Participants:
(1) Gavin Hall – Gavin Hall is a Purple Belt who recently participated in the Black Belt Poker Grading. He is an active member of the BBP community.
(2) Richard Hinds – Richard is a 20 something semi-pro from Northern Ireland who has been playing poker for two and a half years. Richard was also a member of the Dublin Two-O.
Part One: Richard’s Hand:
History: Richard is taking part in Challenge Channing, a weekly cash game in which Black Belt Poker players take a stab at stacking Neil Channing at $0.25/0.50 stakes. Understandably, the table tends to be highly active with plenty of meta-game. Also at the table are fellow Grader Mike ‘BelterMan’ Carroll and League II winner Adam ‘JHobbit1’ Saunders.
The Hand:
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to wowsickriver [ Tc-9c ]
BelterMan folds
TableKnight folds
wowsickriver raises [$1.89 USD]
JHobbit1 folds
TheSimian calls [$1.89 USD]
MJR719 calls [$1.89 USD]
themackem1968 calls [$1.89 USD]
RazzHands folds
NeilChanning calls [$1.39 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h-Ac-4c ]
NeilChanning checks
wowsickriver bets [$6.71 USD]
TheSimian folds
MJR719 calls [$6.71 USD]
themackem1968 folds
NeilChanning calls [$6.71 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Th ]
NeilChanning checks
wowsickriver checks
MJR719 checks
** Dealing River ** [ Qh ]
NeilChanning checks
wowsickriver…
Gavin’s Analysis:
Preflop: The preflop play seems OK to me. Suited connectors aren’t an unreasonable starting hand choice, although it’s an aggressive play to raise with them from early position. We can pretty much play our hand as it is if we hit a nice flop, or bluff with credibility dependent on the texture of the board. Getting four callers behind, however, suggests there isn’t much respect being shown at the table.
Flop: With middle pair and a flush draw we have hit half our hand and can continuation bet to thin the field and carry on our story. The bet of $6.71 seems like a good size to me as it’s sure to achieve what we want, which is getting more money into the pot with what is a pretty strong hand. Two fishes caught onto the hook.
Turn: Interesting turn which improves our hand to two pair. We can bet this hand and now potentially gain value from an ace who will likely call our bet. If we check, we are saying we don’t have an ace, or any hand of note, as we are not protecting against the flush draw. I figure we are checking behind because we are hoping for action from one of our opponents, which will then enable us to come back over the top.
River: Although a fifth heart has hit, I think it’s unlikely to have made anyone the flush due to the line and turn action. For this reason, I think we can comfortably value bet here and hope that someone does indeed have an ace and make the call.
The Reveal:
wowsickriver bets [$15.50 USD]
MJR719 folds
NeilChanning folds
wowsickriver wins $43.84 USD from main pot
Part Two: Gavin’s Hand:
History: The game is $0.25/0.50 again, but this time we don’t know our opponents and have little information on them. Gavin is seated in the small blind.
The Hand:
Seat 1: clint30 ($25.22 in chips)
Seat 2: 10MinMisconduct ($127.67 in chips) DEALER
Seat 3: TFMonty007 ($52.17 in chips)
Seat 4: wangql88 ($52.81 in chips)
Seat 5: ripcurl123 ($50.57 in chips)
Seat 6: KonicaMinolta44 ($53.14 in chips)
Seat 7: kawa543210 ($44.53 in chips)
Seat 8: jyly ($9.32 in chips)
Seat 9: ($0.00 in chips)
Seat 10: djp94 ($10.87 in chips)
TFMonty007: Post SB $0.25
wangql88: Post BB $0.50
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to TFMonty007 [ 9h-Ah ]
ripcurl123: Raise (NF) $1.50
kawa543210: Fold
jyly: Call $1.50
djp94: Fold
clint30: Call $1.50
10MinMisconduct: Fold
TFMonty007: Call $1.25
wangql88: Call $1.00
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8d-10h-Jh ]
TFMonty007: Check
wangql88: Check
ripcurl123: Bet $6.50
jyly: Allin $7.82
clint30: Fold
TFMonty007: Call $7.82
wangql88: Fold
ripcurl123: Call $1.32
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ac ]
TFMonty007: Check
ripcurl123: Bet $14.50
TFMonty007…
Richard’s Analysis:
Preflop: This seems like a pretty standard call, as I do not like either of the other two options. You have ace-nine of hearts which, given that you are playing full-ring, doesn’t stand up too well preflop against the range of hands someone would raise with under the gun, so a raise here by our Hero out of position wouldn’t be great. Also, with the two callers and the added money in the pot with blinds leaving yourself better than four to one pot odds, having a hand like this in this spot means it would be unreasonable to fold, so electing to call is the right play.
