Finding The Line: A Street By Street Strategic Look At A Poker Hand

Playing a hand well requires multiple streets of good decisions, which pros refer to as a line. In Card Player’s new Finding The Line series, readers will be able to let us know what they consider to be the most optimal lines in hands played by professionals at some of the largest tournaments in the world.

Card Player will give the options of a player on each street and the readers can put together what they consider to be the most optimal line and leave it in the comments section below.

The Situation

You are a small-stakes online player sitting in a six-max $.50-$1 no-limit hold’em game. You are automatically topping your stack up to the maximum 100 big blind buy-in and have $100 in your stack.

Pre-Flop

You are on the button and are dealt KQ and the player in the hijack seat raises to $2.50. The player in the cutoff folds and action is on you. You both have $100 in your stack and you have no history or specific reads on the player. Do you:

A.) Fold – You feel that K-Q has a lot of reverse implied odds and if you make a hand, you will be dominated by a better hand too often to make it profitable to even see a flop. Since the hand is off-suit, it doesn’t flop well and you would rather just look for a better spot.

B.) Call – Your opponent can have a wider range than just hands that dominate K-Q and calling will keep in all of the hands that K-Q dominates. It also allows you to keep the pot smaller and have a better stack-to-pot ratio postflop.

C.) Three-bet – Your opponent is opening wide from late position and K-Q is well ahead of his range. You want to three-bet for value and bloat the pot since you have position on him for the rest of the hand.

Reality

After a raise from the player in the cutoff, Gareth Chantler was on the button and calls with KQ. Both players in the blinds fold and they are heads-up to the flop.

The Flop

The flop is J108 and your opponent bets $4.50. Do you:

A.) Fold – You misclicked, the only reason to fold this hand for $4.50.

B.) Call – You think your opponent could be continuation betting this board with air or a strong hand. A raise could open you up to get three-bet off your hand and if he does have a strong hand, you want to hit your hand before you get lots of money in the middle. You also still have the chance to take the pot away from his bluffs on the turn if he gives up and checks.

C.) Raise – You can get value from worse straight draws and you can possibly take the pot down right there if your opponent was bluffing. If you do get called, you have initiative of the hand and will most likely be checked to on the turn and will be able to dictate what happens.

Reality

Gareth Chantler calls $4.50 and they see a turn card.

The Turn

The 10 falls on the turn and your opponent bets $10. Do you:

A.) Fold – The price that you are getting on the turn isn’t good enough to peel a card with your open-ended straight draw. You don’t think your opponent is bluffing at this point and your straight isn’t disguised if you hit a nine, so your implied odds are limited.

B.) Call – You doubt your opponent is bluffing at this point. If you hit your hand, you should be able to get paid off because his range is going to be stronger to double barrel this board rather than bet the flop and then check.

C.) Raise – It’s very unlikely he has a ten in his range and your perceived range can have plenty of tens in it. Calling the flop and raising the turn is generally a strong line and you can increase fold equity by making your hand look stronger. Just like on the flop, however, you risk being blown off your hand by a three-bet.

Reality

Gareth Chantler raises to $26 and gets called by his opponent.

The River

The river is the 3 and your opponent checks. Do you:

A.) Check – Your opponent called the turn and the river is a brick. It’s unlikely his hand strength changed so he will probably not fold the river if he calls the turn. You do not have much, if any, showdown value and are pretty much conceding the pot at this point.

B.) Bet Small (1/4-1/2 pot) – There is only a pot-sized bet left in your stack. You feel that if he is going to fold, he will fold just as often to a smaller bet as he will to an all in shove. If he has a hand like AdKd, where he continuation bet the flop and bet the turn because he turned a big draw, he will fold that hand regardless of how much you bet. So the percentage of time that your bluff works will remain the same, but you will save yourself a few bucks when it doesn’t.

C.) Shove all in – Since you only have a pot-sized bet left, you feel that moving all in will maximize your fold equity. You think that you will get him to fold a jack or an overpair if you move all in and that those hands wouldn’t fold if you bet smaller. You don’t think he is going to check a big hand on the river and you want to give yourself the best chance of getting him to fold a made hand.

Reality

Gareth Chantler moved all for his last $67 in and was called by his opponent, who tabled pocket eights, for a full house.

Chantler chose a line of B-B-C-C. Let us know what line you would take in the comments section below.

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