An All-in $40-$80 Hold'em Hand

I was playing in a sevenhanded $40-$80 hold'em game at The Mirage in Las Vegas when the following hand came up. Since the hand involved actual players, I have changed their names to protect their identities. The game was loose-passive and the hand involved the following three players: Biff (the button), Howard (the big blind), and Irv (two off the button). Biff is characteristic of the players in this game. He plays loosely preflop and goes to the river with questionable cards. Howard is new to the game, but has been losing heavily and is about to go all in with only $80 left after posting his big blind. Irv is also a weak, loose player and was holding the 7 6. It was folded to Irv.



Question No. 1: What should Irv do?



Answer: Irv should fold. It is normally bad poker to open-limp with a small suited connector. This hand needs several players already committed to the pot in order to be profitable. If the game were extremely tight, some might argue that open-raising would be right in order to steal the blinds. If Irv were on the button instead of where he is, I could almost agree with this logic. But even in a tight game and on the button, I think the hand is simply too weak to play. It becomes especially bad to open-raise from Irv's position with four players yet to act. If Irv gets called by a late-position player, he is out of position with the worst hand. He might even get three-bet, which would be very bad. Now, couple all of this with the fact that the game is a loose one, and you have a situation in which stealing the blinds becomes very unlikely, especially with a big blind that is almost all in. The bottom line is that in this position, Irv needs big cards that can make big pairs and get paid off by smaller pairs while collecting something from busted draws.



Irv raised, with only Biff and Howard calling. There were six and a half small bets in the pot. The flop arrived with the Q 8 5, giving Irv an open-end straight draw. Howard checked.



Question No. 2: What is Irv's play?



Answer: Irv should bet. Having elected to open-raise preflop, Irv should bet, hoping both opponents will fold while having outs if he gets called. If Howard had led out, Irv should raise. Howard might well be leading out with any piece of this board, like bottom pair or a flush draw, since he would be all in anyway. A raise might drive out Biff and create extra pairing outs for Irv, assuming Howard was not betting top pair or middle pair.

Irv bet and both opponents called. There were almost 10 small bets in the pot. The turn card was the A. Since Howard is all in, the action is on Irv.



Question No. 3: Should Irv bet or check?



Answer: Irv should check. Betting would be a bad play since Howard is all in, so Irv must make a hand at the river to win. If Howard had money left, betting would be right since neither opponent has shown any strength and Irv may get both opponents to fold now that prices have doubled and the ace is such a good scare card. Clearly, in this hypothetical situation, someone with middle pair or bottom pair might well fold. If the other opponent is drawing and he misses his draw, a bet on the turn has set the stage for Irv to take it down on the river with a bet. But in the actual hand, betting only increases Irv's cost to pursue his draw and runs the risk of getting raised. If Irv bets and gets raised, he will be obliged to call due to pot odds. What Irv really needs in this situation is a free card.



Irv bet, and Biff raised. Since Howard was all in, a side pot was created. Irv called. There were almost five big bets in the main pot and another four big bets in the side pot. The river was the 6, giving Irv a pair of sixes.



Question No. 4: What is Irv's play?



Answer: Of course, Irv has to check. It is highly improbable that his hand is the best, and a better hand is not going to fold at this point. Even if a bet would get a loose goose like Biff to fold (which is extremely unlikely), Irv still has Howard to beat, and Howard is going nowhere since he is all in.



Irv checked, and Biff bet. There are now five big bets in the side pot and still another five big bets in the main pot.



Question No. 5: What should Irv do?



Answer: Irv should fold. If there was one pot with 10 big bets in it and the other opponent had folded to Biff's river bet, one might argue that a crying call would be justified since Irv has a pair. But this situation is significantly different since one opponent is all in, so Irv still has to beat two players, not one.



Irv called. Biff had the A 5 for aces and fives, so Biff won the side pot. Howard had the A Q for aces and queens, giving him the main pot.



This hand has some interesting teaching points.



First, notice how the presence of an opponent who is all in dramatically changes how a hand should be played.



Second, Irv's open-raise from middle position with his weak suited connector ended up costing him quite a bit of money. He did flop his straight draw, which was one of the flops he was hoping to catch. Since he was the preflop raiser facing only two opponents, he was compelled to bet the flop in hope of winning the pot outright while having outs if he got called. But he exposed himself to a raise, thereby increasing his cost to pursue his draw. Note also that two of his outs were questionable, since the 9 or the 4 makes a flush possible. This means that Irv really had only six clean outs instead of eight. Finally, by making the pot large, he felt compelled to call his opponent down with a small pair. This is the problem with suited connectors like 7-6. You frequently pay more than one bet to take a flop, catch your draw but pay high prices to pursue it, and then miss it completely or sometimes make it, only to lose to a better hand. The lesson is clear: Don't play these small suited connectors unless you are in late position with other players already in, and, preferably, can get in for one bet.



Third, notice the detrimental effect of being all in. Howard flopped top pair, top kicker with the nut-flush draw. He ended up with the best hand, but made only about half of what he could have made. Finally, even at the $40-$80 level, there is a lot of bad play. We already have discussed Irv's mistakes. What about Biff's play? Cold-calling a raise even from the button with A-5 offsuit is horrible poker. The risk of domination is quite large. Howard's check on the flop also was bad, since he runs the risk of it getting checked around and he has insufficient funds to check-raise even if the flop gets bet.

Jim Brier has co-authored a book with Bob Ciaffone titled Middle Limit Holdem Poker. It is available at www.CardPlayer.com. Jim can be reached at [email protected].