Thanks to everyone who commented on this week’s “What’s Your Play?” Sorry for the delay in getting results up; I’m currently visiting old friends and a new baby in New York, and the days have been busy.

We’ll start with the results:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 320 Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 50 Ante (8 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t24118)
SB (t25330)
BB (t9032)
UTG (t8323)
UTG+1 (t25215)
MP1 (t13846)
Hero (MP2) (t16901)
CO (t31444)

Hero’s M: 16.90

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A♦, 4♥
3 folds, Hero bets t800, 1 fold, Button calls t800, 2 folds

Flop: (t2600) 4♦, 4♠, K♥ (2 players)
Hero bets t1666, Button raises to t3640, Hero calls t1974

Turn: (t9880) 10♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: (t9880) 7♦ (2 players)
Hero bets t12411 (All-In), Button calls t12411

Total pot: t34702

Results:
Button had K♦, Q♦ (two pair, Kings and fours).
Hero had A♦, 4♥ (three of a kind, fours).
Outcome: Hero won t34702

As many commenters identified, the crux of this hand is in recognizing that Hero’s hand looks reasonably strong after calling the flop raise. Many of you made compelling arguments for 3-betting the flop, which I’ll come back to in a moment.  Read the complete post...

Today’s mailbag question comes from a comment on the What’s Your Plan? Flopped Pair and Draw: Results post. It was a good question that I felt warranted a thorough response.

Q: Though honestly I agree with what you wrote I just wonder since “Villain is a young online MTT wizard: highly ranked on Pocket Fives, tons of success” we know (and he might not know we know) that he knows he can bet anything and probably get a fold tons of the time because he can have AK and it is much harder for other people to (especially when they don’t check raise the flop). As soon as we call I think Villain needs to become super cautious. Against anyone else I insta fold k10. I actually thought this example was how to outplay a wizard but I was wrong. : -) I guess I leveled myself!

A: If I understand you correctly, you’re asking whether Villain couldn’t bluff this flop with a really wide range since he can represent nutted hands (not only AK but sets as well) more easily than we can. This would be more of a consideration in a heads up pot.  Read the complete post...

Tommy Angelo was at this thought-provoking best with his recent blog post “Old Man Goals“, about mellowing out with age:

I only have one objective now when I drive, and that’s to not run into anything. If I decide to slow down or stop when I don’t really need to, that’s always the reason why. (What makes this possible is that I no longer think of time spent waiting for a light to change as being less valuable or less important than time spent with a loved one or playing poker or whatever. Another oldness trait perhaps?)

It’s typical Tommy to express such a deep and complex concept in such clear and simple terms. In the interest of understanding it better, I want to push back on it a bit.

For one thing, I definitely don’t think this is a natural result of aging. I know plenty of cranky and impatient old people, many of whom seem to have gotten worse with age.

More to the point, I think I get what he’s saying in principle, but in practice it’s hard for me to accept such deep ambivalence. Is Tommy really indifferent between sitting in traffic or catching up with an old friend? If so why get in the car at all? Why not sit at home and watch TV all day? Or just stare at the wall? Taking it to the extreme, is time spent with a loved one any more valuable or desirable to the ideally tranquil mind than time spent having one’s fingernails pulled out with pliers?  Read the complete post...

Villain is an unremarkable tournament grinder, probably a modest winner. I don’t know much about him, nor do I know what if anything he thinks of me. This is on PokerStars, so I do have my Team Online avatar which occasionally entices people to do crazy things, though I’ve got no specific reason to think that that’s a factor here. There’s no important history or table dynamic between us.

Poker Stars – $300+20 Tournament (#435011043) – Blinds: 200/400 +50 Ante, No Limit Hold’em (8 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: t25,330
BB: t9,032
UTG: t8,323
UTG+1: t25,215
MP: t13,846
MP+1 Hero: t16,901
CO: t31,444
BTN: t24,118

Pre-flop: (t600) Hero is MP+1 and dealt Ad 4h
3 folds, Hero raises to t800, CO folds, BTN calls t800, BB folds

Flop: (t2,200) 4d 4s Kh (2 players)
Hero bets t1,666, BTN raises to t3,640, Hero calls t1,974

Turn: (t9,480) 4d 4s Kh Ts (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (t9,480) 4d 4s Kh Ts 7d (2 players)

Hero has a little over 12K left in his stack, and Villain covers. What’s your play? Anything you’d do differently on earlier streets? I’ll post my thoughts and comments on or about Friday morning.

