Hand of the Week - 7th May

[NoflopsHomer]

Reveal is now here, http://www.blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/9691

[Royal Flush]

Stuart could well have a house to check behind on the turn, give up the pot and wish you had raised more on the flop.

HOLLA!

[Harry Demetriou]

I have to follow up on this now that we know Stuart was holding JT (a hand which I readily dismissed incidentally) with a couple fo further comments.

The flop came JT 7 wit 2 clubs.

There are two schools of thought and styles of play here (both equally valid I hasten to add).

First Thought/Style

On the flop Thater checked and Stuart bet followed by the check raise form Thater.

Personally I would read Thater's check raise out of position as either a big draw or at least top pair (but maybe even an overpair as I already hold a J and T which makes it less likely Thater has one of those cards) and as such would interpet the check raise as showing committment to the hand and push all in expecting to be called. As Stuart this woiuld have been my preferred play and if Thater had a hand like 89 or 77 then good luck to her. I would also be thinking that the board represented many possible draws and as such could prove dangerous to me if a straight or flushing card came on the turn.  As such I am happy to get all the money in on the flop with top two pair and think there is litte chance of my opponent folding in this spot.

Second Thought and style of play.

This is not a multi way pot (its heads up) between you and and one opponent out of position.

As Stuart flopping top two pair is a monster against one opponent and as such I want to get some value out of my hand and because of this I am prepared to take a chance and risk a straight card or flush card that may or may not damage me and help my opponent. I may even still commit all my chips on the turn if a straight or flush card comes up on the turn because its heads up.

To be honest I think this is the more professional of the two plays and would favour this play earlier in the tournament (as is the case here) except for the potentially dangerous looking board. Late on in a tournament I would defintiely not slow play this hand as I beieive you have too much to lose slow playing than by playing it straight but thats another discussion and dependant on the tage of the competition.

My comments above are not intended to be definitive ones as everything is relative to what you think about your opponent and how you think they are playing against you. eg If Stuart thought that Thater had an overpair (such as AA) but would fold to an all in re-raise on the flop then of course the right thing to do is smooth call the check raise on the flop.

Bottom line is that regardless of the play chosen it really is dependant on how you are reading your opponent and how you are assessing their play at the time so the best person to judge a play is the person actually at the table as they are in the best position to judge what may or may not be the best play. In essence what I am saying is that you have to make a judgement call here. As Howard Lederer says this is a game of incomplete information and you just have to make your best guess play. So back your judgement and make the play according to that judgement. Just because you may get it wrong from time to time doesn't mea you shouldn't make that play because the bottom line is that you will never ever be absolutely certain about what the right play is so you just have to go with your best guess.

After the event it is always easy to judge what would and would not have been the best play because you now know all the cards and what would or would not have been the best likely course of action.

So in answer to how Stuat played his hand (questionposed at the end of the reveal) - it depends on what his thiking of his opponent was at the time and whether he was prepared to take a chance in the hope he could extract more from a good hand and on what he felt Thater was holding. Assuming he put Thater on the flush or straight draw then it can often be correct to wait until the turn to commit chips making it difficlt for Thater to call with one card to come if not already holding the made hand.

Personally as stated above the board is a little too scary for my liking and on the flop if I were Stuart and beaten already it would be too bad. After the check raise with 7k+ in the pot I am happy to pick up the pot there and then (its too large to allow an opponent to hit on the turn) and as such would not slow play and put the rest of my chips in. As it happens on the turn I have a full and as such now I am prepared to wait nd hope my opponent iproves and/or bluffs into me on the river.

(NB This doesn't make me right and Stuart wrong just my preferred play with the information I have at my disposal which is a lot less tha Stuart would have had to go on having played for a few hjours with that opponent).

BTW I have just remembered I have failed to comment on wether or not I would have bet in Stuart's position after the check to me on the flop.

Because of the dangerous type board I would have bet something as did Stuart thinking its unlikely my opponent has anything along the lines of a J or T (as I am holding one of each) and preflopThater called me with most likely two big cards or a pair (after all what else would someone call my late position raise in the small blind and not re raise me) . As such Thater may have been slow playing an overpair and this could be just the spot in which I could win a big pot especially if Thater had the overpair and especially Aces or Kings. After the check raise though I now feel confident that Thater definitely has a decent hand (or at least a big draw as outlined above) and would proceed according to the above comments.

[Harry Demetriou]

PS A slight correction to the titleHome page where I am (mis)quoted.

I know you are roughly a 60/40 underdog to a set on the flop and do not recall saying you are a favourite against a set but a marginal favourite against two aces including the Ace of Clubs and a significant favourite against two red aces.

PPS Against top two pair as in this case you are roughly 50/50 on the flop so all in pushing or calling is pretty easy to do and you get the right odds to do the same even against a set the way the bettng goes but it is always better to be the one shoving as you get some fold equity...hence the power of pushing chips in first rather than calling.

[snoopy1239]

Stuart could well have a house to check behind on the turn, give up the pot and wish you had raised more on the flop.

HOLLA!

Lucky guess. 

[snoopy1239]

PS A slight correction to the titleHome page where I am (mis)quoted.

I know you are roughly a 60/40 underdog to a set on the flop and do not recall saying you are a favourite against a set but a marginal favourite against two aces including the Ace of Clubs and a significant favourite against two red aces.

PPS Against top two pair as in this case you are roughly 50/50 on the flop so all in pushing or calling is pretty easy to do and you get the right odds to do the same even against a set the way the bettng goes but it is always better to be the one shoving as you get some fold equity...hence the power of pushing chips in first rather than calling.

Sry, I made a typo. Have edited it now.

[Foxy]

Harry has made some good points about both our play in this hand, its aways good to learn new ways of thinking to help get into the mind of your opponents. How did I play the hand ? I had been raising alot and felt like the table was gonna hit back at me in the next round and somone would come back at me with a weak hand, so now I want to hit by big hand and get paid for them being angry at folding to my position raises .     to sum it up     -  If i would have re rasied her reraise on the flop well then id have all her chips for sure, I never felt good about this hand from the start and even flopping top two pair I still felt like I was beat or would be beat by the river. As soon as she re raised me on the flop I was hoping to just check it down with top two but as I hit a dream turn I could afford to let her hit a flush, strait or just hang herself on the river and get all the chips, but a bad river for me and the rest played itself realy. Btw all round piss head is a bit heavy Snopps but I here you and will sort it.