A hand example to extend on the last post..
by risk2Dupside on 01/26/09
Hi all...
I've had a crummy downswing today..so what better way to distract myself than to discuss strategy and good playing. I wanted to post a few HH's that underscore some of the points I made in my last post. I don't know whether I fully explained them correctly but hopefully this first example helps.
1. Pot control/extracting river bluffs by checking the turn
This is one is the most common situations I see in 4.40/180-max and is generally the way I build a decent chip stack through the early/mid stages with minimal risk. Note that I have position on the player and he is check/calling which tells me he is either on 1) a weak top pair, 2) a flush draw, or 3) a set. Usually with a two-suited flop a reasonable player knows not to slowplay a set, so I'm playing this one reasonably confident I am ahead...
PokerStars Game #24286393393: Tournament #136506320, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2026/01/26 2:25:17 ET
Table '136506320 3' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: pokersikkie (1400 in chips)
Seat 2: winnergroen (2360 in chips)
Seat 3: kylew132 (1410 in chips)
Seat 4: Undra1 (1180 in chips)
Seat 5: S.fox 82 (1370 in chips)
Seat 6: randall7stud (1450 in chips)
Seat 7: risk2Dupside (1760 in chips)
Seat 8: thailanddave (680 in chips)
Seat 9: ninetensuit (1500 in chips)
winnergroen: posts small blind 10
kylew132: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to risk2Dupside [Kc As]
Undra1: folds
S.fox 82: calls 20
randall7stud: calls 20
risk2Dupside: raises 110 to 130
thailanddave: folds
ninetensuit: folds
pokersikkie: folds
winnergroen: folds
kylew132: folds
S.fox 82: calls 110
randall7stud: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kd 8h 3h]
S.fox 82: checks
risk2Dupside: bets 250
S.fox 82: calls 250
*** TURN *** [Kd 8h 3h] [6s]
S.fox 82: checks
risk2Dupside: checks
*** RIVER *** [Kd 8h 3h 6s] [Qc]
S.fox 82: bets 240
risk2Dupside: calls 240
*** SHOW DOWN ***
S.fox 82: shows [Ah 5h] (high card Ace)
risk2Dupside: shows [Kc As] (a pair of Kings)
risk2Dupside collected 1290 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1290 | Rake 0
Board [Kd 8h 3h 6s Qc]
Seat 5: S.fox 82 showed [Ah 5h] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 7: risk2Dupside showed [Kc As] and won (1290) with a pair of Kings
I thought this example also showed how hard it is to play weak suited aces or suited connectors out of position. Limp/calling with hands like this makes it really difficult to disguise your hand post-flop and hence get value out of it.
Notice also that I checked the river, rather than raised. We only have top pair here, we think we're ahead but there are plenty of hands that beat us (namely two pair and a set). If we raise for value, the only hands that are realistically going to call us down are hands that beat us, and a lot of times we might be facing a re-raise or shove which we'd then have to fold.
Hopefully that makes sense...comments, corrections, feedback welcome :)
Cheers
rd2u
I've had a crummy downswing today..so what better way to distract myself than to discuss strategy and good playing. I wanted to post a few HH's that underscore some of the points I made in my last post. I don't know whether I fully explained them correctly but hopefully this first example helps.
1. Pot control/extracting river bluffs by checking the turn
This is one is the most common situations I see in 4.40/180-max and is generally the way I build a decent chip stack through the early/mid stages with minimal risk. Note that I have position on the player and he is check/calling which tells me he is either on 1) a weak top pair, 2) a flush draw, or 3) a set. Usually with a two-suited flop a reasonable player knows not to slowplay a set, so I'm playing this one reasonably confident I am ahead...
PokerStars Game #24286393393: Tournament #136506320, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2026/01/26 2:25:17 ET
Table '136506320 3' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: pokersikkie (1400 in chips)
Seat 2: winnergroen (2360 in chips)
Seat 3: kylew132 (1410 in chips)
Seat 4: Undra1 (1180 in chips)
Seat 5: S.fox 82 (1370 in chips)
Seat 6: randall7stud (1450 in chips)
Seat 7: risk2Dupside (1760 in chips)
Seat 8: thailanddave (680 in chips)
Seat 9: ninetensuit (1500 in chips)
winnergroen: posts small blind 10
kylew132: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to risk2Dupside [Kc As]
Undra1: folds
S.fox 82: calls 20
randall7stud: calls 20
risk2Dupside: raises 110 to 130
thailanddave: folds
ninetensuit: folds
pokersikkie: folds
winnergroen: folds
kylew132: folds
S.fox 82: calls 110
randall7stud: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kd 8h 3h]
S.fox 82: checks
risk2Dupside: bets 250
S.fox 82: calls 250
*** TURN *** [Kd 8h 3h] [6s]
S.fox 82: checks
risk2Dupside: checks
*** RIVER *** [Kd 8h 3h 6s] [Qc]
S.fox 82: bets 240
risk2Dupside: calls 240
*** SHOW DOWN ***
S.fox 82: shows [Ah 5h] (high card Ace)
risk2Dupside: shows [Kc As] (a pair of Kings)
risk2Dupside collected 1290 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1290 | Rake 0
Board [Kd 8h 3h 6s Qc]
Seat 5: S.fox 82 showed [Ah 5h] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 7: risk2Dupside showed [Kc As] and won (1290) with a pair of Kings
I thought this example also showed how hard it is to play weak suited aces or suited connectors out of position. Limp/calling with hands like this makes it really difficult to disguise your hand post-flop and hence get value out of it.
Notice also that I checked the river, rather than raised. We only have top pair here, we think we're ahead but there are plenty of hands that beat us (namely two pair and a set). If we raise for value, the only hands that are realistically going to call us down are hands that beat us, and a lot of times we might be facing a re-raise or shove which we'd then have to fold.
Hopefully that makes sense...comments, corrections, feedback welcome :)
Cheers
rd2u
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