Big Hand of the Night.
I was playing in a 1/2 Blind NL game at Cherokee, Tulsa last night. It's a $200 max buyin game. We were 6 handed when this hand came up. The three relevant players were Seat 1, Seat 3, and Seat 5.
I was seat 5, the small blind. I had about $1,000 in chips.
Seat 1 had been in the game about an hour. We had gotten down to 6 handed and he and 2 other players came from a broken table to fill us back up. He brought a lot of chips with him. He seemed to be somewhat tight and tended to overplay marginally strong hands at times. But basically a straightforward player. He had about $950 in chips.
Set 3 had been in the game a while. He had bought in for $100 and had gone busted and rebought 3 times that I know of for sure. He'd recently won a couple of big pots and had a little over $300. He was very erratic, overplayed almost every hand he played, and he played a lot of them. Bet too much, called to much, chased too much. When he made a large overbet he wasn't bluffing, and it kind amazed me how many calls he'd get from people who just assumed that since he was usally weak that he must be weak when he was betting $150 into a $60 pot.
Anyway, Seat 1 was UTG and opened for $12. I took that to mean he had some kind of a hand. Probably in the range JJ-AA or AQ, AK. Maybe AJs but probably not AJo. He had a fairly tight range for that kind of opening, I'd seen him limp with AJo, 88, that sort of thing.
Seat 3 made it $25. That didn't mean much. Might be a strong hand, might be 8c9c. Probably not Td3d but I couldn't rule that out entirely.
I had QQ.
I wasn't sure what to do here. I was somewhat worried about what Seat 1 might have. If I did something really silly like make it $100, then what would I do if Seat 1 made it $400? But I sure don't want to throw this hand away. So I called.
Seat 1 made it $75. Seat 3 called.
Now I'm 99% sure that Seat 1 has AA. But we have $175 in the pot already, and he has over $800 in his stack and I have that covered, plus the stack of Seat 3. I called, pretty much just intending to give it up if I didn't flop a set.
The flop comes Q34. All diamonds. How do I play this?
Seat 1 does not have a flush. I know that. He as a pair. It might not be AA, it might be KK, but it's a pair. If he has Ad then it doesn't matter what I do. But if he doesn't have Ad I don't want him to worry about me having flopped a flush just yet. I'm not sure about Seat3 but at this point I don't care what he has. I'm looking to get the whole stack of Seat 1 into the pot.
I check.
Seat 1 goes all in.
I couldn't believe it. The pot has $225 in it and he bets over $800. And I know he doesn't have a flush. I just know it, I have no doubt about it.
Seat 3 calls his last $240. Of course I call.
Turn is 7d, River is Kc.
Seat 3 has 8h8d. Seat 1 had AcAs.
Seat 3 has a flush and takes down the main pot, about $950. My 3 queens takes the side pot, about $1,300.
I might be off $100 or so here or there in this story, most of the chips didn't actually get counted, just stacked off.
Thoughts? Observations?
I was playing in a 1/2 Blind NL game at Cherokee, Tulsa last night. It's a $200 max buyin game. We were 6 handed when this hand came up. The three relevant players were Seat 1, Seat 3, and Seat 5.
I was seat 5, the small blind. I had about $1,000 in chips.
Seat 1 had been in the game about an hour. We had gotten down to 6 handed and he and 2 other players came from a broken table to fill us back up. He brought a lot of chips with him. He seemed to be somewhat tight and tended to overplay marginally strong hands at times. But basically a straightforward player. He had about $950 in chips.
Set 3 had been in the game a while. He had bought in for $100 and had gone busted and rebought 3 times that I know of for sure. He'd recently won a couple of big pots and had a little over $300. He was very erratic, overplayed almost every hand he played, and he played a lot of them. Bet too much, called to much, chased too much. When he made a large overbet he wasn't bluffing, and it kind amazed me how many calls he'd get from people who just assumed that since he was usally weak that he must be weak when he was betting $150 into a $60 pot.
Anyway, Seat 1 was UTG and opened for $12. I took that to mean he had some kind of a hand. Probably in the range JJ-AA or AQ, AK. Maybe AJs but probably not AJo. He had a fairly tight range for that kind of opening, I'd seen him limp with AJo, 88, that sort of thing.
Seat 3 made it $25. That didn't mean much. Might be a strong hand, might be 8c9c. Probably not Td3d but I couldn't rule that out entirely.
I had QQ.
I wasn't sure what to do here. I was somewhat worried about what Seat 1 might have. If I did something really silly like make it $100, then what would I do if Seat 1 made it $400? But I sure don't want to throw this hand away. So I called.
Seat 1 made it $75. Seat 3 called.
Now I'm 99% sure that Seat 1 has AA. But we have $175 in the pot already, and he has over $800 in his stack and I have that covered, plus the stack of Seat 3. I called, pretty much just intending to give it up if I didn't flop a set.
The flop comes Q34. All diamonds. How do I play this?
Seat 1 does not have a flush. I know that. He as a pair. It might not be AA, it might be KK, but it's a pair. If he has Ad then it doesn't matter what I do. But if he doesn't have Ad I don't want him to worry about me having flopped a flush just yet. I'm not sure about Seat3 but at this point I don't care what he has. I'm looking to get the whole stack of Seat 1 into the pot.
I check.
Seat 1 goes all in.
I couldn't believe it. The pot has $225 in it and he bets over $800. And I know he doesn't have a flush. I just know it, I have no doubt about it.
Seat 3 calls his last $240. Of course I call.
Turn is 7d, River is Kc.
Seat 3 has 8h8d. Seat 1 had AcAs.
Seat 3 has a flush and takes down the main pot, about $950. My 3 queens takes the side pot, about $1,300.
I might be off $100 or so here or there in this story, most of the chips didn't actually get counted, just stacked off.
Thoughts? Observations?
posted by Gary Carson at 3:28 AM
2 Comments:
Nice situation to be in -- three way action on a monotone flop with top set pretty much guarantees you at least 35% pot equity, no? And that's assuming one of your opponents flopped the flush, which wasn't the case here. You must have had equity in the 60-65% range when you got your money in....nice result.
I play live in Vancouver, BC. Had a similar situation myself recently with bottom set....which should have made the decision trickier, but didn't in my case. I made a $10 button raise with 22, and got two callers (BB and one other player). Flop came AK2, all clubs. BB made a large overbet ($100 or so), and the next player went all-in. I was pretty certain neither of these players would have merely smooth-called me with AA or KK pre-flop, so I figured I had the only live set, and called the bet. BB called as well....and they both turned over flopped flushes (86 for BB, J9 for the MP). Caught a K on the turn to fill, and scooped a nice pot. With any other flop I couldn't have ruled out a higher set, and a marginal call would have become a losing one. Not as impressive as your hand, but a proper call nonetheless, with a good result.
Just wanted to add that I've enjoyed your limit hold 'em book immensely. Am looking forward to whatever you have to say regarding the NL game, and am confident it will be a valuable addition to the literature. The poker world needs an antidote to the arrogance and poor editing of 2+2 Publishing. I'm glad you're here to provide one. Sorry to hear about the loss of your laptop.....am hoping you'll post chapters to the blog as they become available.
Looks nice! Awesome content. Good job guys.
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