Hand of the week 16th April

[NoflopsHomer]

Welcome. This is the first part of this particular hand, the turn and river will be revealed on Wednesday whilst the outcome and your opponents hand shown on Friday and what might be the reasons for his betting patterns.

The Hand

This hand is from the EPT event in Baden from 2006, there are ten players and two tables left and we are playing shorthanded, with blinds at 6k/12k with a running 1k ante.

Thang Nguyen -- 308,000
Peter Eichhardt -- 600,000
Daniel Dodet -- 217,000
Sasa Biorac -- 228,000
Ben Johnson -- 352,000

Here you'll be playing as the small blind Thang Duc Nguyen holding .

Your opponent is Peter Eichardt who elimanted the last Brit Peter Gould early on, and is a typical aggressive scandie who has been raising every hand but was stopped once when Daniel Dodet pushed after Eichardt's utg raise. He is also the chip leader.

Daniel, Sasa and Ben all fold round to Thang, who limps in the SB, Peter checks.

Board:



1. What do you do preflop? And why? Do you differ from Thang or do the same?

2. After the preflop action, is that a good flop for you? Out of position, what is your best strategy now?

3. If you plan to bet this flop, why? If you don't plan to bet this flop, why not?

What Thang and Peter did on the flop will be revealed on Wednesday, as will the turn and river cards.

Enjoy, and please post your answers and thoughts here, as well as feedback and any other ideas here.

[I KNOW IT]

Nemesis has been posting poker hand questions on HMF,a lot of people have enjoyed participating in these exercises and there has not been 1 case of ridicule of other posters opinions.I hope the same common courtesy is shown here.

[I KNOW IT]

Nemesis has been posting poker hand questions on HMF,a lot of people have enjoyed participating in these exercises and there has not been 1 case of ridicule of other posters opinions.I hope the same common courtesy is shown here.

WOW, I reread that and Isound like Tighty, but I guess you know where Im coming from

[TightEnd]

I can't believe you dare suggest I talk like that. Things have changed, I was an original poster, listen to me


There, I now sound like I know It!   



(good point though)

Hand of the Week sia  great idea, looking forward to reading the opinions on this hand

[boldie]

hmmm. I suspect he only limped because he was afraid of a reraise from the agressive scandie. Fair enough, but I don't really like it. I'd raise to 30k and follow up on the flop.

Assuming he'd call;
Yeah I wouldn't mind this flop after raising. I'd  lead out here. Bet 50k-ish and see what the Scandie man does. I am ofcourse hoping to hit a three of course but am representing an overpair.

As the way it's played I'd still lead out, bet 18k-ish.

[Ironside]

if i was thang i would play it exactly the way he did

but as i am not thang i would of raised too 52k preflop

if called i would of pushed all in on flop because any other

raise would of committed me or given him odds to call with a draw

probably

[Ironside]

hmmm. I suspect he only limped because he was afraid of a reraise from the agressive scandie. Fair enough, but I don't really like it. I'd raise to 30k and follow up on the flop.

Assuming he'd call;
Yeah I wouldn't mind this flop after raising. I'd  lead out here. Bet 50k-ish and see what the Scandie man does. I am ofcourse hoping to hit a three of course but am representing an overpair.

As the way it's played I'd still lead out, bet 18k-ish.

have you taken into account the running ante's your giving him odds to call preflop with NE2 and on the flop with any draw

[Ironside]

i just remembered i am in sb so the preflop raise would of been to 40k still doesnt change the flop though as any meanfull bet would be commiting me to it so get the money in first

[johnbhoy76]

Welcome. This is the first part of this particular hand, the turn and river will be revealed on Wednesday whilst the outcome and your opponents hand shown on Friday and what might be the reasons for his betting patterns.

The Hand



1. What do you do preflop? And why? Do you differ from Thang or do the same?

2. After the preflop action, is that a good flop for you? Out of position, what is your best strategy now?

3. If you plan to bet this flop, why? If you don't plan to bet this flop, why not?

What Thang and Peter did on the flop will be revealed on Wednesday, as will the turn and river cards.

1 - Fold. My reasons are that I do not want to play out of position against the chip leader. I have the sort of hand that can lead to trouble if I hit an ACE on the flop. I just really really hate playing from the small blind against anyone even when I have a monster. If I have built up a tight image at the table I may raise here but I am definately not calling.

