blonde poker forum

Having seen how popular the format of snoopies "Let's play a hand" is I thought I'd do the same for a HU game.
Also because I think it makes for just about the most interesting hand analysis.

Taken from a 200$ HU Sit and Go.

A bit of back ground;

Player A has the button, has been fairly tight as far as you can be tight in a HU game. Both are back to about equal chips so if the chips were to fly in the middle of this one and you lose you have essentially lost the game.
Player B has started to adapt to player A's game. He was very lose, raising every button he had but has now started to slow down a bit. Whether this is because he has figured player A's style out or not you don't know. You have no notes on this player and you are player A. Raises haven't been out of order, as you would expect in a decent size STT.

Blinds are 25-50

Player A;  7h  Th
(On the button) Raise?, Call? (God Forbid) Fold? and if Raise, how much?

im calling

Fold - next hand :)

ok standard for me is raise 3x fold to rr

c bet 2/3 pot on any flop

If he leads out, what I do flop dependent.

I call here, but i bet you raised.

150 to play

How many chips do you have

i just guessed it was a 2000 chip jobbie on tribecca? on second thoughts maybe not as they dont have a 25/50?

Raise to 150, but this might have depend on what you have done previously. I tend to raise 3xBB with 70%+ of hands on the button. I am also guessing this loose aggressive player might raise any hands where you call on the button, which would make me do this less often (unless trapping).

150

Sorry to young mr ITB. 2000 chippies each (actually 2040 player A and 1960 player B)

Action player A; with 7h Th

Raise to 200

Player B

Re-raises to 400.

Player B has not yet made this move, but using his description above of what he's done before (we haven't played that many hands yet and you don't have notes) two questions.

A; What range do you put him on. (admittedly quite tricky HU) Is he stealing or does he actually have something?

B; Call, Fold, or reraise?

 

edit* mistake on my part 2k chippies each (that's what I get for doing it from work from the top of my head.)

When I said I fold to a reraise I meant a proper one - I really hate this but I'm going to have to call.  I'm a bit worried that he knows I am going to call i.e he wants action so could have a monster.  He will almost def c bet so I'm going allin if I hit.  hmmm maybe it is a fold, but I'll prob play him again so have to call or alse this will be too easy a way for him to pick up chips.

I really don't like a 4x raise preflop - I haven't experienced many ppl folding for 4, but not for 3.

Personally i think he's testing you, he has something but it's not great. He thinks you have a good hand and he's just trying to find out how good. It means he has something he wants to be able to lay down on the flop with confidence if he gets a bad flop, maybe A-10ish. I'm pretty sure he calls if you move in here so take a flop and be prepared to move in on him if he doesn't commit himself on the flop and the flop is likely to have missed him. I think he plays pairs stronger than this and would just call preflop with big pairs. My only concern is that 10-10 or J-J could be trying to find out where they are here.

But then again that could be total bollox cos this is just a total stab in the dark.

that's the point of the excercise my friend...

What he said. I would call because I'm priced in by the small reraise, but I'm not that happy about it. Looks like a pot building raise to me. Still I've got a nice hand against a monster (eg much preferable to a dominated ace)

Id raise like u did preflop, heads up on the button if I play I raise.  Id call the reraise but I wouldnt put him necessarily on a big hand, maybe a weak ace.  We get to see how he acts 1st on the flop

 ;frustrated; ;frustrated; ;frustrated;


I call the extra 200 and curse myself for making it 200 not 150 in the first place (damn misclicks)

As for his range of hands, this is a $200 so his range here is massive, so much so i am not going to try to define it preflop.

Regarding his hand, could be anything given what we know so far, but the size of raise has my alarm bell ringing because I'd normally expect a bigger reraise. He should know I'm likely to call here.

Why?

Do you really think JJ and TT are raising here to then fold to a 3 bet?

So is he "re-raising to find out where he is" or re-raising for value?

depends what he has

JJ/TT

I think he's expecting Boldie to raise UTG with a huge range of hands like the one he has and is reraising with a better hand but not a monster, probably a weak ace or something along the lines of JT.  I think he's testing to see if you're raising with junk or not and your call tells him you're not really strong but have some kind of hand.  If you wanted to be aggressive you could min re-raise and if he was weak he'd possibly fold but probably call, if he was strong he'd shove but I think with your hand you're looking to either take it pre flop with the raise hoping he has nothing and wont play back or see a flop so Id flat call the reraise and see what the flop brings and what he does as first to act.

OK...

PlayerA calls. This means you have 1600 (about) chippies left back.

flop;

 Ahrt 7s 3c


Player B who's first to act; Checks.

What's your action here?

Check, lets get some more information, if we bet here he can check raise us with any 2

hmmmm when ppl who should bet, check instead, I tread cautiously. Surely, absolutely everyone c-bets here and generally takes down the pot.  So either our opponent is either very unconventional or he feels that he can make more from checking.


