Hand 2 Hand Combat -- Rick Mask

Hand No. 1

Event: Online full-ring cash game
Blinds: $5-$10
Players at the Table: 8
Stacks: Rick “RASK” Mask – $1,059; Villain – $1,138.25

The villain raises to $30 from the hijack position. Rick “RASK” Mask calls from the small blind with the Q J.

Rick “RASK” Mask: The player in the hijack seat is a good, aggressive player. I think my flat-call from the small blind with Q-J suited is fairly standard. He’s going to be raising preflop with a lot of weaker hands or a lot of hands that Q-J suited plays very well against.

Craig Tapscott: Are there any merits to three-betting with this type of hand from out of position to take the lead?

RM: Not really. There are a couple of reasons for not reraising:

1. This player is more than capable of four-bet bluffing. If I were to reraise with Q-J suited and get four-bet, I would be in a spot where I’m vulnerable to being pushed off the best hand.

2. By flat-calling, I give myself an opportunity to play against all of his weak hands post-flop. But by three-betting, I set myself up to play against a much stronger range of hands, many of which dominate me.

Flop: 9 7 4 (pot: $70)

RM: The board is pretty coordinated, and I would assume that a lot of players would be less likely to bet this flop with air. If I expect my opponent to check back a lot and not put dead money in the pot by continuation-betting without a strong hand, I will usually opt to lead out on this board.

CT: What will that gain you?

RM: It will stop him from pot-controlling or taking free cards against me. This player, however, was also a very aggressive continuation-bettor, and I expected him to bet here. So, I opted to go for a check-raise instead.

RASK checks. The villain checks.

CT: What’s the plan now that he’s checked?

RM: Once this board gets checked, I think that my hand is a mandatory lead on the turn. His hand is almost never anything overly strong.

Turn: 8 (pot: $70)
RASK bets $50. The villain raises to $152.

CT: That’s not what you expected, I’m sure.

RM: I would say that it’s fairly unlikely that he’s just pure bluffing.

CT: So, what’s he raising you with, then?

RM: I think that a lot of his turn raises are with some weak hand that he checked back on the flop and improved on the turn. Off the top of my head, these hands would be 8-7, 9-8, 8-4 suited, or even 8-8 for a turned set. Given my read that this player was a pretty aggressive continuation-bettor, I almost 100 percent ruled out the possibility that he had a hand like J-10 or 6-5. So, that means that he could almost never have the nuts. I, on the other hand, could easily have top set, J-10, or occasionally 6-5 suited, which makes this a pretty good spot to three-bet the turn and shove most rivers, to get him off the hands that I’m putting him on now. I’m three-betting the turn to set up about a pot-sized river shove.

RASK reraises to $330. The villain calls.
River: 2 (pot: $730)

CT: What cards might cause you to stop in your tracks with the planned shove on the river?

RM: Rivers that I might be unlikely to bluff on would be board-pairing cards, for the obvious reasons (trying to make somebody fold two pair or a set when the board pairs is usually a pretty bad idea). Other than that, virtually every other river card will be good for my perceived range and bad for his, so when the 2 falls, I think it’s a definite shove.

RASK moves all in for $699. The villain folds. RASK wins the pot of $730.

Hand No. 2

Event: Online full-ring cash game
Blinds: $1-$2
Players at the Table: 8
Stacks: Rick “RASK” Mask – $376.60; Villain – $299.30

The villain raises to $6 from under the gun. RASK reraises to $20 from the cutoff with the K 8.

CT: Are you feeling frisky in this hand, reraising an under-the-gun raiser with the K 8? Usually, an under-the-gun raise represents a pretty strong hand.

RM: Most people perceive a three-bet of an under-the-gun raise to be very strong, and as a result, reraises in this spot traditionally get a lot of respect. But I guess the games are slowly changing as people begin to realize how good a spot it can be to bluff. We are also a little deep, meaning that playing back at a reraise will put more money at risk, which also should make him play tighter to it. I also won’t get into too many bad post-flop spots, given that with my position, I have the ability to take free cards or pot-control.

The villain reraises to $49.

CT: Time to pack it up and fold? He’s representing quite a bit of strength.

RM: No. The four-bet was not massive, by any means. I decided to flat-call because the range of value hands that he’s representing is very narrow, and when called, he would almost certainly stop bluffing, excluding the flop continuation-bet and the times that he flops or turns draws.

RASK calls.

CT: I assume that you have a plan.

RM: When calling, my plan was to float a lot of his continuation-bets, and then do something like bet the turn when checked to or occasionally check back the turn and bet the river when checked to. Other hands that I might play this way would be aces, kings, or other strong hands. Most people do not put good players on bluffs when they take lines like this.

Flop: Q 7 3 (pot: $101)
The villain bets $33. RASK calls.

RM: I had no real intention of continuing past the turn against him; that is, unless he gave up the initiative. I had little or no intention of doing something like bluff-raising the flop, because I would be unlikely to play a very strong hand that way, and also because raising commits a lot of dead money to the pot in a spot where I would get the same amount of respect and information by just calling.

Turn: 8 (pot: $167)
The villain bets $71.

RM: When he bets again on the turn, I don’t think that he has very many pure bluffs. I was a little unsure of whether I should shove or just call again. I opted to shove. I felt like a decent number of his bluffs could be worse flush draws or turned straight draws. There also would be the occasional time when he might make a hero-fold with something like pocket kings.

RASK moves all in. The villain calls.
River: 6 (pot: $601.60)
The villain reveals the Q Q and wins the pot of $601.60.

CT: What’s your take on how you played this hand?

RM: Overall, I think that my play in the hand was a little loose, and that the turn shove may have been somewhat spewy. When playing smaller stakes, I sometimes just assume that people always expect me to be getting out of line. Sometimes I’m wrong about this, and it can definitely get me into trouble when I assume that my opponent is itching to play back at me, but in actuality is just playing good, solid poker.

Rick Mask is a 22-year-old poker professional from Vancouver, Canada. He became interested in poker during the 2004 National Hockey League lockout, when a lot of poker was being televised in lieu of hockey games. He began playing online in $2-$4 no-limit hold’em games, and within a year, he had worked his way up to $5-$10 no-limit. He is currently an instructor at CardRunners.com, and also offers private coaching.