Mind Over Poker - Big Pairs Post-Flop

I recently spent a few days at The Venetian in Las Vegas and played both cash games and tournaments, and regardless of the format, one of my biggest observations was the inability of so many players to throw away an overpair when they were obviously beat. Two hands in particular stand out. I will go over both of them here, as I believe they can be instructive.

The first hand took place during a $1-$2 no-limit hold’em cash game. After a couple of limpers, a player in middle position raised to $12. There was one caller before the action got to me in the big blind. I had A-10 suited (hearts). It’s not a hand I love there, but since I knew that the original limpers would call, I was easily getting the right price to call. Sure enough, the two limpers called and there were five of us in the hand. The flop came down 10-10-7 with two diamonds. I checked, as did the first two limpers. The preflop raiser bet $50. There was a fold, and then the action was on me. Since I knew that players love to play their overpairs hard, I just called. One other player called, which worried me more than the preflop raiser.

The turn brought a blank, and again, I checked. The limper also checked, and the preflop raiser moved all in. I called instantly, and so did the limper. Now, I knew that the limper had either a flush draw or a full house, holding 7-7. I was fairly sure that it was the flush draw, which I didn’t like, but it was certainly a lot better than the full house. Sure enough, he did have the flush draw. The aggressor in the hand triumphantly flipped over pocket aces. I turned over my A-10, and the limper turned over ace-rag of diamonds, leaving the preflop raiser drawing dead. A diamond failed to materialize, and I won the hand. Now, I don’t think the preflop raiser played this hand all that badly. He probably should have bet more preflop. With four callers and a paired board, he should have been more than a little concerned when he was called in two spots on the flop. I took a chance on checking the turn, but if he doesn’t bet there, he gives up control of the hand and gives a free card to the flush draw. He played it fairly straightforwardly, and you can’t always give your opponent credit for having a big hand. Furthermore, with relatively modest stacks and the amount in the pot, I’m not sure that he could have gotten away from the hand.

The next hand took place in the first level of a tournament. With 7,500 in starting chips and the blinds at 25-50, one player raised to 200. He was called by the big blind. The flop came 9-9-2. The big blind checked, the original raiser bet, and the big blind raised. The aggressor reraised, and the big blind called. The turn was a blank. The big blind bet, and the aggressor raised. The big blind called. A jack came on the river, and the big blind checked. The aggressor made a big bet, and the big blind called. Now, I don’t know the exact amounts of the bets, but each player had close to his original starting stack at the beginning of the hand. When the betting was completed, each player was down to close to 1,000. It was the first big pot of the tourney. The original raiser turned over pocket kings. The big blind had A-9, and scooped a big pot. Here, I find serious fault with the original raiser in building this pot with an overpair. Even if he couldn’t fold, at the very least, he could have checked it down on the river. I believe that he made a bet of 2,000 on the river. He is not bluffing there, and considering how much action had transpired prior to that, he is going to get called by only a better hand. There is a fine line between value-betting an overpair post-flop and being concerned about going up against a better hand. It requires a certain amount of finesse and common sense, though. In the early stages of a tournament, I would err on the side of not escalating the action when you are getting push-back. ♠

David Apostolico is the author of several poker-strategy books, including Tournament Poker and The Art of War, and Compete, Play, Win: Finding Your Best Competitive Self. You can contact him at [email protected].