Continued from Part One…
Participants:
(1) Jon Lundy – Only in his third year as a pro, Jon Lundy has already built up a strong reputation, winning an EPT side event for £7,430, finalling two ECOOP events and finishing fifth in the FTOPS $300 rebuy for $60,000.
(2) Sida Yuen – Sida Yuen is a professional online cash player who has shown profits in stakes ranging from $0.25/0.50 to $5/10. He recently returned from WSOP as one of the Vegas 8.
Part Two – Sida’s Hand:
History: Jon and Sida are playing six-handed $0.25/0.50 No Limit Hold’em cash as part of the Black Belt Poker Grading. Jon has around his starting stack with $103.80, but Sida has increased his stack to $175.00. Jon is on the big blind; Sida is first to act. Both players have an aggressive history with one another, and are often tangling in tricky hands.
The Hand:
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to grindondamind [ Ah Kh ]
grindondamind raises [$4.00 USD]
Buenos18 folds
narkomanbg folds
sova1971 folds
bu2ke folds
jonathanlundy calls [$3.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Th, 8d, As ]
jonathanlundy checks
grindondamind bets [$6.00 USD]
jonathanlundy calls [$6.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5s ]
jonathanlundy checks
grindondamind bets [$16.00 USD]
jonathanlundy calls [$16.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 2s ]
jonathanlundy checks
grindondamind bets [$66.00 USD]
jonathanlundy raises [$77.80 USD]
grindondamind calls [$11.80 USD]
Sida’s Analysis:
Preflop: I have A-K suited under-the-gun so this is a very standard open preflop. I open 100 percent of my under-the-gun range. I will never limp here, you want to keep initiative and thin the field. Limp-reraising in six-max games is also too transparent, and I run the risk of people limping behind.
Flop: I have quite an aggressive history with Jon, and since day one we’ve always enjoyed outplaying each other. Jon’s flat call from the big blind signals that he doesn’t have too strong of a hand, as he will almost certainly three-bet his strong hands given our dynamic. I would say his range is A-T/K-Q/K-J/Q-J type hands mixed in with some low pocket pairs and suited connectors.
I bink off pretty much a gin flop, especially versus Jon. But it’s not a flop to slow-play due to the potential draws. Once he check-calls, I’m putting him on a range of straight draws, some 8-x, T-x and A-x. There’s also a small chance he’s slow-playing a set or two pair.
Turn: The turn is virtually a brick, barring some backdoor draws. I will continue betting as I’m still 99 percent sure I have the best hand and I know Jon will be very tempted to call me light here. I want to build the pot and charge his draws. Once he check-calls again I am sure I am still ahead.
River: For me, the river is essentially another brick. When he check-calls two streets, I feel that he’s either got a stubborn A-x that doesn’t want to fold or a busted straight draw a small amount of the time. I feel that if he didn’t believe me on the flop he wouldn’t on the river, so I decided to overbet the pot to represent a bluff, and hope to get called light by A-x. However, he ships into me for another $11 more, and at this point I think he’s just not bluffing. But getting a price of 20:1, I had to call, plus I’d never hear the end of it if he somehow decided to pull some sick bluff with no fold equity and made me fold.
The Reveal:
jonathanlundy wins $205.10 USD from main pot
jonathanlundy shows [Ks, 4s ]
Jon’s Analysis:
Preflop: OK, this hand looks super fishy by me and I suppose it is. My normal range for defending in the big blind differs per opponent, but I guess most suited connectors, picture picture, pocket pairs and A-T plus. I defended here just because it’s Sida and he’s got a very wide opening range.
Flop: I floated Sida as his range is super wide and I had some backdoor draws. I had planned to check-raise the turn or lead out. However, I hit my back door nut draw, so I figured if he barrels again then he has a hand against me, so I can call and if I hit my draw, I’m going to get the lot. Against other players I’d probably fold this flop but that also depends on their stats.
Turn: I was hoping for the board to pair or for a brick to fall, at which point I would definitely have check-raised or led out for two thirds of the pot or two and a half times his bet. I think if a picture card had come and I’d led out or check-raised, Sida would see this as a bluff. If a jack, queen, nine came on the turn I was going to give up. I’d have done so as I think it improves Sida’s hand a bunch of the time (gives him two pairs, straight draws). I decided not to raise the turn as I had come to the conclusion he had a hand and wouldn’t fold.
River: I decided to check the river to Sida as once he barrels the turn I’m pretty sure he has an ace at least. I was actually thinking two pair or A-K/A-Q. When he bet the river I knew he had a monster. I figured A-K at least. Although I know Sida probably makes the same bet with A-Q and A-J because he likes to value bet me thin.
Sida’s Conclusion:
I felt I played the hand fairly standard and well up to the river. I guess the river overbet was quite thin, but I was also expecting to be called very light by Jon (would be hard for him to fold any A-x with our dynamic). I obviously did not expect him to show up with a backdoor flush, he pretty much owned me with an out of position float. However, to his credit, if I had air on the flop, I would most certainly give up after the continuation bet and he would take it down on the river a large percentage of the time when we both miss.
In my opinion, Jon should be folding these hands out of position against a standard raise. My under-the-gun opening range is considerably tighter than my late position raises, so calling is not a good option as he does not have the initiative and will be out of position with a dominated hand most of the time. I feel that three-betting is better than calling, however If I was in Jon’s shoes I would be very tempted myself to outplay him.
Generally, it’s a bad idea to float out of position versus an aggressive player. But given our dynamic, he knows that I will not try to barrel him off any piece of that flop, so I actually don’t mind the float. I would like it more if the board was slightly drier, like A-9-3 rainbow, as I will continuation bet and give up a lot of my missed hands. I agree with Jon in the sense that when I bet this brick turn, I will very likely have a hand that I’m willing to go broke with. So, check-raising is not a good idea for Jon as he picked up a fairly decent draw, and I could easily shove over his check-raise and deny him odds. Leading is an option, but it gets tricky if I decide to bluff-raise or raise him for value. I also agree that he should be giving up on the turn cards he mentions. However, I don’t think it’s a good spot for a check-raise bluff if the turn is a brick and I’m still firing, mainly because he should know that I wouldn’t try to barrel him off any piece of that board given our dynamic, so if I bet this turn I will very likely have a hand that I’m willing to go with.
Once he hits the flush, I think his check-raise is the preferred option. He knows that I’m aggressive and will bet thinly for value, so he should expect me to bet and commit myself on the river a lot. It definitely worked here - he made me overbet and overcommit myself with just top pair!
If you would like to ask either player about this hand, then please feel free to post your questions on their profile page.