Learning A New Trick

I am no different from most of my readers. When I get home from a poker session, I often reflect on how I could have played a hand differently and gotten a better result. Sometimes, my thoughts will be on a hand where I lost a pot that might have been won. Other times, I contemplate how more money could have been gained or less money could have been lost. Here is a hand where I might have done better with a different strategy, one more suitable to the situation, and increased the amount that I won.

In a $1-$3 blinds no-limit hold’em game at a Michigan charity gaming poker room, I picked up pocket fives in the big blind. The button had put up a $6 straddle, which the small blind called. I also called, and the button declined the opportunity to raise. The flop came wonderfully for my hand: Q-9-5, giving me bottom set on a rainbow board. The small blind checked disinterestedly. I will bet a set more often than checking it, but several factors persuaded me to check this time. The player on the button was a friend of mine who is a pretty good poker player and has a lot of experience playing against me. He is aggressive when the opposition looks weak, but is quick to back off when he thinks he has run into trouble. He was quite likely here to have a weak hand, since he did not raise preflop. However, being up against only the blinds, who had both checked, he might well make a bet or two on a modest holding — or worse.

My opponent bet $15 into a pot that same size. The small blind departed and I elected to just call. The next card was something lower than my set of fives, not changing the complexion of the board much. I checked and my opponent bet $35. What to do? There was about $300 remaining in each of our stacks. I did not think the chance of him holding a bigger set was too dangerous, since for that to happen, he would have limped in with a hand that was actually a heavy favorite to have been opened with a raise. But he could easily have two pair on this betting, which would probably be top two-pair, given my hand. I decided to try for all of his stack and check-raised him $80. This would create a pot large enough to get him all-in at the river, if he did not simply reraise all-in right away.

My opponent went into the tank, thinking. This was no act; he obviously had a good hand. After more than a minute went by, he folded. My best guess is that he had Q-9 for top two-pair, and was afraid that I held a set. Of course, he was right.

There were a number of alternatives to the way I had played my set. We won’t look at all the things that might have happened had I bet right out on the flop. One needs to vary how a big hand on the flop is played. Otherwise, you become too readable. So let’s just discuss places where I could have varied after checking the flop and calling his bet.
I have no regrets about my turn check. A blank had come and I wanted my opponent to continue to bet. So let’s start looking at my alternatives after I checked the turn and my opponent made a solid bet of $35.

If I had called rather than check-raising, there are two main ways to proceed when the last card comes on the board, assuming that the board does not pair.

(1) I can check the river.
(2) I can bet the river.

Checking the river against this particular player looks ineffective to me. He might possibly check back even a hand as good as two pair, figuring that he might not get played with unless he’s beat. More likely he will bet two pair, but he is not going to farmer out a big portion of his stack, or call a monster check-raise from me for of all his chips. I think he is going to make a relatively small bet of perhaps $30 to $50.

If I bet the river, how much should my wager be? I would have selected a bet in the $75 to $100 range, just under the size of the pot. Betting a wimpy amount such as $30 to $40 is not my style, as it does not fit in with my bluffing amounts. I would also have rejected a giant all-in overbet of the pot size. I regard this as a ham-handed move that will not get me paid off if I have the best hand, but will cost me all my chips if I hold a loser.

Calling the turn and making a solid bet of $75 to $100 seems to me as a decent alternative to my more greedy play of check-raising the turn. My opponent is going to be a bit perplexed by my sudden aggressiveness in betting the river, and may well pay me off. I think holding my fire until the last card might have worked better in this particular spot.

But I am not done analyzing this deal. It seems to me that being lucky enough to hold a set when heads-up against top two-pair with a stack size of about 150 big blinds, your aim should be to double through your opponent, not just take a bite out of his stack. My turn check-raise almost worked. If I used a bluff check-raise on the turn more often than once in a blue moon, my ploy on the turn might have worked here. So my final conclusion is this old dog needs to learn a new trick to be a complete poker player. I can tell you that Bobby Hoff would have been a huge favorite to double up on this layout of the cards — even against me!

Check-raising on the turn normally shows a big hand that would love to play for all the money in front of you. But what if you use this sequence of wagering to steal fairly often? Of course, you have to pick an opponent that is some kind of a poker player and respects your game. Otherwise, you are burning up a lot of money in advertising. A weak player is going to call you too often. The opposition cannot have it both ways. They cannot throw away everything except the nuts, or you are going to walk all over them.
When check-raising the turn as a bluff, be sure that the stacks are deep, so there is the threat of an even bigger bet at the river. (You are not under an obligation to fire your cannon again; the threat is sometimes greater than the execution.) If you choose this play of check-raising the turn, you do not need any outs. In fact, if there is no possible draw, you will have a greater chance of a successful steal.

Do you need to learn a new trick? ♠

Bob Ciaffone’s new poker book, No-limit Holdem Poker, is now available. This is Bob’s fifth book on poker strategy. It can be ordered from Bob for $25 by emailing him at [email protected]. Free shipping in the lower 48 states to Card Player readers. All books autographed. Bob Ciaffone is available for poker lessons.