Posts Tagged ‘continuation bet’

This hand occurred about an hour and a half after last week’s WYP hand, against the same opponent. This time I’m the Hero and he’s the Villain. For those too lazy to look it up, here’s how I described him: “middle-aged recreational player, presumably aware that he sticks out like a sore thumb among all the disheveled twenty-something internet wizards.”

Blinds are 500/1000/100. I open to 2600 with Th 9h in early position. Villain calls in middle position, and everyone else folds.

Flop Jh 7d 5d. I bet 4000, he calls.

Turn Qh gives me open-ended straight flush draw. There’s 16,600 in the pot, Villain has 56K in his stack, and I have about 110K.

Please post your plan for the turn and a bit about how you’d proceed on both blank rivers and rivers that complete one of your draws. I’ll post results and my thoughts on Friday.

As you know, I was the Villain from What’s Your Play? Busted Draw. As many of you deduced, I held KK with a spade. My opponent was kind enough to give up on the river and let me win the pot with a hand that, barring some really blatant physical tell on his part, I would have folded to even a modest river bet.

Steve Phillips left a comment that sums up the reasons for bluffing with KJ quite nicely and also sets up a few of the other things I wanted to talk about, so I’m going to post it here even though it’s somewhat long:

I think it’s a good spot to bluff-shove for several reasons:
a) Hero’s line is consistent with trips+
b) Hero’s stack size is perfect for it
c) Villain’s range is limited somewhat due to the turn action
d) If Villain holds a strong hand AA/KK and even AQ, it’s a difficult call
e) Hero holds one of the worst hands in his range
f) Given the read (older dude, probably solid/straightforward?), Villain doesn’t expect Hero to be turning JsJc/AdTd type hands into bluffs. Therefore Hero’s perceived range on a river shove is trips+ or wiffed draws, and there aren’t many wiffed draws
g) Villain might get to the river with hands that have no value (AdKs, AhKs, AsKd, AsKc, AcKs, AsJd, AsJh, AsJc) that all beat Hero if he checks but will fold if Hero bets
You might argue with my first point because Hero might have raised the flop with his strongest made hands (QQ/QT/TT/66) and his strongest draws (AsJs/8s7s/KsJs, etc.), but in general when Hero bets or shoves river he will have a strong hand a lot of the time.
I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on betting half-pot (or some other amount) instead of moving all-in.  Read the complete post...

I’m still in the US, which means no online poker, which means I’m still mining the PCA for WYP hands. This is one of those ones where I’m actually the Villain in the hand and we’ll look at it from my opponent’s perspective. So Hero is a middle-aged recreational player, presumably aware that he sticks out like a sore thumb among all the disheveled twenty-something internet wizards. Villain is me: late twenties, sunglasses, unkempt beard, Team Online patch, no-nonsense demeanor. He has about 70K, and Hero has a little over 100K.

It’s the first level of Day 2 of the PCA main event. Blinds are 500/1000/100. Villain raises to 2400 UTG, a good young player in early position calls, and Hero calls in the CO with Kh Js. Everyone else folds.

Flop is Qs Ts 6c. Villain bets 5600, the second player folds, and Hero calls.

Turn is the 4s. Villain waits 20-30 seconds before checking. Hero bets 12,000. Villain takes another 20 seconds or so to call.

River Qd. Villain checks relatively quickly. There’s 45K in the pot and 50K in Villain’s stack. Do you bluff? If so, how much do you bet?

Please post your thoughts, comments, and questions here. I’ll respond to comments throughout the week and post my own thoughts about the hand on Friday.

Q: Level 6 of a Tuesday night weekly tournament held at Parx Casino in Bensalem, PA $100 buy-in, 20 minute levels, 10k starting stacks. Blinds are 300/600 with 50 antes. Hero (Me) is in the cutoff with a stack of 16,050. Everyone in earlier position folds and I find 8s7s. With no limpers I make it 1700. Button and SB fold. BB calls for 1100. BB was just moved to table 3 hands ago and has limped into one pot in EP and check/folded and has about 18,000.

