An Ordinary Hand

In my last column, I discussed the preflop play of a hand from a cash no-limit hold'em game at Bellagio. The blinds were $100-$200, and I had one of the shorter stacks with a little more than $10,000. I was in the big blind. Everyone folded to Jeff Lisandro in the cutoff position (the player just to the right of the button.) You probably have seen Jeff on TV; he is a tough, aggressive player who has been extremely successful in both cash games and tournaments for the past few years. He made a normal raise to $600. The button, who was someone I didn't know but seemed competent, called. The small blind folded. I looked down to see an ordinary hand: K J. I made the bad play of calling. (See my last column for a discussion of why this wasn't my best choice.)

Instead of being punished for my bad play, I was rewarded. The flop came J J 10. I had flopped trips with the second-best kicker. It is always good to take some time in these spots and consider the options. Almost every good player plans his hand in advance. You always should try to figure out what you will do as the hand progresses.

I basically have to assume that I have the best hand at this point, so I want to get as much money in the pot as possible. There are three choices. The most obvious play is to bet. A free card may be dangerous. I might get called (or even raised) by a lot of hands. They include straight draws like K-Q, hands featuring an overpair, and perhaps even A-10 and 10-9. The other choices begin with a check. Then, assuming that someone bets, I can either flat-call to trap him or raise all in.

If I had a bigger stack or a smaller stack, I probably would bet. The problem with betting here is that a small bet, if called, wouldn't get enough money into the pot, while a big bet might scare everyone out. Since I also might lead with a hand like K-Q or A-10, betting doesn't necessarily reveal my strength.

Checking and then calling if one of them bets is being tricky for no reason. Yes, it conceals my strength, but it allows them to check behind me and see fourth street for free. Even if someone bets and I call, I am forced to check on fourth street, planning to raise all in then. This allows my opponents to check on fourth street, also, if they were betting the flop to be able to see fourth and fifth street for free. The check-call is clearly the worst play.

So, I decide to check-raise an amount that leaves me pot-committed, or already all in. If this works, I will get some money into the pot if they are bluffing or semibluffing, without letting them get any free cards. This tactic also will end the decision-making process for me. As long as I don't have any more decisions to make, I can't make any mistakes. So, I check. This is probably better than an immediate bet. When it works, it achieves my objective of getting all in as soon as possible.

Jeff bets about the size of the pot, $2,000, and the button folds. Something about the way that he bet puzzles me. I get a weird schizophrenic feeling. He has either a very good hand, like tens full, or a very bad hand, like A-Q. Suddenly, I'm worried about my plan to check-raise. If he has a good hand, I'll go broke, and if he's bluffing, there are more cards that get him into trouble than save him. (Note that with A-Q, an ace or queen gives him a big two pair against my trips, and a king gives him a straight against my boat.) So, I abandon my original plan and just call. I think this is a big mistake and I should just go all in. At least I'm consistent. I misplayed the hand preflop, and now I'm misplaying it on the flop.

The turn is the Q. If he has the A-Q I'm hoping for, he just got into trouble. Of course, if he has A-K or Q-Q, I just got into trouble. I'm going with my feeling that he was very good or very bad, so I check. I am hoping that he'll continue betting no matter what, and that I'll pick up extra money against his bad hands while still losing the same amount to his great ones. Jeff checks behind me. Strangely enough, this doesn't really tell me anything. He might check a great hand to trap me on the river. He might stop value-betting with a low pair or A-10. He might not bluff again with any two random cards.

The river is the 3. I don't really expect him to have diamonds, but there is some chance that he has backed into a flush. I decide that I want to give him another chance to bluff, so I check again. Again, I think that I'll pick up more extra money against his bad hands while still losing the same amount to his good ones. He thinks, and checks behind me. I confidently turn over my K J, wishing that I had played more aggressively to get more money into the pot. It seems pretty pathetic to have flopped trips with a good kicker and never managed to bet or raise.

He flips up the A J. His ace kicker beats my king kicker. I guess he also suspected that I had a draw or a big hand. Then he worried that the queen gave me a straight or that the river diamond gave me a flush.

Is there a lesson to be learned from all of this? First, determine your full plan before you act. Second, once you have decided upon what you think is the best plan, stick with it unless there is a very clear reason for changing. Lastly, you can see what a fascinating and difficult game no-limit hold'em is. I am a reasonably strong cash-game player, yet I made a series of mistakes. Jeff is a great cash-game player, yet he too misjudged the situation. Later, when I discuss the hand with some friends, we agree that I had to play very badly after the flop to avoid going broke. Somehow, my horrendous play enabled me to salvage $7,500 from the original $10,000 with which I started the hand.

Steve "Zee" Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at many major tournaments and playing on Full Tilt, as one of its pros. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bars on Avenue A - Nice Guy Eddie's on Houston and Doc Holliday's on 9th St. - in New York City.