Texas Holdem Poker
Just busted out of a NL Holdem 10 seater tourney and my final hand went something like this.
Blinds were 100/200 and I had about 2k chips. I'm on the SB with J5d and a few people limped putting the pot to 700 such that I felt odds of 1:7 were worth calling the bb. There was no raise and the flop was 3 diamonds. Party Time I'm first to act and decide to check because the guy on the button has been a serial bettor all tourney and in particular has been pushing (or rather I've been letting him push) me around all tourney. As expected he bets 200 which I call and the rest fold.
The turn card is black and I check again hoping to complete my trap. He bets 400 and I go over the top all in which is a further 1300ish chips for him to call and more critically 2/3rds of his stack. He calls He has absolutely nothing but the ace of diamonds and I'm sure you don't need to guess the river
I've suffered this sort of draw many times before but what REALLY gets to me is the way it must have been obvious to the guy I was setting him up. I'd been folding to him left right and centre all tourney just waiting to lay my trap and yet it somehow evaded him that by calling 2 of his bets and going over the top that I already had a winning hand!!!
So, yes, emotion got the better of me and I had a wee rant in the chat window where I casually requested to know how on earth he could make that call and he said, 'what and you wouldn't'. Erm, let me see - a 1:4ish shot for 2/3rd my stack........................eh, no!!!!!!!!!!
I personally will usually fold a big draw to a bet that gives me bad odds or may put me out of a tourney....but I doubt that your average internet poker player will lay down the nut 4 flush under any circumstances. He could have had the K, Q or A to draw against you and you had already let him put 800 in that pot, so he felt somewhat pot committed. I think you need to take this pot down ASAP by checkraising/the flop or leading out with at least a pot sized bet, although he still might have called you....
you knew he was a bettor. i'm not sure that going all-in was the right move... your jack wasn't exactly very high, you could assume there was a pretty good chance he had a higher diamond, and that its very possible he already had 2 diamonds.
he knew for a fact that if the river was a diamond, he'd win. that's roughly 1 in 5, though it could be different based on assumptions he could make about your cards or the other players' cards (you could assume they didn't fold any high diamonds, at the very least). so 20% of the possible cards on the river would guarantee him the win.
so thats a 20% chance of winning outright. he needs to throw in 1200 on a 4700 chip pot, or 25.5% of the pot. factor in that you could just be bluffing, or you could be holding a single diamond hoping for the flush... give that a 10% chance, and you've justified calling that bet mathematically.
don't know if he bothered calculating any of the odds though... he may have been a very good player, or he may have just been a loose fish getting lucky cuz everyone else at the table was a tightass.
anyway, i probably wouldn't have gone all in. the jack was too low.
There was no doubt in my mind that he didn't have the made flush. He liked to click the 'bet button' out of principal just to take down pots and would usually bet more when he had a hand and wanted return. His committment to the post also wasn't that high because he was betting the minimum. The pot was 800 + both our 200 on the flop + his 400 on the turn which is 1400. My all in bet was at least 1400 taking the pot to 2800 with him needing at least a grand to go. Approximatly 3:1 pot odds with nowhere near the drawing odds to justify the call. I regard myself as a good player and there isn't a chance in hell I'd have made that call be it a tourney or for money.
See it all the time. No he didnt't have the odds to call, but won't lawdown the nut flush draw. You got your money in with the best hand and got outdrew whats the issue? Maybe amd this is a stretch...he knew you were a better player and seized the chance to knock you out of the tournament even if he had to take a chance to do it.
Yesterday I played in a no-limit holdem tourney.
$100 buyin 58 players.
I continue to replay the hand that booted me over and over. I had to come ask if i played correct, or if any of you would have played differently.
Here is the scenario.
Down to the final 2 tables.
12 players left, top 6 get paid. Im probably sitting in 9th or 10th in chips with approx 3k.
Im left of the big blind. 6 at the table
Blinds are 100/200 with $25 ante.
I look down and see ak offsuit.
I raise to 400 hoping to go head to head at best.
2 people to my left fold, next guy makes it 1000. BLinds both fold, I call.
Flop is 7-Q-5 rainbow.
I check to raiser, & he bets $500. Here is what went through my head.
1. he only bet 500 into a $2475 pot, he at best has pair of JJ, or maybe AK as well. Like I said i was sitting in 9th with now 2k after call. I Figure Im going to have to make a move sooner or later with blinds increasing, and if he has JJ im an underdog, but have 6 outs. Well I made my move and went all-in.