Pot is now 3150 as we go to flop.

Flop is Js8c7h. Villain checks. I bet 2100 and villain check-raises to 6000. 

At this point I put villain on Jx with x being A-9, with small possibility of J-8 or a flopped straight with 10-9. Very unlikely he would have the last 2 sevens or eights and with pockets jacks I figured he would have re-raised preflop. I called. Pot is now 15150 and I have 8300 behind.

Turn is Qs. Villain checks. Hero now has two pair plus flush draw and villain has checked as an overcard falls on the turn. I shoved my last 8300 in figuring I was ahead of all of his holding except for QJ, J8, or 10-9 and I had 13 outs against QJ; 11 against J8 and somewhere between 4 (if he has exactly 10s9s) and 13 against the various 10x9x hands.  Read the complete post...

I just published a review of one of the best and most advanced poker books I’ve encountered, the 3rd Edition of Andrew “BalugaWhale” Seidman’s Easy Game. It’s probably too advanced for your average recreational player, but if you want to be a serious competitor at no-limit hold ‘em it’s a marvelous read. Here’s a bit of what I had to say about it:

Seidman not only updates his advice for contemporary game conditions but also corrects a few of his own earlier mistakes and re-explains some material in light of his current thinking about the game. The result is substantial value added to what was already an exceptionally good no-limit hold ‘em cash game book, one of the few offering really high-level insights to experienced players.

You can read the full review at http://www.thinkingpoker.net/poker-book-reviews/book-review-easy-game-by-andrew-seidman/.

Today’s question comes from a comment on last week’s “What’s Your Play?” The relevant details are that Hero is in the SB with AQs facing a raise from a loose-passive player in early position and a call from a possible scared money player in late position. It’s early in the PCA main event, and everyone is deep-stacked.

Q: I was wondering if you had considered 3b pre? You’re going to have the worst position in the hand going forward. You’ll also have the worst relative position since villain 1 isn’t going to lead the betting to often being passive. I think you get the button to fold a bunch and you get heads up, granted in a bloated pot, but vs a passive player where I’d think you get to show down easier with 1p hands.

A: The short answer is yes, I did consider it. Really, though, if you 3-bet, what are you hoping will happen? You’ll have to fold to a 4-bet, so that’s a bad outcome. Even if you’re called, you won’t be eager to play a big pot if you flop top pair. A passive player’s early position raising range is pretty strong, and it gets stronger once he calls a 3-bet. I think it’s safe to assume neither of these players continues with AJ or KQ, which means that your AQ won’t dominate anything in their calling ranges. If called, you’ll be hoping either to bluff or to flop some value and check it down, maybe squeeze out a value bet. It’s not a disaster, but it’s not a great outcome either.  Read the complete post...

The wait is over! I’m flattered by everyone who’s been asking about this. Part 1 of my PCA Trip Report is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine. Part 2 will be in next month’s magazine. Here’s a snippet from one of the more interesting hands I played:

Saskatchewan limped UTG again, Belgium limped behind, and I raised to 1,000 with A4o in the CO. This raise really blurs the line between “value” and “making a move”, since I do expect to win often with a continuation bet but I also think A4 is ahead of both of their ranges. Essentially I’ve got position and the best hand, so even though it might be tricky to play post-flop, I don’t see how raising can be bad. Saskatchewan joked about how “you internet guys don’t allow limping” and called, and Belgium called as well. They both checked a K83 rainbow, I bet 1,600, Saskatchewan folded, and Belgium quickly raised to 5,100. I was sure he was making a move, so I considered my options.

This trip report focuses almost exclusively on the poker. If you want to read about the rest of the trip, check out Hello, Goodbye, Team Online.

As always, please let me know what you think!

 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...