Flop: Well, what a great flop! It’s a flop where everyone can catch a piece, and from our point of view it is about as good as we could wish for, stopping short of flopping the nuts. I would agree with the check in this spot given that our under-the-gun raiser will be looking to bet his big hands here due to their strength on the flop and susceptibility to falling behind on later streets, especially against four other opponents. You would expect someone who raised under the gun to like their hand on this flop but still feel the need to defend it, and so a check in first position allows more money to go into the pot.
I would, however, elect to raise when the action returns to me, given that against all his likely holdings we have massive equity on this particular flop. Under the gun may have A-Q for an open-ended straight draw, or A-K for a gutshot, but is unlikely to bet into four other people, especially without the ace of hearts which we know he doesn’t have.
Against his big pairs like K-K and Q-Q we have 6 non-heart straight outs, 9 flush outs and 3 aces to possibly hit, so we have 18 outs to hit the best hand. Against 9-9 we have 12 outs for the win and 6 for a chop, whilst against aces we have 15 winning outs. Even against sets we have 14 winning outs. These hands will not fold at this point but may do if a fourth straight card/ third heart comes on the board, and so in that case then we are losing money when we hit our hand.
Turn: Continuing as played, the ace on the turn improves our actual hand but only puts us ahead of hands that will no longer put a lot of money into the pot. We now have to make the decision to check or bet. If we lead out with a bet, we pot commit ourselves and open ourselves to getting raised by monster hands while simultaneously folding out hands we are now beating, so there is no sense in betting out.
If we check, our opponent will only put money into the pot if he is beating us, given that there is a third player all in who will look him up at showdown anyway. So the pairs which do not make sets will tend to check behind here, whereas the made hands such as sets, two pairs and A-K/A-Q type hands will bet and force us to put money into the pot knowing we probably only have between a 15 to 25 percent chance of winning the pot, with no guarantee of getting money in on the river if we hit our hand.
Plus, if we miss our straight or flush on the river, is A-9 a good enough hand, given the way the hand has played out, to bet the river or even call a bet? There’s not a lot he can have that he will bet with that we beat.
I don’t think a bet here from the under-the-gun raiser is a bluff in this spot as it’s very unlikely he bets K-K or Q-Q when he could showdown cheaply now, so in my opinion, given the way the hand has played, it’s close between a call and a fold, and is largely dependent on how likely your opponent is to calling a bet on a four-straight or three-flush board.
The Reveal:
TFMonty007: Raise (NF) $42.85
ripcurl123: Allin $26.75
** Dealing River ** [ Js ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $112.06 Rake $3.00
TFMonty007: Shows [ 9h-Ah ]
ripcurl123: Shows [ 8s-8h ]
jyly: Shows [ As-Qd ]
TFMonty007: wins $1.60
ripcurl123: wins $110.46
River: Had you got to the river, it’s a check-fold - you’re not beating anything that the original raiser would be betting in this spot, and he is unlikely to fold the hands he is most likely to be holding given his turn bet, namely full houses.
Summary: Getting your stack in on that flop, and given the number of outs you will have, can never be wrong, especially in cash games. I feel that by the turn the hands we were beating given the action was quite tiny, while our draws could potentially kill all the action and some of our straight draws to queens may have, in fact, had us drawing to the worst hand and paying off a lot of kings on the river.
I would have elected for a check-raise on the flop and been happy to see someone get all their money in. As it turns out, A-9 of hearts has around 40 percent equity versus 8-8, over 50 percent versus A-A to 8-8, and 56 percent versus A-A to 8-8, A-K to A-J, K-Q.
If you would like to comment on either of the above hands or ask the Graders a question, then please leave your feedback in the comments box below.
Also see previous 'Hand Exchanges':
Blatchly on Holden - Part One
Holden on Blatchy - Part Two
Hawes on Bland - Part One
Bland on Hawes - Part Two
Yuen on Lundy - Part One
Lundy on Yuen - Part Two
Shaw on Roberts - Part One
Roberts on Shaw - Part Two