An Interesting Heads-Up Hand

This is a 10-handed $40-$80 hold'em game at The Mirage in Las Vegas. Since the hand involves actual players, I have changed their names to protect their identities. The hands are laid out in a question-and answer format so that you can decide for yourself what you would do before seeing what actually happened. Lee, a friend of mine, was in the big blind with the 44. Joe, a top player at this level, was in the cutoff. Joe is tough, aggressive, and simply hard to figure. It was folded to Joe, who opened with a raise. The button and the small blind folded. There was $140 in the pot.QUESTION NO. 1: What would you do?ANSWER NO. 1: Call. If Joe had open-raised from early position with everyone folding, you should fold, since you may be dominated by a higher pair. Even if Joe, from early position, had just two big cards, it still would be difficult for you to play successfully since an ace, king, queen, or jack will flop most of the time and you will be pressured on every street. You simply don't have enough hand to compete. But in this situation, Joe will have a much wider range of holdings for his late-position open raise. Your small pocket pair is playable here. Therefore, you should not fold. How about playing back at Joe with a reraise? That's not a good idea. You are playing against a top player and are out of position. If you three-bet with your modest hand, Joe may simply make it four bets to retain control regardless of his holding. Against a weaker player, three-betting in this situation would be fine, since you might be able to seize the initiative. Having theinitiative against a weak player makes the hand easier to play on later streets. For example, against a weak player, you might be able to take the pot with a bet on an ace-high flop if you three-bet preflop. If you get heat from the weak player, you can get away from the hand easily. Furthermore, in situations where no one makes anything, the last guy to bet or raise frequently wins the pot. But heads up against a player like Joe, a three-bet at this stage will not impress him. Lee called. There was $180 in the pot. The flop was Q 62.QUESTION NO. 2: What now?ANSWER NO. 2: Check with the intention of calling when Joe bets. This may sound wimpy, but let's discuss the possibilities. You must know that Joe will almost certainly bet if you check. The choices are betting, checking with the intention of raising, or checking with the intention of calling. If you bet, Joe will frequently raise with any playable hand or simply call with a good hand, like Q-J, in order to trap you later. So, betting out is not good. Check-raising is overly aggressive with your small pocket pair. If you check-raise and Joe calls, what do you do on the turn if a blank comes? You will be obliged to bet the turn as well, trying to get Joe to fold. But a player like Joe might well raise your turn bet with a good hand or a good draw. When this happens, you will have to fold and run the risk of being outplayed if Joe was raising on a draw as a semibluff. Checking with the intention of calling, while often very bad, is the best choice here. You get to see the turn cheaply, and then you can decide what to do. At least you are making decisions after having seen four boardcards rather than just three. Lee checked. Joe bet and Lee called. There was $260 in the pot. The turn was the 5♥.QUESTION NO. 3: Should you bet or check?ANSWER NO. 3: Now, it is time to bet. You have just picked up a gutshot-straight draw to go with your pocket pair. This now gives you a total of six outs (two outs to a set plus four outs to a straight) if you don't have the best hand. But you may have the best hand. If you check, Joe might well check and take a free card. This will be disastrous if he outdraws you. Now suppose that Joe raises your turn bet. You have a tough decision. Heis now raising when the price has doubled. At that point, there would be $500 in the pot and it would cost you $80 more to call. Your pot odds would be between 6-to-1 and 7-to-1, which is close to your drawing odds (you would have six outs from 46 unseen cards, so your drawing odds are about 40-to-6 against). So, if you get raised, you can call, since there would be a small chance your hand is good when Joe is semibluffing a draw, and it is a tossup when Joe has the better hand. Lee bet and Joe called. There was $420 in the pot. The river was the Q♥.QUESTION NO. 4: Should you bet or check?ANSWER NO. 4: Bet. The top flop card pairing here on the river does not figure to have helped Joe. If Joe had flopped top pair, he would have raised your turn bet. This is why betting the turn was so important. Furthermore, if you had flopped top pair, your play up to this point might be consistent with someone who is out of position and playing heads up against a preflop raiser. With top pair, you might well have check-called the flop and then led at your opponent on the turn. Furthermore, by betting, you might get a crying call from two high cards if Joe is suspicious that you are trying to represent trips with some kind of busted draw. Lee bet, Joe folded, and Lee won a $500 pot. Playing a fragile hand against a strong player when you are out of position is about as difficult as it gets in limit hold'em. It is tempting to simply check and call all the way to the river, hoping your hand holds up. But the key is taking the initiative on the turn. This is especially true if the turn card does not figure to have helped your opponent and it has given you additional ways to win.

Jim Brier has co-authored a book with Bob Ciaffone titled Middle Limit Holdem Poker. It is available through Card Player.