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Tough Call |
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In this hand, I go over why's it important to make sure you are reading all of the information your opponent sends you, rather than just fear what you cannot beat.
PokerStars Game #2869402312: Tournament #14139042, Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2005/10/22 - 22:46:15 (ET)
Table '14139042 1' Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: queenie5 (1785 in chips)
Seat 2: JohnPaulK (1265 in chips)
Seat 3: dbridges (1635 in chips)
Seat 4: Worm005 (1075 in chips)
Seat 5: faraway (1945 in chips)
Seat 6: gidders (1515 in chips)
Seat 7: mtnwilly (2430 in chips)
Seat 8: Duffhacker (1115 in chips)
Seat 9: Chip Viper (735 in chips)
queenie5: posts small blind 25
JohnPaulK: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gidders [Td Tc]
dbridges: folds
Worm005: folds
faraway: calls 50
gidders: raises 150 to 200
mtnwilly: folds
Duffhacker: calls 200
Chip Viper: folds
queenie5: folds
JohnPaulK: calls 150
faraway: folds
*** FLOP *** [5c 7h Jc]
JohnPaulK: checks
gidders: bets 250
Duffhacker: raises 665 to 915 and is all-in
JohnPaulK: folds
gidders: calls 665
*** TURN *** [5c 7h Jc] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [5c 7h Jc 4s] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
gidders: shows [Td Tc] (two pair, Tens and Fours)
Duffhacker: shows [8d 8h] (two pair, Eights and Fours)
gidders collected 2505 from pot
Let’s go over this hand, decision by decision.
Decision 1 – Raise a limper 4x to 200 with TT.
Comments – Obviously, we want to take control of the hand here. With a vulnerable hand like TT – we want to ideally play this against one opponent in position.
Options – We could limp behind, but than we leave ourselves guessing if our opponents hit the flop. It is almost always better to be the aggressor in the hand and force our opponents to guess whether or not the flop hit us.
Decision 2 – Bet 250 into 675 on the 5c 7h Jc board into 2 players.
Comments – Here is a spot that you might find yourself in often. You make a healthy sized raise, and you still get two cold callers behind you. On this particular hand, we have position on one player only. However, since we were the preflop raiser – we still technically have the lead in the hand.
You almost always want to bet out in these situations – because it is almost always a favorable situation for you. I like to call it the Cold Caller’s Dream. Usually, after a player has raised a limper – the players calling behind him usually have a narrow range of hands. They are usually pairs under 99, AQ-AT, or Ax suited.
Think of the hands you would call behind someone who raised a limper – what kind of hand would you need to call with? For me personally, I would probably only call with a pair, maybe AQ (I probably raise with it, though) and possibly Ax suited.
A small pair seems like the most logical hand to put my opponents on, which they will only hit a very small percentage of the time. This means I don’t necessarily have to be scared of any face cards that flop, and I might even feel comfortable betting out the Ace if it flops.
Options - Here is the part where you can vary up your bet, depending on the stack sizes of yourself and your opponents.
This wasn’t a particularly scary flop, although there is a chance we could be beat.
I really try to advocate to people not to be scared of a single overcard, just because it is an overcard. When an overcard flops when you hold a pair, really think about the hands your opponent could hold. Don’t just be scared because there is a possibility now that you are drawing to 3 outs.
In this example, I really don’t put my opponent on paint hands like KJ, KQ, KT, or JQ. There is a possibility that one of them holds AJ, or JTs (a favorite amongst low limit players) but I have to bet out here to see where I stand in the hand. If they fold – that’s wonderful. If they call, I now have to reevaluate my position – but the key is that I must bet here, on this relatively good flop.
Decision 3 – Call a 665 reraise all in, leaving myself with 400 chips if I lost the hand.
Comments - Here is the most controversial part of this hand. I called a 665 chip reraise all in from a player who smooth called 200 behind me pre flop, and than saw me bet out 250 on the flop.
Basically this hand, came down to some simple math. After I bet out 250 on the flop (leaving myself with 1065) there was now 925 chips in the pot. With his reraise of 665, the pot was now 1590. Now it costs me 665 chips (leaving myself with 400) to win a pot that would be worth a total of 2505 (giving me 2905 chips and a big chip lead over the rest of the field).
If I call and he has a Jack here (which is possible considering the way he played the hand), I am crippled to 400 chips, and really have to struggle to get back into the SNG to make any kind of showing. However, if I call here and he does have a hand like a medium pair (which I would put him on when he only called my raise preflop) than I am in a great spot to have 2905 chips and the chip lead – and really can do some damage later on.
At this point, it basically comes down to what you think your opponent is capable of. If you don’t believe your opponent has the courage to make a play like this, than you should probably fold. However, if you believe your opponent put any thought into what your hand was (in this case, I think he put me on two unpaired overcards like AK) than you can call.
Options – I can fold here, leaving myself with 1065 chips – in decent shape. In Level 3 – I ideally want to put myself into a chip position where I can push people around in the upcoming levels. With 1065, I cannot do this. However, with 2905 chips I can.
I really like to get a nice chip stack so the End Game becomes fairly easy. People have to respect your stack when it gets down 4 and 5 handed because you have the power to knock them out. If you use the right kind of Power Poker from there, it really does become fairly simple. But if you feel that you are just as big of a threat with a short stack in these shorthanded situations, than you might want to fold here – and that would still be very okay.
I would call about 80% of the time here, just because if my read is right I will have enough chips to at least cash (and possibly win), and if I’m wrong – well than I’m wrong and I must battle to comeback, or I move onto the next SNG.
Sometimes, I like to make actions based on an Expected Output theory. The E.O. theory is basically a decision you make during a SNG that either makes you or breaks you. When the decision breaks you, you will usually be crippled or out. However, when the decision makes you, it’s a hand that will put you in either a great position to win the SNG, or gives you the chip lead and in turn makes you the Table Commander. So, if I am able to win this particular hand, my E.O. goes way up to the point where I can comfortably steal pots in future levels and have an easier time of winning.
Like I always say, if you lose – you lose. In this case, I really felt it was possible that he was trying to steal this pot away from me, and I made a gutsy call with just a pair of tens. However, adding up all the information and using some basic math and F.E.O. skills, I felt this call was fairly easy.
Lesson – Use an E.O. theory of your own along with a combination of reasoning on what your opponent might hold - rather than fear what you cannot beat. |
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