My Old Notebook — Part II

Last issue I talked about one hand from the old notebook I found at my parents’ house. Here are a couple more hands.

Hand No. 1 ($25-$50 limit hold ‘em):

Under-the-gun (UTG) plus 2 raises, I’m in middle position with A J and call, BB calls.

In today’s game this is almost for sure a three-bet and if I shouldn’t be three-betting, I shouldn’t be calling. The case for flat calling is pretty suspect. I encourage other callers, which I don’t really want, I don’t get the lead in the hand, and if I get to showdown, it further narrows my three-betting range for others to take advantage of. In the days of 2004-2005, this wasn’t a terrifically uncommon way to play this hand and it seems pretty clear now that this was wrong.

The flop is K Q 7. Both players check to me, I bet, both call.

It’s odd that the preflop raiser (PFR) isn’t leading at this flop, but he will most likely fold and we probably want his hand to fold since it’s likely to be something pretty similar to our hand (A-J, A-10) or a pocket pair. If this is the whole range he’s raising pre and checking on the flop, we want him to fold since we are just about 48.7 percent versus a range of A-J, A-10, and pairs fives through tens. Until the big blind (BB) shows us something, we can just assume that she has the weakest range of the group. Most likely hands for her are J-10, 10-9, A-10, A-J, flush draws, and some queens like Q-J, Q-10, and Q-9 now that she has called preflop and called the flop.

Turn is the K. They both check to me, I bet, both call.

Puke. I think this bet on the turn is just awful. I have an overcard, a gutshot, and the nut no-pair against two opponents who have shown weakness, but one of them could certainly have a queen or king and they definitely have the right equity to call with many of their draws. I have the best hand a fair percentage of the time with this action, but when someone has a king, my bet is a disaster. I could have seen the river for free and hit a probable winning ace, and a nearly certain winning card, a ten. In addition, I don’t have nearly enough equity against a check-raising range to peel with what is likely just a gutshot. I turn my sometimes best hand into a bluff and don’t give myself a chance to win the pot by making a straight. This is a silly mistake and a play that I would almost never make now without some very specific reads.

River is the 4. They both check to me, I bet, the BB calls, PFR folds.
Another bad bet on the river. I still have the nut no pair, my opponents’ ranges are pretty weak and weighted heavily towards draws, all of which I beat, and queens, which I don’t beat and they are never folding. In a three-way pot, I never get called by worse and no hands that are better that have made it to the river are folding. I end up losing to the BB’s 10-10.

Hand No. 2 ($25-$50 limit hold ‘em)

I limp UTG (puke) with K 5 (double puke) and two others limp.

I don’t think I need to talk about how bad this is.

Flop is Q 10 7 and everyone checks.

OK.

Turn is the 4, everyone checks to me, I bet, a middle position player raises, I call, heads up to the river.

I’m OK with this action. I have the opportunity to win the pot by betting and I have the second nut-flush draw to improve if I do get called.

River is the 9. I bet, he raises, I reraise, he four-bets, I call. I win (didn’t record his cards).

I think I want somewhere between four and five bets to go into this pot, so I’m OK with how this played out. If I had check-raised, I think I would have only gotten three bets into the pot, as I wouldn’t want to open myself up to a five-bet. Leading lets me get in the third bet and then just call if he four-bets. I guess my opponent had either a 10 or 7 high-flush? Either of those seems like a mistake to four-bet since my range is pretty well defined as a flush by the time I make it three bets (If I had some sort of weirdly played set, I would have three-bet the turn. If I had two-pair I would just call the river raise). Since my range is all flushes and we can pretty safely rule out small suited cards as an UTG limping range, my hand is pretty heavily weighted towards flushes that beat his, with something like 9-8 suited, 9-7 suited, or 5-6 suited being the only ones that he beats. My opponent has a pretty clear decision to just call the three-bet, unless he is on some insane naked bluff.

I’ll be back next week with a couple of more hands from my old notebook. ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG