Continued from Part One...

Participants:

(1)   Mike Shaw – Mike is a family man and part-time poker player currently playing on Black Belt Poker as part of the 2010 Grading. Mike is predominantly a cash player, but also plays MTTs.
(2)   Joe Roberts – Joe is a 21-year old student with an unfortunate liking for Bristol City football club. Like Mike, Joe is a member of the Dublin Two-O and is also playing No Limit Hold’em cash games.

History: Mike is sitting in the small blind with a stack of $30. The original raiser ($100) is running at 8/6/25 over 154 hands, whilst KarenZZZ ($66) is regarded as somewhat of a calling station. In fact, my notes say that he can ‘call raises with K-To+’. His/her stats are 30/0/27 over 82 hands.

Part Two: Mike’s Hand

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to sceaga2 [Ad Qd ]  

sceaga2 posts the small blind of $0.50
r11na posts the big blind of $1

duceyfruit folds
MATEO6Y8 folds
LOVRSORRY folds
redevilriba folds
BoobiesPongLenis raises to $3
cardlover87 folds
KarenZZZ calls $3
sceaga2 calls $2.50
r11na folds

** Dealing Flop ** [ Th 4c Kd ]
sceaga2 checks
BoobiesPongLenis checks
KarenZZZ checks

** Dealing Turn ** [ Js ]
sceaga2 checks
BoobiesPongLenis bets $4
KarenZZZ calls $4
sceaga2 calls $4

** Dealing River ** [ Tc ]
sceaga2 checks
BoobiesPongLenis bets $11
KarenZZZ calls $11
sceaga2 raises to $23, and is all-in
BoobiesPongLenis raises to $93, and is all-in
KarenZZZ folds

Joe’s Analysis:

Preflop: When BoobiesPongLenis, playing 8/6, opens his hijack in this spot, I doubt he has any reason to be raising particularly light. I think overcalling is fine after KarenZZZ flat calls, as we have a decent hand and the potential to win money from one of the soft spots at the table. As a tight player in a multiway pot, Boobies is likely to play his hand fairly straightforwardly: it’s unlikely that someone playing 8/6 is going to be getting significantly out of line post-flop, especially if he’s noticed that the button is a calling station. So, preflop, my plan is to flat call and try and flop something decent and extract value from the fish. If we see significant aggression from Boobies then we’ll have to reevaluate our position.

I think if the fish on the button here doesn’t flat then a fold isn’t out of the question. An opening range of six percent according to PokerStove is 8-8+, A-Ts+, K-Qs, A-Ko. However, he has opened from his hijack, and while he obviously isn’t going to be doing this super light, it’s likely he will be opening slightly wider than his standard opening range, maybe something more like most pairs and a lot of Broadway hands. A-Qs doesn’t play terribly against this range, but against someone so nitty it’s going to be difficult to extract any value out of position if we improve.

Flop: Out of position against these opponents I agree that check-fold is the best line here. Leading is pretty terrible as our hand has not improved and we have a tight player who may have connected with this board, and a calling station who will call us wide, still to act behind.

Turn: Boobies’ small turn bet is quite odd after he has checked the flop. Because he’s so tight he can’t have that many bluffs in his range: a lot of the premium hands he’s opening preflop have connected in some way with this board. I think we can reasonably give him a range of something like T-T+, A-Q+, K-J+ and maybe 4-4. I don’t think it’s likely he’s bluffing as he is so tight preflop and has a low post-flop aggression frequency. Karen can be calling with a very wide range because she’s a fish.

Given this information, I like raising this turn. Boobies figures to have a strong range and will probably call or maybe even reshove. At this point, we can get Karen to come along with a lot of draws, which we won’t be able to get value from on the river. Raising to something like $12 is reasonable, as if Boobies flats, Karen will be getting a great price to click the call button which she is so fond of.

River: Obviously this isn’t exactly our dream card, as we no longer have the nuts. However, as we started the hand with only 30 big blinds, I think I play the river the same. Although Boobies does have full houses in his range, it’s also possible he might bet some of his one pair hands like A-A, A-K, K-Q for value here, given the passive lines taken by Karen and ourselves over the course of the hand. If we lead and get raised by Boobies, this gives Karen more of an excuse to fold, which isn’t ideally what we want. Although by check-shoving we’re pretty much representing at least a 10 here, I think the fact that our shove is only just over a minimum raise means we can still get looked up by worse here very often. Folding is out of the question.

Mike’s Analysis:

Preflop: The preflop raise by a tight player makes me a little nervous, but the call by the station gives me odds of 2.5:1 to call, so despite being out of position, I decide to make the call. I'm guessing the tight player’s range would likely be most pairs, big aces and perhaps K-Js+, K-Qo

Flop: I check with a plan to fold to any bet but am surprised by the tight player’s check as there is nothing to suggest the calling station will bet out behind unless they hit the flop. The calling station’s check behind probably means they missed.

Turn: I don't get much time to dwell on the flop play as I hit my miracle card on the turn for
the nut straight on a rainbow board and naturally fall out of my chair! There seems no reason for me to lead out as both other players have to be behind and didn't seem that interested on the flop, so I decide to check in the hope that the turn helps one of the others, or they decide to make some sort of move

Luckily, the ideal situation occurs as the tight player bets out and the calling station calls. It seems possible that the tight player has the same hand as me, or maybe something like K-J or A-J, so although I consider reraising, there are few river cards that would concern me.

If I call, the pot is $22 and I am left with $23 behind. Concerned that a raise would kill any action on the river if I want to check/raise, I decide to flat call.

River: Pairing the board is not an ideal card for me, and although K-K, J-J and T-T are all in the tight player’s range, there are still plenty of hands I am beating. I have played the turn for a check-raise all-in on the river so decide to carry out my plan. I get my wish for the bet from the tight player and call from the calling station

The Reveal:

BoobiesPongLenis shows [ Kh-Ks ]
BoobiesPongLenis has Full House, Kings full of Tens
BoobiesPongLenis wins $76.80

Mike’s Conclusion:

OK, so the villain did have K-K and obviously decided to slow play the flop, I actually think he should have bet the flop as the calling station would have called, although I would have folded. My free shot at the miracle card came in for me and although I was initially happy with my play on the turn, I agree with Joe that raising is likely the better play in order to get the money in ahead.

If you would like to comment on the above hand 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