Two Exceptions - Exceptions to Generally Accepted Plays

"Excepting one note."


I'm proud to say that I've just published the third edition of my book, Winning Low-Limit Hold'em. It has quite a few improvements and additions. One of the things I did was remove most of the equivocal language from it (phrases such as "usually do this" or "you should probably do that"). Fellow Card Player writer and brilliant hold'em strategist Barry Tanenbaum helped me a lot with this edition, and he was the one behind this change. He said, "It doesn't help me to read 'usually' do something unless you tell me what the exceptions are." That made a lot of sense to me. So, I either explained the exceptional cases or (more frequently) simply said, "Do this." It became clear that leaving the exceptions out would cost my readers a tiny amount of expected value (if any at all), but would simplify the text and their understanding of it a lot.



But there are interesting exceptions in the world, and sometimes it's worth looking at them. This column covers two of those statistically rare situations.



LETTING AN OVERPAIR GO
An overpair is a pair in hold'em that's bigger than anything on the board. One good rule for novice hold'em players is: "Never lay down an overpair." I don't do it very often, and I think that's fine advice to give to a hold'em novice. But I recently did fold an overpair in a $20-$40 game and thought it deserved some discussion. I was in relatively late position with pocket jacks. There was a call and then a raise in front of me. I sometimes three-bet with J-J there (I three-bet with Q-Q essentially 100 percent of the time), but decided to just call and see how I liked the flop. Both the small blind and big blind called the raise.



The flop was a delightful 9-3-2 rainbow (three suits). It was checked to me, so I happily assumed that my raiser had A-K (or the moral equivalent) and fired out a bet. The small blind (SB) then check-raised me and the big blind (BB) reraised. Yikes. Already I was concerned. Then, the preflop raiser (PFR) went into the tank. Finally, he grimly called all three bets cold.



What now?



Well, the obvious thing to do was to start assigning some hands to my opponents. The SB could have something like A-9 (which was fine) or 5-4 (almost as fine). I was almost certain that the PFR had two big cards, A-K being the obvious choice. But what about the BB? With a draw, he wouldn't try to shut out the field. And would he have the guts to three-bet with something like A-9? Two pair with that board seemed awfully unlikely. The word "set" began nagging my brain.



The more I thought about it, the more I didn't like what was happening. Now, did I have the right price to spike a jack on the turn? There were eight small bets in the pot before the flop. Nine more (bet, raise, reraise, call three cold) made a total of 17, and I had to call two more (if not three). I definitely was not getting the right pot odds if my jacks were no good. And even if they were good at the moment, I'd have to avoid 15-ish outs twice. I folded and watched eagerly to see what would happen.



The SB now put in a fourth bet, capping the betting. I just wasn't sure what to make of that. That wouldn't be a terrible play with 5-4 (especially if it were three suited with the board). Both of the other players called the fourth bet.

The turn card was a 5, making a two-flush. The SB bet out, and the BB raised. I almost stood up and patted myself on the back at that point; my jacks had surely been no good on the fl op. The PFR angrily folded (that'll teach him to put four bets in with two over cards), and now the SB reraised. For the first time, the BB looked nervous. He called. I don't remember what the river card was; the SB bet, and the BB called. The SB turned up pocket threes, having flopped a set. And the BB tossed his pocket kings into the muck face up.



So, I was in third place on the flop. Am I a genius for getting away from my over pair for one bet on the flop? No. Had the pocket kings chosen to wait until the turn to raise, I would have either called on the flop (planning to raise on the turn) or three-bet the flop. The way the hands were laid out, I can't imagine I would have spent more than one big bet on the turn (and probably not even that if the betting had gone bet, raise in front of me). But the way the hand played on the flop, it wasn't rocket science to see that I was behind and drawing slim.



NOT TAKING A FREE CARD
Normally, if I miss a draw on the turn, I take a free card if I can get one, and don't put money in the pot unless I have to. But an interesting opportunity to violate that principal came up a while ago in a $40-$80 game. I was in the small blind with the 5 4. There were a couple of calls in front of me, including one by the table's biggest calling station. For half a bet, I'm happy to play 5-4 suited, so I completed the bet. Now, the big blind spoiled my day by raising. Both of the other opponents called, as did I.





The flop came J-7-6 with two clubs. I checked, the big blind bet, and just the big calling station called. Sometimes in this situation, I'll just call and hope to hit my draw on the turn. This time, I decided to play a game with them. I thought that the big blind was capable of doing that with two large cards, and the fellow who had called in between was capable of calling with just about any two cards. I decided to semibluff my way through the hand. So, I check-raised. They both called, which was less desirable than both of them folding, but more desirable than the big blind three-betting and knocking out the middle player.



Before the turn card came down, I gave myself a present: a club flush draw in addition to my straight draw. I decided that if the turn was a club, I'd bet out.



The turn was a very interesting card. It was the J, pairing the top card on the flop and making the flush possible. I'd promised myself that I'd bet a club on the turn, so I did.



The big blind now (very impolitely) turned up his hand – two red aces – and folded, saying, "I may be folding the best hand here." I thought that if the calling station would now fold, I'd be a genius. He thought long and hard and finally called. I decided that he had something like a pair of sevens and was going to pay me off (as it were). I began to think about the equity that I'd get from showing down that silly semibluff when the river missed us both completely.



Of course, the river was a non-club 8, giving me a straight. I bet, and the other fellow called. "I have a straight," I said, as I turned up my cards. "Straight!?" cried the player on my left. The remaining opponent quickly mucked and I collected a healthy pot.



As I said, I don't make a play like that often, and unfortunately, it didn't work. I needed to actually make the best hand in that situation, and I probably misread my second opponent, giving him more credit for being able to lay down a hand than I should have.



And, needless to say, the next time I make a move like that on the player who folded the aces, it's unlikely to be a semibluff. "Pure and easy."



Lee Jones is the author of the best-selling book Winning Low-Limit Hold'em, and is the poker room manager for www.pokerstars.com.