Opinions

[colin_147]

What play would you have made in this situation. This is mid tourney and the guy calling my raise is a calling station with a big stack

** Game ID 441361603 starting - 2006-03-02 23:17:32
** $10,000 GTD $25 Freezeout:Table 5 [Multi Table Hold 'em] (300.00|600.00 No Limit - MTT) real money

- WellboytoyXX sitting in seat 1 with $9960.00
- ruddock sitting in seat 2 with $3560.00
- bigadzc sitting in seat 3 with $6900.00
- acidfly7 sitting in seat 4 with $1720.00
- JayCbee sitting in seat 5 with $9115.00
- rushian12 sitting in seat 6 with $9100.00
- colink24 sitting in seat 7 with $7567.50 [Dealer]
- DapperDaz sitting in seat 8 with $24367.50
- GIOCATORE sitting in seat 9 with $2565.00
- wedel sitting in seat 10 with $8475.00

DapperDaz posted the small blind - $150.00
GIOCATORE posted the big blind - $300.00

** Dealing card to colink24: 6 of Spades, Ace of Hearts
wedel folded
WellboytoyXX folded
ruddock folded
bigadzc folded
acidfly7 folded
JayCbee folded
rushian12 folded
colink24 raised - $900.00
DapperDaz called - $900.00
GIOCATORE folded

** Dealing the flop: 10 of Spades, 2 of Diamonds, 4 of Hearts

 

[Stick66]

Ragged flop & you have position (last to play). It all hinges on SB's play. A check means you can think about a pot-sized bluff. A min bet means you can draw for an Ace (but your kicker is bad). A larger bet means you must think about folding. Kinda iffy overall.

Post the flop action for us to see.

 

[gord962]

A-6 unsuited isn't a real strong hand, so don't get too aggressive.

He is betting first, so follow his lead. If he checks, check as well. If he bets 2 or 3 X BB, feel free to call - he probably has a pair of 10s at best. On the turn if you hit your A, then put up 3 X BB. You are sitting with top pair and no big cards on the table, so your odds would be quite high. If you don't hit your A on the turn and he is betting big, get out. If he is big stack he is riding a lucky streak and who knows what he really has.

As I always tell my friends: if you are going to call someone's bluff, make sure you have cards to beat a bluff. You can't beat a bluff if you don't have anything yourself!!! I know you want to take a calling station for as much as you can, but you need the winning hand to do it with!

 

[tenbob]

Pre-flop raise is questionable Colin, but you have to feel that you have the best of it at the moment, you really need to put out a feeler bet, i thing in realtion to your stack a pot size bet is a bit OTT. 900 would be a good bet here on the flop, and check the turn if you miss.

You gotta feel that hitting a 6 is better here than hitting that ace, if he called with a better A-rag than you an ace on the turn could get you in heaps of trouble. Continuation bet, and then seriously think about check-fold on the turn.

 

[Styrofoam]

don't do too much that will cost you too many chips. Its not a good hand to make a move with...and quite frankly, you should fold here to any bet, take a free card on the turn, and if he checks again, make a bet on your ace high, but do not overbet. If he calls, fold to a bet if you don't improve on the river.

as an aside, i think i would have limped w/ this ... no need to raise with such a marginal hand.

 

[colin_147]

Some good opinions. The reason for the raise in this position is because I am on the button and the table has folded around, a lot of the time you are not that worried about your cards to push out a bet here, but with an Ace its almost an automatic move for me

Ok, here goes. I figure this calling station for some kind paint-rag hand like K4 or something like that, so I decide to play it like this

DapperDaz checked
colink24 bet - $2100.00
DapperDaz called - $2100.00

** Dealing the turn: Queen of Spades

Now what do I do?

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

Check behind on the flop, the golden rule is don't bluff a calling station. If A-high is good, find out by getting a cheap showdown, not by trying to bluff when he could quite happily be calling you down with 23o.

Check behind or fold to a turn bet given that you bet the flop. The only way I'm putting any more money in here is if I hit an A on the river, in which case I might put out a smallish value bet, otherwise I'm check-folding all the way.

 

[Styrofoam]

the Qs gives your opponent a HUGE opprotunity to bluff at the pot, because you still have only an ace high. Chances are, your opponent is paired by now..probably his low card though, because he's not betting. IMO you really messed up by betting the flop with ace high, almost knowing that this guy would call - and against any half-aware player, you're going to be forced to give up the pot on the end unless you hit an ace on the river. If you don't hit an ace on the river the player can bluff on the end and you can't reasonably call the bet w/o at least a pair....now because you bet the flop you're down 210$ more...Its not a good situation to be in...

and you're not going to knock this guy out w/ a bet.

 

[colin_147]

Sorry guys, I forgot to finish this!

Right, after the flop I have a pretty tough choice here. I either check to give up the pot or I make a move.

With 4.5k left, I decide this guy probably has a small pair at best and I push all my chips in.

Luckily, he folds in an instant. I am not too sure what he held, but from the quick fold I would assume he either had a small pair or he was hoping for running cards post flop

To be honest I dont feel I played this hand very well. However, it does show that even with chips commited, it is possible to make these kinda plays with no hand

 

[joosebuck]

it's also possible to swan dive off of a tall building onto pavement, but it is very hazardous to your health, as is this move to your bankroll.

 

[Tammy]

I'm gonna guess that after the [Qs] he had a flush draw, didn't catch it on the river (what was the river card, btw?).

But bottom line to me is that it was extremely dangerous for you to get involved in a hand like this with a huge chip stack like that in the first place. He had >3x your chip stack, and could have gotten you in trouble here very quickly. What if he were to put you all-in on the turn? Or call your bluff on the river? At best you would have been out almost half your stack. At worst you would have been done. In my opinion, you got lucky in this instance.

One thing though. You did show that playing a bluff agressively (not giving any hint of weakness) can help to take down the pot.