blonde poker forum

Hi, i just joined blonde forum. I'm currently living in Nottingham, doing a masters at the university and have been playing a weekly game at the local gala for bout 6 months. Actually, the reason i joined was because tikay was at my table when the following hand came up, i'd like to know what everyone thinks of my call.

The game is pot-limit texas with everyone starting with 2,000 chips. Blinds start at 25/50 but increase every half hour with a freeze-out after 90 mins. I was on a bit of a rush (had just over 20,000 in chips while the second biggest stack had around 8,000), when i picked up pocket sevens. Player A was UTG and raises the pot, only to be re-raised by the next two players. Player A has around 7,000, and players B and C were all-in for around 5,000. I called and matched player A's stack.

Turned out that Player A had pocket  66's while Players B and C both had AQ. The cards didnt help them and I took down a big pot. Now, im worried that was a horrible call as some players said but i often find that the fast structure suits trying to build up a stack cause people only play premium hands after the freeze-out (thats my justification), does anyone else have any thoughts about it?

I would pass, you have nothing invested in this pot and you are almost certain to be behind

btw Welcome to blonde, why not tell us about yourself on the "profiles" board

You're probably right but would you still pass with AK? After all, if im almost certainly behind with 77's then im probably behind with AK. While I had nothing invested i was risking a one-third of my stack but gettiing 3.5 to one on my stack.

...on my money i mean

latest member of the forum - only one post to his name and BAM, straight in with the technical stuff!!

 :hello:

Personally i too would pass in this situation, granted you have them all outchipped but i wouldnt want to risk over a third of my chips in a pot with 77 in a four way pot. Even knowing all your opponents cards you are still less than a 50% favourite to win the hand (so even with the best case senario you will lose more often than you will win). Given your chip advantage there will be better opportunities to increase your stack than this.

Well the thing is, with AK you will be in front of a lot of hands and no worse than 50/50 against most pairs

With 77 you will be 50/50 against one opponent with overcards and a dog against two opponents

If one of them holds an overpair your almost dead in the water

I agree with Matt.

Welcome to the blonde forum. :hello: :hello: :hello:

Yes i'd pass AK as well in this situation for the same reasons if the pot had been raised by three different people before me

hmm, thought the first welcome looked a bit tame for you nemesis!!!  :D :D :D

Thanx, i'll bear that in mind. The other question thats been gnawing at me from that night is this: I made it to the final table with a bit of luck (77 hehe) and had 90,000 in chips which second in chips. Now early on blinds were pretty high (8,000/16,000) when i picked up AQ off. The guy with the third biggest stack raises the pot which was a considerable chunk of my stack. Given the steep nature of the prize money, tenth got £200 and first got £4000, i folded, only to get blinded away and coming 6th. Should i have called given the large ante's?

Btw, i was in middle position and had nothing invested but it turned out to be my best hand on the final table.

Yes, but hindsight is a wonderful thing - its only afterwards that you found that out, if you've have gone on to get AA three times in the next three rounds then chances are this question wouldnt exist.

This second question is a bit harder to answer, without knowing how the other players at your table were playing. Was the original raiser a rock or very loose? Who was still to speak behind you? How big were their stacks, and how do they normally play? How long was the clock and how long did you have left on the current level. How many players had you lost, or were you still 10 handed?

Chances are you can get 3 or 4 different answers here and all would be right in certain circumstances........ :)

(p.s. this isnt monkeys way of saying "i have no idea!")

Actually, we were 9 handed and the original raiser was quite a loose player. There were 3 people behind me to play and i had them all outchipped but not by much, there were 10 mins left on the level.

Thinking bout it now, if i didnt care about the money i might have called, he could have raised with a lot of hands. Its funny saying it now though, its never as easy when you're playing. Anyway, thanx for the feedback, im sure i'll be posting agian very soon.

well at this stage of a tournament i believe there are only two options available: raise or fold. At this stage of the tourney with the blinds being so high in relation to chip stacks i dont believe that flat calling is an option.

If i knew the original raiser to be very loose and that by reraising i could drive the remaining players in the hand to pass and get heads up with the original raiser then i may well go all in if i thought my AQ was best.

If however it appeared as though one of the players behind you was looking to call or reraise themselves then i may well pass and wait for a better opportunity, go with what your own instincts tell you and dont try and second guess yourself.

