Fun Cash Game Hand

I recently watched a poker show and found the following hand quite interesting. I will go through the hand and list everything I thought was of note. Enjoy!

Player A, a fairly straightforward player with $2,200 raised to $30 with A 8 at $5-$10 no-limit from middle position and Player B, an excellent loose-aggressive (LAG) with $2,500 reraised to $95 from the hijack with 10 8. Player C, a tight-aggressive (TAG) with $1,500 elected to call $95 on the button with A Q. Player A with A 8 called $65 more.

I am perfectly fine with the initial raise and reraise. Player B could also call. However, in position, he should tend to apply pressure and build a pot that he will often steal postflop. I think Player C should have reraised or folded, although calling is an acceptable option. The main problem Player C will face is that if a lot of money goes into the pot after the flop, she cannot happily continue even with top pair, second kicker, which is the hand she will most likely make. This leads me to believe that reraising or folding are better options. In this scenario, given her opponents, I would have reraised to around $220.

I really dislike Player A’s call of $65 more out of position with a bad suited ace. If he flops a flush draw, he probably will not want to check-raise the flop and pile his stack in because he is too deep. He will have a difficult time getting a lot of money in if he elects to check/call the flop and completes his flush on either the turn or river, due to his lack of position. This should lead him to simply fold to the preflop reraise. That being said, in middle-stakes live cash games, you rarely see players make (standard) snug folds before the flop.

The flop came Q J J. Everyone checked.

I think Player A could have easily bet the flop, but I much prefer checking to see what develops. The problem with leading is that if anyone calls or raises, he will be in a difficult spot, mostly due to being out of position. His plan was most likely to check-raise, which would be fine because he would probably take the same line with a jack.
Player B had a fairly easy check with the intention of folding to any bet as Q J J could easily hit at least one of his two opponents’ ranges.

Player C elected to check behind with top pair. You may be surprised to hear that I like checking. The main problem with betting is that if you get either called or raised, you cannot be too happy, assuming your opponents play well. It is important to note that Player C’s top pair is not in amazing shape when she bets and someone calls, but if she checks behind and someone bets the turn, she is often in fantastic shape because she has underrepresented her hand and induced bluffs.

The turn brought the 10. Player A bet $130 into the $300 pot, Player B folded and Player C called.

I am fine with Player A’s turn bet. While he has to expect that one of his two opponents has at least a marginal made hand on the turn, with his flush draw and double gutshot, he has lots of equity.

Player B made a standard fold with his bottom pair and gutshot. Bottom pair simply has no value on this board against two players in a reraised pot. I imagine many inferior players would have called simply because they “improved.” You will find that is rarely a good enough reason to call.

Player C made a good call, again opting to not raise. If she raises and Player A calls or reraises, she is often in fairly bad shape. If she calls, she forces Player A to stay in the pot with his entire range, which should contain a decent amount of bluffs and semibluffs.

The river was the Q.

Player A bet $325 into the $560 pot, Player C raised to $810 and Player A folded.
I really dislike Player A’s river bluff. Notice if Player C had a missed draw, Player A likely has the best hand. Knowing Player C is a fairly straightforward TAG, Player A can expect the river to check through quite often when his ace-high is good. If Player C had a counterfeited 10, she will also fold to a bet. This means that if Player A bets, he will probably only get action from a queen, jack, or straight. While Player C likely doesn’t have a jack or straight, she could easily have a queen. Perhaps the only time a bet from Player A has the desired effect is when Player C has ace-high, which should not be the case too often. I think Player A simply has to check with the intention of folding to a bet.

When Player C raised the river, unless she knew something about her opponent that I do not, I think she picked a bad size. If Player A has worse than a jack, he is going to fold to any raise almost every time. If he has a jack, he will likely consider calling a raise. If he has a queen, he will never fold. So, the only part of his range Player C has to be concerned with getting value from is a jack.

I imagine most marginal middle-stakes live players will either call no raise, meaning Player C simply cannot get value, a tiny raise, or an all-in raise. I think most players will be at least somewhat prone to call a raise to around $710. If you plan to make a small raise, you should usually make it a touch larger than a min-raise, as most players will not view $710 much differently than $650. The other reasonable option is to go all-in. That is only a good play if Player A is a calling station.

I think raising to $710 would have been much better than raising to $810. I think picking a size somewhere in between a tiny raise and a large raise will often result in the opponent calling with the same range he would call a large raise with, meaning you fail to get paid off for a huge amount when the opponent happens to be a calling station. Despite this, I think most average players, especially those who care about money, will only call a small raise. Even though $810 may seem small, I don’t think it is quite small enough.

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Jonathan Little, 2-time World Poker Tour champion has won more than $6 million in tournaments since 2006. He is sponsored by 3bet.com, Instapoker and BlueSharkOptics and teaches poker at FloatTheTurn.com and www.JonathanLittleSecrets.com. Follow him on Twitter @ JonathanLittle.