2&3 Given that I really do not want to play the hand in the first place I don't think my comments on what to do now would be of much use to anyone.

[GlasgowBandit]

I would fold pre flop.  I witness too many players haemorage chips when they limp with a A-rag because they feel compelled to call a raise after making up the blind.  Plus the fact that I am out of position agasint an aggressive CL is not an ideal situation to be in.  I would rather wait and fine a better situation to get my chips in. 

[AndrewT]

Those of you who have said you'd raise pre-flop - what do you do if you get re-raised?

If I were a super aggressive Scandie in this situation (on final table bubble with two players shorter than the raiser), I'd be pushing here. Thang's raising range will be very wide, but his calling range should be very narrow - ideal situations for a big-stack Scandie to smack him about.

If I were Thang, I'd only be limping, and folding to a raise.

With this flop I'm torn between check-calling and check-folding. Gutshot and a overcard is worth a check-call, but being in a pot with the table big-stack OOP is exactly the situation I want to avoid at this stage of the comp.

Having a think about it leads me to go for check-fold - there's no reason to get involved in a situation which can go so wrong in so many different ways.

[MANTIS01]

I raise pre-flop to 36k

I would raise here for a number of reasons...

1. I probably have the best hand right now, so why not seize the initiative?
2. If I limp I would fully expect my aggressive opponent to raise with position and chip power.
3. If my opponent raises I wouldn't call - so I would be thinking either raise myself or fold.
4. I am out of position
5. To acquire some information

After the flop...

Not a great flop for me, but then again probably not a great flop for my opponent who has just called my raise. I represented a hand pre-flop and so I would lead out again with a bet of half the pot. I may still have the best of it and I am on a draw to improve so I continue taking the initiative here.

If you decide to limp pre-flop the complexion of the hand changes I think. If you lead out after the flop, into an aggressive opponent, on that board, I would fully expect to get re-raised as standard. What are you betting with that you wont lay down to a re-raise from the chip-leader? Betting out with a flopped straight would be a good play though!

By limping pre-flop Thang has potentially got himself into a sticky situation now

1. He can lead out now, get re-raised, probably folds
2. He can lead out now, get a call, doesn't improve, and check-folds
3. He can check-call with nothing
4. He can check-raise with nothing
5. He can lead out again on the turn with nothing

All of these options are not great and this is why I raise pre-flop.

[Tragic]

ALways raise this pre, don't care if he's aggressive refuse to be bullied your hand is likely best. Having limped from the SB and seen him check from the BB i'm a bit worried about this flop, but it's also not that bad for my hand. Would be nice to know how I have been playing up to here, depending on that could be any of Bet/fold to RR Check/Fold or Check/Raise. I would never be in this situation though you can't limp this hand in this situation IMO. IF your raise gets called jam the flop. it's not that bad a flop for you in a raised pot. IF you get reraised, it's up to you. THing is he knows u've seen him being aggressive so you arent tryin this with utter toss you can't let aggressive players make u play hands that should be raised weakly.

[Ironside]

Those of you who have said you'd raise pre-flop - what do you do if you get re-raised?

i would proberly fold to a reraise due to the fact there is no hand i am a big favourite against
but i would certainly not give him a walk if i gave the BB a walk when i have A5 in the SB i will be letting him have a walk more often than not

the amountof time i steal the blinds in this postion makes up for the few time he comes over the top and if you let players know you can laydown in thee postion you will get players coming over the top of you when you have a premium hand too

[matt674]

1. What do you do preflop? And why? Do you differ from Thang or do the same?

2. After the preflop action, is that a good flop for you? Out of position, what is your best strategy now?

3. If you plan to bet this flop, why? If you don't plan to bet this flop, why not?

1. I limp preflop and make up the bb - if my opponent is as aggresive as you say then my plan is to limp then check-raise. If he is as aggresive as you say then he may well reraise me if i raise and then i cannot call and have to pass. By checkraising preflop i have the opportunity to win more chips but if my opponent just checks out of the BB then i get to see a flop anyway and can reassess the situation.

2. Now that my opponent has flat called it isnt particularly that good a flop - i know my opponent is aggresive so i check.

3. My thinking would be that by showing weakness that my opponent may well take a stab at trying to take down this pot being the "aggresive scandie". If he checks then i get to see a free card, if he bets between 25-40k then i smooth call with the intention of trying and force him off the pot on the turn and if he bets more than 40k then i'm going to pass.