Even knowing all your opponents cards you are still less than a 50% favourite to win the hand (so even with the best case senario you will lose more often than you will win).


Don't get me wrong I too would pass, but I don't agree with the above quote.

If I new what they had and I was slightly less than 50% I couldn't call fast enough. Don't forget he is getting over 3/1 on a call and therefore it would be a long term value call and he can not be eliminated.

he's not though, he's betting 7000 to win 17000 which is actually under 5 to 2 not over 3 to 1. strictly speaking yes he is still just about the right odds to call but at this stage of the tournament where he has already built up a decent stack - there would be no need to risk more than a third of his chips in this situation.

i agree totally with matt

although you are a suprising 52% fav preflop in this hand you need to give respect to at least one of the players for having a bigger pair than you.
it is still part of the rebuy period but you have already got a good size stack and therefore you dont need to be gambling i can afford to sit back and pick others off as they take risks

9/10 you will be a 33% fav or worse in a four way hand with that action preflop

even if your name is 77dave?!?!?!?! ;)

especially if your name is 77dave

my fav hand is  5c 2d

i called 2 guys allin £100 each in a cash game

my 52off was a 36.8% fav as they both had AK suited

first card out was a king  i make a flush will my  2d

yes, i read about that in another post a while back - one of the many reasons why i'm a mtt monkey :)

Hehe, well first off, a big blonde welcome to warthog, a horrible name, if I may say so, for a smashing lad, who was very well-spoken & educated. Did I detect a hint of American in your accent, Mr Warthog?

I'm afraid I rather set this ball rolling. I watched the hand play out, (in fact, I may have been in it, I can't recall now) & it was my opinion that he was a shade fortunate to run into the combination of hands that he did - he was entitled to expect to see an overpair, surely? But no overpair, & 2 guys holding the same hand was a bit of shocker, and a bit of a result. I put him, at best, at 30% to win the hand - though it could easily have been worse - UNTIL I saw his opponents hokdings, which were an underpair, & TWO guys holding the SAME hand - AQ, so in fact he was around even money.  In the event, he was CORRECT, but he had no way of knowing that. Against three Re-Raisers, he may well have ben facing EVERY overcard to a 7 to be out - unlikely, but if that was NOT the case, then he's almost certainly facing 2 Overpairs.

He had lots of chips, too, & I felt he did not need to risk them in such an uncertain scenario. But then again, I was CERTAIN he would face one or more overpair, & in fact there were none, & two of the holdings duplicated each other!

Anyway, he won the hand, & good luck to him.

I must confess to breaking a Golden Rule after this hand. Everyone was chuntering about the lads play "shocking, terrible call, internet kid" etc, & I done summat I don't ever recall doing before - I suggested his play was not a good one. I don't believe one should do that AT the table, you should wait until after the game. So, Mr Warthog, my apologies, for fanning the flames.

But the good news is that I owe Mr Wrthog £10, cos we had a little private bet that he would NOT Final. At the time he was playing fast & loose, & hitting everything. Then he cleaned out Carrado's top two pairs with a set of deuces (or 3's) & so it went on.

Lovely guy. I hope we see more of him on blonde.

Thank you Tikay for such a warm welcome. I must admit now that the hand has been discussed, i made the wrong decision even though i had a fortunate outcome. And i don't mind you commenting afterwards, in fact,at the time, i think it turned out to be a good thing because after the "flames were fanned" i tightened up but people were still calling me with the worst hand so it was a bit of a blessing. Anyway, there is a £50 rebuy tommorow night which should have a nice purse so if you're interested it will be great to see you again. 

Sorry, no can do Thursday, I'm off to Helsinki in a few houirs, then straight to Brighton on Saturday, but if I blow out in Brighton, I'll probably be in Notts on Sunday, & deffo on Monday. I'll buy you a drink then.

Good Luick on Thursday.

Thanx, I probably won't be in Notts this weekend, am going home (London) for Christmas a bit early but if you know of any tourneys happening over the next few weeks, would love to hear about them. Im sure i'll see you soon, best of luck in Helsinki and Brighton.

Keep a eye on the "Live Poker" section of the Forum, games are generally mentioned in there.

Have a good one in London.