The choice is either to bet and give up if called or raised or to give up unless we improve.
 
I might be wrong but I guess that we will indeed improve and this hand isn't going to go chk - chk,  chk - chk... :)

 

I am checking and then when he bets the turn either raising or calling.

The check by him i believe is a trap to make us lose control of the pot, if we bet he can check raise and we cant win the pot. If we check we are still in control.

cheeeeeeeeeeeck, Ive got him on an ace and the ace hits, he might even have A7.  If he had the bare ace then Id expect him to bet out to see where he is since you've called his raise pre flop he probably puts you on some sort of ace too.

Check for me too.

Action, you raise 350 which means you have 1250 back.

Player B; Flat Calls.


Turn; 6h

Player B; Check.

What's your action?

standard fold here....

After yet again miss clicking on the flop i change the batteries in my mouse (a probable error) then i check the turn now i have the fd.

I push here.  I think his actions indicate weakness ok he could be slowplaying a monster but I even then I have outs.  Pushing puts him to the test and I'm sure takes down the pot more than half the time.

I like doubleup's play provided my oppo isn't a fish however, i wouldn't have played the hand this way.

Boldie can i ask, why did you bet the flop. Couldn't you have checked and then raised his turn bet. After your pf raise you can still represent the ace on the turn and a strong turn raise surely puts pressure on a weak ace.

Yes you can...I'm not playerA :) I'm player B.

Player A is actually quite a decent player HU and he and I had a long talk about this hand. I fully understand why he bets pre-flop the flop and the turn...
I will post his reasoning about the complete play of the hand later on with an explanation as to where I think he went wrong (because he did/does). By now he should already have put me on the hand I had as we have played a lot together. I am leaving work pretty soon and will post the conclusion of the hand later today...tommorow I will also stick an analysis of the hand up as it actually is a fairly interesting one.

 ;shitfanhit;

Player A checks

River Tc


Player B pushes.

Player A now has 2 pair and calls.

Player B turns over his trip Aces and takes the hand down.

I think both players played this really badly will post more when i have a bit more time.

Player A reasoning amounted to;

I raise pre-flop because I'm on the button. I am more then happy to call your prelfop min raise as my hand allows it to (Suited connectors and probably two live cards). I have also represented the ace, as I have established a tight image in the first hands. I, ofcourse, also have enough chips behind to see what happens on the flop.

When the flop comes down and you check it, I can bet it. I could do this whether or not I have part of the flop but in this case a; I hit it and B; as stated before, I have represented the Ace.

I want to take the pot there and then. I take you for a hand after your min raise but I also want to see if I am behind. I would expect you to reraise me if you hold a high ace. What I do NOT want to do is give you a free turn card.
When you call I'm not happy about it BUT it's OK as soon as the turn comes down.

The turn gives me the FD, and you checked it to me. I could have lead out here (pushed) as I have enough outs should you be ahead. However I don't like your min-raise and flat call on the flop now so I now take a free card.

I miss the flush but hit two pair on the river and you, who has only flatcalled uptill now could just have a high ace. I can therefore call your river push.

I never took you for the trip aces here as you min raised me on the flop. You don't do this with pocket aces and this threw me off also because you were fairly loose in the first few hands and only tightened up after a while, You could be switching gears again by min-raising/re-raising everything I do.

I want to know where i can find these $200 heads up games :)

Player B (Me) reasoning behind it.

I have found a monster hand pre-flop and he has raised from the button. I could flatcall here but I also know he is VERY likely to call my min-raise. It might scare him a bit but it's worth getting some more in pre-flop and he won't put me on what I hold now.

The flop comes down and I've hit my trips. I am up against a guy who has been playing fairly tight thusfar and there's no need for me to bet this as I have what, at this time is the nuts.

He raises 350, he must have some part of this flop. I can reraise him but the ace is likely to scare him off calling there so I'll just flatcall.

The turn comes another seemingly innocent little card and therefore I can check-call/check raise here. So I check. there's still no need for me to bet this.
He then checks. I am not happy about this; He could now have two pair and maybe he's missed the flop completely and was having a stab at it on the flop. No, this doesn't match with his game. He is concerned about something here and my flatcall on the flop has scared him a bit. Ah well, nothing I can do about it now.

The river comes down and the back door FD is not there. As I have put him on having hit the flop in some way he also won't hold the straight and therefore I am still ahead.
When I checked the turn he didn't bet it, so I can't check again as he could check aswell.

I therefore push, with the pot this size it's the only bet that could make sense. I could bet 400 but that's more likely to scare him off then a push will as 400 into this pot will look suspicious.
He calls and shows me his two pair. I got lucky that he hit his ten on the river and therefore felt he could call but it does go to show that if I had lead out on the flop after my min reraise he would have folded.

cool

Glad i ain't the only 1, i thought Tribeca was soft!

I play it exactly the same way as Flushy.

Instant call