Sunday, April 29, 2007

top two vs set

I was going to first post this hand without showing the results to see how you guys would have played it differently but to get the best feedback I decided to just tell you how the hand played out. This was at a Full Tilt 1/2 table 9 handed. I had been playing fast and agressive taking down many small pots until this hand came up:

I was on the cutoff with A Ks, it had folded around to me so I made it $7 to go. Button called and so did BB. Flop came out A K 6 rainbow. BB checked and I led out for $12 (pot $22). Button quickly called and BB folded. Turn came a 2, so once again I led out for $24 (pot $46). Button once again quickly called. River came a J which made a board with no flush draws. I led out again once more for $64 (pot $104). Villian quickly min raised to $128 without thinking at all. Now, I wanted to raise here because he rasied so quickly his bet really looked like 2 pair to me. AJ seemed most likely, I couldn't really put villian on Q 10, so the only other possible hands he could have were 22 or 66. I couldn't fold here, I had pot committed myself by taking the lead in the hand. Anyway, I decided to just call because there are more hands here that beat me than hands that I have him beat (both of us had about $100 more after the call). Villian flipped over 6 6 for a flopped set. Now, here is my question: What could I have done differently here? How would you have played this hand (assuming that whatever you did villian was going to smooth call you, or at least play to trap)? I feel like I lost the minimum here based on my style and how I play but still cannot think of any other situation where I could have not lost money here.

3 comments:

Ryan Noonan said...

Man thats just a sick flop....i would have played it exactly like you did...the only questionable play in that hand was the call of his raise on the river but i would have made the call as well. You had already
invested alot of money in the pot and your still beating hands such as AJ and KJ. Unless you absolutely knew that players style, that's going to be a difficult fold because you are so committed...so all and all i agree..you pretty much lost the minimum on that hand

Max Holley said...

"Nice hand, sir" is about all you can say after that. Not really much you can do there. I definately would have lost more because I play my big hands very fast. I probably would have made closer to a pot-sized bet on the flop and turn, then shoved on the river, so props to you Joe. This hand just goes to show you the faults of slowplaying. If he would have raised with his set on the flop, he would have won a lot more. Seems like this player is an idiot. He didn't raise on an A-K-x with bottom set, and waited until the river, when there were more hands that could possibly beat him, to raise. What if you had been screwing around with JJ, or Q-10? Now he's waited until he has the worst hand to finally raise.

As for your call on the river, he has to have A-J for you to be beating him. By the way the hand played out, his range of hands, after his raise on the river, are either A-J or 6-6 (possibly slowplaying AA or KK as well, but seems unlikely) and it seems equally likely that he could have either. Given the situation, it was a good min raise by him, as anything more probably would have merited a fold. This hand goes to show you that raises on the river are down right scary and this particular play is something to be utilized against smart players, since they will most often give you respect. Bottom line: Cold Deck. Not much you can do about it...Just say "Fuck it" and move on...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing this.