As I write this, I am in Catoosa, Oklahoma, playing in the
Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge at Cherokee Casino. I enjoy traveling to some of the more out-of-the-way poker rooms around the U.S., because they remind me of where I started in poker (the Phoenix, Arizona, area). The people are nice, the dealers are good, and the staff is friendly. I chose this particular tournament because I like Scotty and he has told me how great it is in Oklahoma. Also, the poker room manager, Jimmie Sims, is a good friend of mine who worked with me in Arizona several years ago.
They have a good slate of no-limit hold'em tournaments in this series, including $1,000, $2,000, and $5,000 buy-in events. The day after I arrived in Oklahoma, I played in a $230 no-limit hold'em tournament. I like to play in some of the smaller buy-in events to get a better feel for the room, the chips, the rules, and the overall atmosphere. I also like getting in more hours in tournaments. During the 150-300 blinds round, I picked up the J
10
two off the button. I raised to 900. The button called, and both of the blinds folded. The button was a solid local player named Sean Snell. He had not been getting really out of line, although he knew how to change gears. We had been playing together long enough in that tournament that I knew he had at least some respect for how I played. He wasn't going to get goofy in a hand with me.
When the flop came 9
5
2
, I bet 1,500 and Sean called. Obviously, I didn't like him calling, but I thought that catching a 10, jack, or spade would be good enough to win the pot. My intial read was that he had a middle pair, probably eights or sevens.
The turn brought the 4
. I checked, and Sean checked behind me. His check seemed somewhat cautious to me, so I went with my initial read. He was going to give me the free card while at the same time deflecting the possible check-raise.
Although I was rooting for a 10, jack, or spade, I immediately realized that I had found an opening when the river brought the 3
. The way I had played the hand was typical for a large ace, and that is what Sean would have to put me on. With that in mind, I bet 2,000. Sean immediately called, and turned over the 10
10
.
I was shocked that he had called so quickly. There weren't many hands he could put me on and make that call, so I assumed he put me on two facecards early on. Unfortunately for me, I had made the almost perfect read and executed the play exactly how I wanted.
A short while later, Sean let me know that he had not seen the wheel cards on the board at all. He admitted that he had put me on a big ace, and had he read the board correctly, he never would have called.
Sometimes you can make the right read and the right play and still end up with a terrible result!
Switching gears, a thread on a poker forum recently asked the simple question: "What is the minimum raise after a straddle?" The person who originally asked the question described it as follows:
The blinds are $1-$1. Someone straddles to $2. I have always thought the minimum raise would have to be to $4. But thinking about it just now, the straddle has raised by only $1, and if you did not straddle but raised instead, the next person could minimum-raise to $3. Also, what is the minimum bet on further rounds?
The first response to the question was:
The minimum raise is to $3 and the minimum bet on future rounds is still $1, or the same as the big blind.
The correct answer to the question about the minimum raise is, it depends. I have seen straddles handled differently from room to room, but that doesn't mean that I don't think there is a "correct" way to do it.
As far as I am concerned, a straddle is by definition an added blind. For that hand, a player has elected (or in some cases been forced) to add a third blind. By posting the straddle, that player will be given last action, just as if there were a third blind in the game. To deviate from that would be classifying a straddle as a live raise, which doesn't exist. It is another blind, it's that simple.
By defining it as a blind, in the above example, the game becomes $1-$1-$2 for that hand. That means that the first player to act can fold, call $2, or raise to $4. All minimum bets on subsequent streets would be $2, the size of the "new" big blind.
Mike O'Malley is a consultant for www.PartyGaming.com, and can be reached at [email protected]. His website is updated regularly at www.rzitup.com.
