Card Player Pro -- Escaping Second-Best Hands

Game: 10¢-25¢ no-limit hold’em on PokerStars
Opponent: Unknown, passive type of player
My Stack: $25.95
Opponent’s Stack: $31.40
My Cards: J 9
My Position: Big blind

One key to conquering small-stakes poker is learning to get away from second-best hands, especially when your opponent has made it clear that your hand is beat. The classic sign of a weak player is one who holds on to pocket aces too long, and calls a big river bet when all he can beat is a bluff. In a recent video that I did for Card Player Pro, I looked at several spots in which players should avoid the mistake of calling down with a second-best hand, and practice folding when they end up with a good but not great hand.

In this hand, I was playing in a $25 no-limit hold’em ring game on PokerStars. Two players had limped in for 25¢, the small blind threw in 15¢, and I checked my big blind with the J 9. We took the flop with four players.

The flop came J 9 2, giving me top two pair.

The small blind (an unknown but seemingly passive player) led into the pot for 50¢, and I decided to flat-call. In retrospect, I wish I had raised. My hand is almost certainly the best (I trail only flopped sets, which are not very likely), and given how many draws are on this board, I’d like to both protect my hand and charge him to outdraw me.

I opted to flat-call mostly because if he missed a draw, I wanted him to keep semibluffing on the turn. The other two limpers folded.

The turn brought the 6, adding a second flush draw to the board.

My opponent checked, and I elected to bet $1.75. Betting here is crucial! I see so many players decide to “slow-play” or “trap” with their big hands.

Slow-playing certainly has its places, but on a board with two flush draws and two straight draws, and with my opponent already having shown some interest in the pot by betting the flop — this was not a place to get tricky.

Without much hesitation, my opponent called.

The river was the K, completing the Q-10 straight as well as the backdoor-flush draw.

My opponent checked once again, and I decided to value-bet $2.75 into a $5.35 pot.

I think betting is close, but good. It’s going to be difficult for my opponent to call this bet with many worse hands, but again — the staple of most weak players is that they can’t fold second-best hands. I do think, given my small half-pot bet, he’ll likely give me a curiosity call with a jack (say, J-10 or Q-J), a king (maybe the K 10 or the K 8), or even a 9 that puts me on a busted draw. The better your opponent is, the less likely it is that he’ll call with a worse hand, but in this game, I’m going to bet and rely on my opponent to make a mistake.

My opponent, instead, check-raised me to $6.50!

This is a spot where I think many low-stakes players fall victim to not being able to get away from a second-best hand. They look down and see two pair, get somewhat frustrated by the possibility of being outdrawn, and then make a spite-call — only to be shown a better hand. Once my opponent check-raises this river, it’s pretty much impossible for me to have the best hand. If he had a pair of nines, jacks, or even kings, he would want to just call my bet — so when he check-raises me, he’s telling me that two pair is no good, or he’s bluffing.

I paused for a second to ask myself whether he’d bluff in this spot with missed hearts or a missed straight draw. But he made it only $3.75 more! By making such a small raise, it really seems like he wants me to call. I’m quite sure that if he were bluffing, he’d pick a much larger raise size to try to get me to fold.

It’s tough to lay down big hands, but when your opponent takes an action that he’d take only with hands that beat you, it’s time to let it go. Save yourself the $3.75 and remember that money not lost is just as valuable as money won.
After a bit of thought, I folded, and my opponent scooped the pot with, in all likelihood, Q-10, for the straight.

To watch Andrew Arnott comment on and play this hand, point your browser to Card Player Pro, the complete online poker training site, at www.CardPlayer.com/link/ama-3.