A hand from the blinds.

[Bongo]

No Limit Hold em Cash game, 50c/$1 blinds.

I have just sat down and this is my first hand at the table, I am in the BB.

I've been thinking about this hand for a few days and i'm not really sure whether I played it well or very badly. It might be boring and uninteresting, I don't know.

10 hands, but i'll cut out the details of those who aren't involved to save space

- DallasCorben sitting in seat 1 with $47.83
- vitalnet sitting in seat 4 with $181.23 [Dealer]
- Bongo sitting in seat 6 with $50.00

cl1948 posted the small blind - $0.50
Bongo posted the big blind - $1.00
** Dealing card to Bongo:
DallasCorben raised - $3.00
vitalnet called - $3.00
Bongo called - $2.00

DallasCorben is a pretty standard ABC player, nothing too remarkable about him.
I have never seen vitalnet at the tables before.

I think the call is reasonable putting an extra $2 into a $7.5 pot so getting 3.75 - 1 from the pot. Feel free to say if you think a different option is better and why, but I think this part of the hand is pretty straight forward.

** Dealing the flop:

Is that a good flop for me or a bad one?

What would you do here?

[Longy]

Um IMO you bet out and see where you are about 1/2 to 2/3 of the pot being prepared to give it up to any resistance especially from the raiser. Interestingly i remember DallasCorben from laddies and i have had look at my poker tracker and he looks like a loosey goosey to me.

[Bongo]

I remember him as nothing out of the ordinary - my poker tracker has not many hands about him but I remember him from before I got it.

If your PT is saying otherwise we'll go with that then.

[Royal Flush]

Why dont you exchange PT databases!

[Bongo]

Then he'd see what a fish I was!

Actually that's a good idea, I wonder if it's possible to make it use a remote PostgreSQL database hosted on a webserver and then get people to connect to it.

Would that be ethical? I guess we should debate this in another thread though.

[jezza777]

This is a great flop for you in the BB in my opinion not only do you have top pair but the very fact you called from the bb means your range of hands is huge and you could have 2 pair or even a str8 flush draw. ( the question is does he realise this?) A probe bet of half the pot is the play here I think .

[TightEnd]

bet 2/3 of the pot, this should get you heads up to the turn


if you are raised then if he is a loosey you have to decide whether its an overpair or just two overcards

on a rag turn I would push again, get him worried about a BB holding of two pair

[Bongo]

So the general consensus is a nice bet?

Alas, I'm too much of a rock to bet at that flop... 

Bongo checked
DallasCorben bet - $3.00
vitalnet called - $3.00

Now then, this is interesting.

The pot was $9.50 and DC bets $3 - just under 1/3rd of the pot - A very small bet.
vitalnet calls which makes the pot now $15.50.

Me to act again and what do I do?

[Royal Flush]

raise. make it up to 10

[Longy]

Urrrgh i really don't like this situation. I think you have to push or fold, calling is not an option here IMO as you don't know where you are. I actual fold i do not want to get involved in a big pot with top pair and a weak kicker. So i fold.

[bundle]

make it $10..you got a guy with A3 and another with 2 over cards like 9 J or some shite like that.. but then what do i know im a FISH

[Bongo]

Well I thought that the bets showed no real strength and my hand was probably best right now - although vulnerable.

I decided I wanted to take the hand down there and then if possible and so put in a raise. I made a pot sized bet.

($15.50 + $3 = $18.50, i put in $21, a raise of $18)

Bongo raised - $21.00

DC thinks for an age and then passes:
DallasCorben folded
vitalnet called - $21.00

A call. bugger. now what?

** Dealing the turn: 

Recap:

my hand:
 

board:

 

pot now: $54.50

[Longy]

Check and fold to a bet. There is no way unless he is proper fish he doesn't have you beat here, he has cold called a bet and a check raise. The only hand you are beating here i think is  cos of the amount of outs he has. My money is on pocket 2's for vital net or possibly an overpair 10's-8's

[Bongo]

Yes, but for some reason I thought I was in front so this happened

Bongo went all-in - $26.00

I fully expected him to fold but:

vitalnet called - $26.00

Oh crap! looks like a reload!

finally:


** Dealing the river: Jack of Spades
Bongo shows: 9 of Hearts, 7 of Spades
vitalnet mucks:
Bongooo wins $103.50 from the main pot

Ladbrokes doesn't let you see mucked cards so we can only speculate as to what he had.

I was feeling very lucky to have won and with a feeling that although I didn't outdraw him I was very lucky to win the hand.

So what to take from it?

Betting out can lead to an easier decision making process throughout the hand?

What would we have done on the turn once vitalnet had called? (as he clearly would...)

edit: I also thought that hands like this aren't that rare and I could be costing myself a bucketload of cash (either in lost EV or by losing big pots) by playing them badly...