Knowing when to Hold 'Em

A lucky man

10 + 1 SNG

8 players left, I have 920 and am on the small blind

hooflops: Ad Kd

Pre-flop:

I call a raise - waiting to see what happens

Flop (board: 7d Ac As):

hooflops checks. aa checks. bb checks.
cc bets 750. (my pulse increases) dd goes all-in for 1250.
(At this point I am wondering if they are thinking)
hooflops goes all-in for 860. (just a must) aa folds.
bb folds. cc calls.

Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

hooflops shows Ad Kd.
cc shows Th Tc.
dd shows 6h Ah.

(And I wonder how I could be so lucky!)

Turn (board: 7d Ac As Qc):

(no action in this round)

River (board: 7d Ac As Qc Kc):

(no action in this round)

Hand #1065108-23 Summary:

No rake is taken for this hand.
hooflops wins the main pot 2880 with full house, aces full of kings.
TexasTechGuy wins the side pot 780 with three aces.

You can read the cards. This must be the most fortunate hand I have seen in SNG!

================

Back to the tournament, hope I come in first.

Both players win in the long run - or how I won a suck out

AQ offsuited. 4 players see one raise (not from me). Flop comes 2,4,5 (rainbow). One player bets, two fold, I see the bet.

Playing 1/2 Hold 'EM on UB. Next card is another 5. My single opponent now bets, I call.

So what am I thinking? I raise this question because I do win the hand and my opponent is aggravated.

If you have been following the hand, there was $10 in the pot prior to the turn. My opponent bet $2, thus I have 6:1 pot odds. Once we have figured out the pot odds, we must figure out my odds of drawing a winning card. I figured that I probably had 10 outs. How did I figure that?

I was guessing that both the A and Q were overcards (if my opponent even had a pair). This was a reasonably loose game, and I had seen him raise the blind with high cards only. Each of the A and Q were worth 3 outs, making 6. My opponent only saw those outs. However, I reminded him that I had a gunshot straight draw (a 3 would give me a straight). This added 4 outs, giving me a total of 4 more outs. Thus I had 10 outs and 36 losers - or 3.6 :1. Since the pot odds exceeded my odds against, seeing the bet made complete sense. In fact, the river was a Q and I won a nice pot.

Looking at the hand from my opponents view, did his bet on the turn make sense? Absolutely, if I see his bet he has the same 6:1 pot odds. He has a major advantage in the hand, and will clearly win more money than he loses.

You can calculate expected values in this hand, and we both are long term winners. Sometimes that occurs in poker.

Think about this analysis carefully the next time you are the victim of a "suck out". They happen on a regular basis. As long as we make consistent logical bets, we should not worry about these losses. They make poker interesting, anxiety provoking and even fun. For more on "suck outs" check out the two links that I have added in the references. I have been studying these articles. They are helping me make good decisions about seeing bets on the turn.

Knowing when to fold

On the BB I get dealt pocket 3s. Of course I limp in - I've read 1 in 7.5 times you flop a set. So I flop a set - K 3 8 - rainbow suits.

I bet and 2 players (of a 6 person ring) call. Next card is an 8. Great I have a boat! Time to float. The opponents are fairly loose. I am hoping they have Ks each. I bet and they both call.

This is a big one. I'm all ready to reel them in. The river is a third 8!. I assume someone has me beat. I check, the next bettor bets out, and then the button raises. I fold, the first bettor has the King, and the button has the 4th 8! At least I did not waste the last 2 big bets!

Not a bad beat - a bad play

Boy I blew this one. Losing hurts, but when you learn a valuable lesson you can rationalize it. So here goes my rationalization and lesson.

Playing Omaha 8/b on Party - Pot Limit. I am dealt KJ not suited and two lower cards (rainbows). Flop comes A Q 10 - again rainbow. I bet strong, two callers. Next card is 8 and we have a full rainbow. I go in strong - one caller. 10 on the river - I forget to think (first huge mistake) and bet strong. Caller comes back huge and I reflex and call (second huge mistake).

Of course he had 2 Q in his hand and killed me with the boat.

Lessons learned:

• Think before you bet
• Think before you call
• If a better hand is possible in Omaha, someone probably has it (especially if they bet that way)

Great, but are there any other important lessons. Certainly!! In Omaha especially you must consider your opponents hand odds. If I had thought on the turn, I would have placed him with pocket pair matched on the board. If that were true, what were his odds of building a boat. He would have 11 outs of 40 cards (3 A, 2Q, 3 10 and 3 8s). I have to subtract his 4 cards and my 4 cards since I am figuring his odds and I know my cards. His call on the turn made sense. My bet and call on the river were dumb!!

Oh well,a valuable lesson which I hope to have learned. Isn't online poker really an education? (Gotta love that rationalization) I lost a hand, but gained a good blog entry.

Slow playing

Getting Hand History Information...
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Hand #769353-4825 at Burnsville ($.25/$.50 Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 06/Jan/04 05:25:56

Mykidseat is at seat 0 with $8.70.
hooflops is at seat 1 with $25.10.
howdydodie is at seat 2 with $10.40 (sitting out).
Gershy is at seat 3 with $12.45.
specialj26 is at seat 4 with $7.15.
Magilla is at seat 5 with $3.15.
The button is at seat 3.

specialj26 posts the small blind of $.10.
Magilla posts the big blind of $.25.

Mykidseat: -- --
hooflops: Js Ts
Gershy: -- --
specialj26: -- --
Magilla: -- --

I am dealt JT suited - 6 handed game - decent enough to see the flop.

Pre-flop:

Mykidseat folds. hooflops calls. Gershy calls.
specialj26 calls. Magilla checks.

Flop (board: Td Th Tc):

Pulse goes to 135, how can I get the maximum profit from this hand

specialj26 checks. Magilla bets $.25. hooflops
calls. Gershy calls. specialj26 calls.

Thanks you Magilla - I hope you keep betting

Turn (board: Td Th Tc Ah):

I hope someone has an Ace

specialj26 checks. Magilla checks. hooflops checks.
Gershy bets $.50. specialj26 folds. Magilla folds.
hooflops calls.

Gershy must have the Ace. Keep slowplaying.

River (board: Td Th Tc Ah 2d):

hooflops checks. Gershy bets $.50. hooflops raises to
$1. Gershy re-raises to $1.50. hooflops re-raises to
$2. Gershy calls.

I guess Gershy assumed that I also had an Ace or was bluffing - I had bluffed occasionaly prior to this hand. He played right into my slow play, and I am still grinning

Showdown:

hooflops shows Js Ts.
hooflops has Ts Td Th Tc Ah: four tens.
Gershy mucks cards.
(Gershy has Ks As.)

Hand #769353-4825 Summary:

$.25 is raked from a pot of $7.
hooflops wins $6.75 with four tens.
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But be careful about slow playing, as this poster demonstrates - Play-By-Play - Bad Slow Play Example