Friday, May 22, 2009

Don't be too greedy

Playing in the Poker Slut tournament last Sunday, this hand was big for me. (I can't find it in my HH, so the facts are approximate. I don't know the size of the blinds or the bets, but they don't matter too much for the point of this post.) The game was NLHE and the starting stacks were 3,000. The villain and I each had slightly more than our starting stacks. The villain, in the Big Blind, was a good player.

It folded to me and I completed from the SB. The villain (BB) had J-5 or something similar (He had 5, but I'm not sure of the other card). The flop was 2-3-6. I checked and the BB checked. I agree with this. He had a draw and if he bet, I might check-raise him off it. The turn was an ace. The board is now A-2-3-6 rainbow. I bet about half the pot and BB called. No problem.

The river was the gin card: the 4. The board read A-2-3-4-6 with no flush possible. I bet two-thirds of the pot and the BB raised. Do you see any problem with this?

I now moved all in -- oops! BB had put himself in a position where he was faced with a nasty decision. Finally, he called and I showed 5 7 for the stone cold nuts. This doubled me up and left BB crippled.

I think this is a case where BB raising was too greedy. I wouldn't call his big raise without a straight myself, and there's some risk (as in what actually happened). What do you think?

5 comments:

  1. I see the logic of the raise, I guess.

    I think it comes down to his opinion of what you have. His raise says "I have the straight, and I don't think that you do".

    Once you shove, though - he makes a bad decision - you're not supposed to call off a large bet in the hopes of a chop.

    However, there's only one hand that beats him. Unfortunately, you had it.

    One more Note: Bad players (and nonbelievers) might call this raise without a straight, with various 2 pair hands.

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  2. BB got way to greedy. With that board and your bet he had to assume you had the 5 and if you didn't well he is still taking a decent raise from you by just calling. Nice hand!!!

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  3. Whoa -- you're gonna be joining me in the WSOP Seniors Event? Excellent!!

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  4. BB was an idiot; this is akin to a freeroll situation in Omaha where you make the sucker straight when your opponent has the higher wrap and you are in for a world of hurt.

    -PL

    (word verification: iseduce! I am being told to get out to a club and get lucky, heh...)

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