Judging from the number of comments, folks found this WYP less compelling than someone. That’s to your credit, because as many commenters advocated, I believe folding the flop is correct. Dangerhorse explains why:

I would probably fold although the pot odds are enticing and your hand (a pair and a draw) superficially seems very strong. This is a super wet board and a good player should not be leading into three opponents without something very substantial. I put him on KQ, AQ and stronger. If you raise all-in, I don’t think he folds much. I also don’t think you have the full 13 outs that a pair-and-an-OESD normally does.

Assuming you call, if your draw comes in, with an ace or a nine, it’s going to be a super-scary board, and it’s going to be tough to get paid off, especially being out of position. On top of that, your opponent will often also have a king, so you may well chop even if your draw comes in – or lose to AK.

Not all pair + draws are created equally. On a board like this, where so many draws are likely, it matters a lot that you have the worst pair and are drawing exclusively to non-nut hands. Out of position in a multi-way pot with action from a good player in early position, you can’t afford to treat this as a strong hand.  Read the complete post...

I had a bit of a rude surprise when checking out of my room this morning. Apparently my hotel package did not actually include the $1000 non-refundable folio that I thought it did, and on which basis I purchased a $300 massage. At first I thought this was an error on Atlantis’ part, but I just reread my confirmation and sure enough it says, “If your package includes hotel plus a $1,000 USD food credit”, which mine apparently did not. It also says, “Any funds that you have not used will be refunded to you upon check-out.” So yeah, I just can’t read. I probably wouldn’t have spent $200 at Nobu last night either…. Then again maybe I would have lost at credit cart roulette (I bought out so I could use the folio credit I thought I had) and eaten the $1500 bill, so I’m going to pretend that that was what was going to happen.

While I’m amending recent blog posts, I also have to admit to backsliding on my “don’t judge assholes” philosophy. I split a cab with fellow PokerStars Team Online member Andre Coimbra, whose flight was half an hour before mine, so I got to the airport plenty early. That was good, because the customs line was massive and there were only two agents working it. People all around me were just losing their minds with frustration.  Read the complete post...

Q: I’ve been thinking poker again with the exciting DoJ news at the end of last year. I’m sure many have.

While actual regulated play is probably still far off (with the exception of Nevada), I’ve been wondering how best to prepare myself for online poker’s eventual return [to the US].

My long term goals don’t have much room for poker as a career. However as a financial buoy while pursuing other goals it is most welcome. It’s fun too.

How would you advise someone hoping to keep their poker chops intact? I have access to local casinos, but limited to no bankroll… [and] my modern day job takes up so much time.

I’ve been reading some. It’s not as fun to read about when it’s near impossible to put new ideas or plans into action. That probably shouldn’t be a deterrence though….

While it’s probably a bit soon to be dusting off the external monitors and wireless keyboard, poker will be back. And I want to be ready!

A: Good question! I’m sure you’re right that it’s on the minds of many Americans.  Read the complete post...

My PCA package includes a $1000 folio for charging expenses to the room, and unlike the last time I was here, when I pocketed more than $500, it’s not refundable. Because I brought my own food, I found myself this morning with $750 to spend in two days. Wheeeee!

There was no way I was going to spend it on food and drink, so I assessed my other options. The snorkeling here is really hokey, because it’s just in one of Atlantis’ fake bodies of water. I’ve heard good things about swimming with the dolphins, but I have some serious ethical objections to keeping dolphins in captivity. Then I remembered Lawrence from Office Space‘s famous answer to the question of what he would do with a million dollars.

Mandara, the spa at PCA, offers a treatment called the Four Hands Massage: “Two therapists working on you simultaneously in synchronicity – and serene silence.” There was a realistic chance this was just an excuse to charge twice as much for a massage, but I figured I’d never have another chance to try it, so I made an appointment and came away impressed.  Read the complete post...