He quickly calls and turns A-A!
Thinking im a victim of slow play!
I Keep tossing the idea that i should have just called there instead of raising, but what happened on the turn made me feel a little better.
ON the turn comes an A.
At this point if I just called the $500 bet, Im sure I would have called his all in or big bet (he would have had a set) on the turn. Makes sense at that point to put him on A-K.
River is a 5. giving him full house, aces over 5s, and my self a's & 5's K kicker.
I want to say I played this correct, but always re-hashing these things in my head. Love to hear everyones comments.
his 500 bet made me think he had JJ because I Was thinking with the Q on the board he was worried about an overcard and catching a top pair.
I'm not sure what the average was at this point, or the texture of the game. However, I think that as low stacked as you were, you were going to have to lose all of your chips on that hand regardless...you just ran into a better hand at an inopportune time...nothing you can do about that. I personally would have pushed all-in preflop...granted, you'd have been called and lost in this particular situation (running into aces has a way of doing that, I suppose). However, if there is no better hand out there, you take down the blinds (which are probably pretty hefty at this late stage of the tourney, thus allowing you to see free cards for the next round of action) or get called by dominated hands (e.g., A-Q, A-J) or hands that are slight edges against you (e.g., pocket queens or lower)...at this stage of the tourney, I feel that you've got to take a gamble at some point. Since you were likely to have lost all of your chips anyway on the hand (that is, calling any reraise or bet on the flop by your opponent), why not put the person to a decision earlier in the hand?
Again, you ran up against the mother of all hands...tough break, particularly so close to finishing in the money. However, people will call with much less than pocket aces against you at that stage of the tourney, particularly since you were so short stacked. At that late stage of the tourney, with such a small stack, I like taking the risk to double up and solidify your chances of finishing higher in the money. Why not force someone with a borderline hand (e.g., pocket 10s or lower) to jeopardize a significant portion of their chips (particularly the other small or mid-sized stacks) by going all-in preflop?
When short-stacked, I like being VERY aggressive. If I catch a premium hand, I'm all-in...put others to the test, and let them make mistakes. Don't dabble in the pots, and allow others to catch a hand or blow you off of your hand. You're going to have to take a chance at some point, why not with big slick (bring your big guns to the big wars, and A-K certainly qualifies as big weaponry)?
Oh, and another piece of advice: stop running into pocket rockets just off the money!!!
i thought of all in preflop, but made the mistake of thinking i could get a call or 2 with a smaller raise. Where there were 3 or 4 people at my table with 8-10k, I was hoping to get them in and then unload.
I agree though that waiting around just opens you up to allowing someone to catch a flop on marginal hole cards.
i guess i was playing too conservative where i was close to the $
Don't invite Sandpoint builder Mike Kinney to your next poker game. He might walk way with your house.
That's essentially what he did last week when he participated in the World Poker Challenge in Reno at the Hilton.
Kinney beat 5,209 contestants to walk away with $604,469 in prize money. In addition, his winning run will be televised on June 23 on the Travel Channel.
As it became obvious Kinney was going to make the finals, he called his sister and brother in law at 2 a.m. on Thursday, and asked them to fly to Reno for good luck.
"We debated for a second or two and said we are going," said Kinney's sister, Sheila Martin. She said the environment at the tournament was electric and "unbelievable."
"The whole thing was thrilling," she said
He is also headed to the World Championship of Poker April 19-21 in Las Vegas -- his $25,000 entry fee waived because of his win last week.
Kinney has been playing poker for a few years but started getting serious the past few. The Kinney Construction boys still have their weekly poker games with 10 or 12 players, but Mike raised the ante two years ago and started playing in satellite poker games in Spokane and other, smaller tournaments.
After Kinney defeated the last table full of competitors in Reno -- most of whom were professional gamblers -- and was crowned the winner, he, Mistie and his entire winnings were pulled through the casino in a wagon pulled by a team of horses accompanied by cowgirls.
"It's Reno," Sheila deadpanned.
The reason we don't have any comments from Kinney is that he and Mistie aren't back yet. They had planned a trip during spring break and left Reno for a warmer climate. One guess is they are probably trying to figure out how best to spend $604,000.
Now, if this couple just knew any good house builders or Realtors ...
