Can Someone Give Me a Hand Over Here

Occasionally, I will write a column with a couple of hand examples. I believe they are the absolute best way to learn the game. You have to follow the rules, though; don't just read ahead to see what happened. Answer the questions and decide how you would have proceeded, and also think about what's the correct way to proceed. Think about what factors are to be considered. It might be a little tough at first, but it will get easier, I promise. Also, please don't assume that the way I played a hand is the correct way. There is always room for discussion and improvement, and sometimes I will use a hand solely to illustrate how badly I played it.



You should always ask yourself a few things: How should I proceed? How much should I bet, in no-limit and pot-limit hands? And, what hands would make sense for my opponent to be holding?



$2,000 pot-limit hold'em, 2005 World Series of Poker

Blinds: $100-$200

I had built up a pretty nice stack by playing aggressively against my opponents and making lots of moves. I found myself with about $7,500 in chips and was in great shape. The chip leader at the table was two to my left (in this hand, he was the big blind), and his stack was about $13,000. He had built it up by slow-playing some big hands and catching a few players by surprise. He was wearing sunglasses and gold chains, and seemed to be a player who liked to push others around and generally look very cool. He also seemed somewhat concerned with his image, in my estimation; that is, he didn't want to look dumb in a hand.



Everyone had folded to me on the button, and I looked down at the 8 8. I made it $700 to go, betting the pot. The small blind folded, and my opponent thought for a second or two and decided to bet the pot, making it $3,000 total.

What would you do now and why?



I thought about it, and was almost certain that I knew what he had. I put him on A-J, K-Q, or a medium pair, probably sixes or sevens. He had slow-played every time he had a big pair, so I was confident that he didn't have me dominated with anything. That was my main consideration, but there were a few others, as well: His chip stack was fairly large and he could have folded without damaging it badly; he seemed concerned with his image at the table and didn't want to do anything stupid; you need to make, and win, these kinds of calls if you are going to win a tournament like this; and I had already invested some of my chips and figured that calling here would be a weak decision. After all, what would I do if an overcard flopped and I still sat on my eights? I decided to reraise the pot, and shift all the pressure back onto him.Being in decent shape if he called, coupled with the possibility that he might fold, made this seem like the right decision.



He thought for about 45 seconds and said, "All right, I'll gamble with you." He reraised me all in, obviously seeing that this was what was going to happen anyway, and I called, of course. He turned over the A J and I was pleased that I had made the right read and moved the pressure over to him. He made a tough call here, and deserves credit. I hadn't been playing my big hands slowly and could have had kings or queens. He showed some guts. To make a long story short, the A came on the flop, and although the 9 gave me a half-second of hope on the river, I was bounced. I still think I made the correct decision here, even though I lost the pot and was knocked out. If my hand had held up, I would have been up to around $15,000 in chips and in the driver's seat at my table. Again, you have to make these kinds of decisions in order to win tournaments. You have to gamble at some point.



$200 No-Limit Hold'em, Larry Flynt's Grand Slam of Poker 2005

Blinds: $25-$25

This hand occurred in the first hour of this event in Los Angeles. Inasmuch as we hadn't been playing very long, I didn't think I had enough of a read on anyone's play to make truly solid decisions. The hand unfolded, pardon the pun, as follows:



I was one to the right of the button, holding the A Q. Everyone folded to the player immediately to my right, and he brought it in for $150. Now, the first consideration here was the size of his bet. Was there any significance to it?



The fact that he overbet the pot probably meant that he didn't want any callers. This ruled out any high pocket pairs.



Admittedly, some players will overbet the pot with A-K, which would have put me in bad shape, but that wasn't my read here. I put him on a medium pair, or possibly a hand like J-10 suited. This was my first consideration in the hand, and it also highlights the need to bet the same amounts most of the time in no-limit. I don't want to let my opponents know what I have by my betting amounts. I want them always to be guessing, and the best way to accomplish that is to do the same thing almost all of the time. What should I do now?



Well, I certainly am going to play this pot, and am almost certainly going to raise. The question is, how much is appropriate here? I want to make a big enough raise to represent that I have a big hand and am willing to play with him, which I do and am, but at the same time I am not averse to him folding, especially if he does hold a pair. I decided to bet a total of $500, which was my call of his $150 plus a pot-sized raise of $350. I always want my opponents to know that any hand they play against me could be an all-in hand. I want to make sure that they have a little bit of fear in them, even before we see the flop. Too many players make dinky raises because they are afraid of getting too involved in a pot. You can never push anyone around with this kind of mentality.



At any rate, my opponent called my raise, but was very visibly unhappy about it. His body language spoke volumes, and I believed that if I moved in on a flop with any paint, it would be mine. The flop came A Q 10, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. If he played with me, I could be in big trouble, but on the other hand, I held a pretty strong hand and didn't want to let it go.



My opponent checked and I bet $600 into a pot of $1,050, leaving myself with only $900. I quickly realized that I probably wasn't going to be able to get away from this hand, regardless of what happened. He then raised, but to only double the amount that I had bet. What could my opponent have here?



I shifted my focus from a medium pair to either the K or J, or possibly a small made flush. It was tough for me to believe that he had the small made flush, simply because I just couldn't see him calling my preflop raise with two small suited cards. I was hoping he had the nut or second-nut flush draw here, despite the fact that he probably would have just moved in if this were true. I thought that if he already had a strong made flush, he may play it this way, but I was hoping that I would get lucky and be wrong.



His small raise signaled possible weakness to me, and I decided to move in for my remaining $900, which was really a reraise of only $300. Now, sometimes a small raise like this can mean weakness or strength. I wasn't sure which one it was in this instance, and perhaps my hope that it was in weakness influenced my decision-making. In all honesty, I probably felt that my hand could have been beat, but that it was just too strong for me to get away from.



I found out that his move was one of semiweakness: His hand was stronger than mine, but the flop was scary for him. In all truth, both of us probably hoped that the other had the same hand: a strong flush draw. In reality, we both just had hands that were too strong to be able to get away from. Whichever one of us had the best hand on the flop was probably going to win the hand. He called, obviously, and turned up the 10 10, which was a pretty bad hand for me. It seemed that I should have paid attention to my earlier read of a medium pair. I still don't think there was any way for me to get away from this hand, though, regardless of my read.



I was drawing to an ace or queen, but the turn and river delivered blanks and I was sent home packing, as my opponent had me covered. I still think that in this hand, all of the chips were going to get into the middle with a flop like that. It just hit us both too much for either of us to lay it down. The only possible question here was my opponent's call of my preflop raise, and I don't think he made a bad call there at all. Everything else would have happened the way that it did regardless of either of our actions after that. I am a little frustrated that I was so surprised when my opponent turned up his tens, though. I should have considered this possibility more in my thought process while the hand was going on.

Please feel free to send me any of your questions and comments. You can contact me at [email protected], and can read all of my past columns at www.CardPlayer.com.