The youth movement in poker has tended to make the game a bit more aggressive. A lot of players like to shove with a variety of cards. KJ offsuit, a hand many pros of old would likely toss seems to be a hand a young gun is more than willing to shove on. The philosophy seems to be to make your opponent make the decisions and more times than not you get the pot.
On the other hand, you have guys who won't bet premiums. First hand of a multi-table tournament I get the big blind, and am dealt 98 off suit. Five players before me all limp, and I check. Flop come 8 5 2. I bet $50 (blinds were simple 5/10 so pot had $60) to see if my pair of eights are good. Two folds and two calls followed by a fold. Next card is an 8 giving me trips. Pot holds $210 so I bet $130. Both call. Last card is a 9, giving me a boat. $600 in the pot, and I want action so I bet $130 again. Second player raises to $400, next player thinks then folds.
The board is 85289, with no flush draw. Unless he has nines, I have the hand won, so I shove. He calls and he turns over kings and his slow play costs him the first exit in the tournament.
Had he simply raised preflop, or even raised on the flop most of the time I am folding my hand. The bottom line is if you have a premium hand preflop you are looking to go heads up, you don't want five or six players in the pot and this is a classic example of why. And that also explains why a lot of the young players today feel a shove is a good play...it quickly eliminates the competition and even if you just pick up the blinds, you win the hand.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
More pocket aces go down
Unless you are in a pretty high stakes game, pocket aces never seem all that great in a limit hold em game.
That's one reason I do like to play places with aces cracked bonuses. This week I had mine cracked by trip jacks. It's still a tough spot.
On this particular hand I had the aces, and about 4-5 players are in the hand. Flop comes JJ7. One guy leads out, I call and the others all fold. Turn is a dead card (3 or 4 I think, off suit). He leads out again. I call. Then the river was a 10. He checks, and it's at this point that you have to think about the hand. a bit more. Did he check because he doesn't have anything? Does he have a boat and hope that I bet and he can reraise. In either case, is it worth betting? There's always a small chance he throws away the hand that would crack your aces if you do. In this case, he might have. I check he sheepishly turned over J8 for trip jacks. I turn over the aces and we're all happy.
The reason he might have thrown it is I called the whole way, the flop call was easy if I flopped a full house, since there was action behind me I'd want most of it in. After it's me and him on the turn, if I had a full house and raised on his bet, he'd know it and likely fold. So odds are better I let him play to the river and try to extract the extra chips then. And my action would also be consistent if I had a hand of like J8 myself. Decent flop, weak kicker, and it would be easy for him to put me on a jack.So if he put me on one of those hands, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he folds. If you have him beat, so you don't get the extra chips, but the risk/reward ration for the bonus would justify not betting on the river.
But then playing later after aces crack hours were done, I get them again and am short stacked. Action comes to me and I do what I have to do by raising. I go all in on the flop which is 34J. Couple callers and then on the turn, one lady bets out everyone folds, she turns over a 3-4 and her two pair end my poker day. If it was no limit, she's not even in the hand since I'm raising likely 4-5x the blind at that point.
That's one reason I do like to play places with aces cracked bonuses. This week I had mine cracked by trip jacks. It's still a tough spot.
On this particular hand I had the aces, and about 4-5 players are in the hand. Flop comes JJ7. One guy leads out, I call and the others all fold. Turn is a dead card (3 or 4 I think, off suit). He leads out again. I call. Then the river was a 10. He checks, and it's at this point that you have to think about the hand. a bit more. Did he check because he doesn't have anything? Does he have a boat and hope that I bet and he can reraise. In either case, is it worth betting? There's always a small chance he throws away the hand that would crack your aces if you do. In this case, he might have. I check he sheepishly turned over J8 for trip jacks. I turn over the aces and we're all happy.
The reason he might have thrown it is I called the whole way, the flop call was easy if I flopped a full house, since there was action behind me I'd want most of it in. After it's me and him on the turn, if I had a full house and raised on his bet, he'd know it and likely fold. So odds are better I let him play to the river and try to extract the extra chips then. And my action would also be consistent if I had a hand of like J8 myself. Decent flop, weak kicker, and it would be easy for him to put me on a jack.So if he put me on one of those hands, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he folds. If you have him beat, so you don't get the extra chips, but the risk/reward ration for the bonus would justify not betting on the river.
But then playing later after aces crack hours were done, I get them again and am short stacked. Action comes to me and I do what I have to do by raising. I go all in on the flop which is 34J. Couple callers and then on the turn, one lady bets out everyone folds, she turns over a 3-4 and her two pair end my poker day. If it was no limit, she's not even in the hand since I'm raising likely 4-5x the blind at that point.
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