn seems like the best play.

As for the turn, it wouldn't be a bad play to fold if the villain made a big bet (or even a standard bet). The villain was giving you 5 to 1 on a call, and was giving you great odds to try and hit your flush. It's just unfortunate you couldn't hit it.

Unpleasant situation for you on board! River - fold! Definitely! sorry for your overcards and a flush draw frustrated

Looks like you had to check call there... Sounds like the guy could care didn't really care what was in your hand, so you know that hitting your flush probably would've got you paid off for sure... At least you didn't hit the ace or queen on the river... Cuz those both probably would've cost you!

I would've re popped the flop because you've already seen this guy show up w top pair weak kicker. Is everyone here telling me that this guy is never gonna give us credit for JJ+ here if we raise 3x and barrel the turn?

IceRedefined111 said:

I would've re popped the flop because you've already seen this guy show up w top pair weak kicker. Is everyone here telling me that this guy is never gonna give us credit for JJ+ here if we raise 3x and barrel the turn?

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This is guy will not give us credit for JJ+ because he isn't event thinking about our hand.