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I Win, 4dBird Wins
Monday, January 21, 2008

I placed 2nd in the Hoy last night, making it my second Hoy cash of the year. After my first one, I secretly resolved to try my hardest to make it to the top the leader board, at least for a little while. I'm a little bit closer, having moved to the #2 spot, with Surflexus taking top honors. Congrats to Surf, by the way, for besting me last night. He played exceptionally well, but that's nothing new for ole Surfy.

But lets be honest. You aren't here for my self-praise or even my Surflexus-praise. You are here to see if you won my "$11 for Your Dirty Thoughts" contest. Let's recap the answers, before I give the winner.

Here's the setup. A coworker had a bachelor party at the Penthouse Club, a strip club in NYC. First, the party had dinner at the Club's steakhouse. The entire time this conversation was happening, I was thinking of wiseass comments about a steakhouse in a strip club, so I invited you to join me. The entries are:

And the winner is:
I gave 4dbirds the win for the clever play on words. Congrats, 4dbirds. Now leave me a comment or an email (you can use the tab up top) with your FT screenname and that $11 is on its way.

Now that I've lost those ten readers, the rest of us can move on. I played a hand last night that left me wondering if I left money on the table. My personal thought is that my river call (instead of raise) was the correct play, but I'd like to hear your two pesos.

Here's the setup. We are playing the 6-handed Hoy. There are 5 players at our table. I'm sitting pretty with over 7200 at the 100/200 level. In the BB, I'm dealt 34o. LifesAGrind, in the SB with almost 8k, calls. I check.

The flop is 7s 4d 9d. I have hit bottom pair, shitty kicker. LAG bets 400 and I call. Do your best not to be too distracted from this call. Whether it makes sense or not is not the intended goal of this exercise. What's important is what comes next.

The turn is a 4c, giving me three of a kind. LAG bets the pot, 1200. Rather than raise, I call quickly. My goal is to keep him betting. I've said this many times before, but I sincerely believe that there are opportunities for psychological warfare in online poker, and one of those is based on the fact that people often continue doing what they did last. It's the law of inertia. So if I call quick, I can probably get another quick bet. For all intents and purposes, I think I am ahead. Admittedly, though, my passive play has left me with minimal information.

The river is a 6s. The card may make straights, but it doesn't make any obvious straights. It also doesn't bring a flush. So, once again, I think I am ahead, but I don't know 100%. LAG bets pot again, 3600, and I opt to flat call. He shows 87o, and I take down the pot.

So, should I have raised on the end? I don't think so, but others seemed to disagree. After the 3600 raise, LAG only had 2500 behind. That meant I had around 1700. If I push, I am putting my tournament life on the line, whereas, if I just call, I may still win the nicely sized pot AND I'm protecting myself from busting. I personally feel confident that I can make a comeback from 1700 chips, so why take a chacne at this point. If I check and call, I win a pot of 10,800. Will an extra 1700 really make a difference?

So, do your best to ignore some of the earlier play in the hand, other than as reference for that river situation. Do you push there?

Until next time, make mine poker!

posted by Jordan @ 11:37 PM,

8 Comments:

At 9:50 AM, Blogger 4dbirds said...

Congrats on your Math finish. I went out somewhere middle of the pack, as usual. I'm thrilled to have won the dirty tagline contest!! Yes, even a middle-aged mother of four can get raunchy. LOL. Thanks much High! My screenname is katiemother on FT.

 
At 9:51 AM, Blogger MattyEbs said...

I like the smooth call...chips lost are more valuable than chips gained and ur only going to get called by a monster (or supposed monster) in that spot if you push. A push represents a straight and at the vey least a 4...u lose to any other 4 and any straight will he even call a push with an overpair...top pair...its a limped pot, his hands can have a 4 in them...The call is the right play

 
At 11:40 AM, Blogger KajaPoker said...

not only is it a call only situation, but it's a scary call at best. possible straight, possible better trips and even a possiblity of a boat out there, why risk all your chips?

I think LAG's river bet is very bad here. All he has is 2nd pair crap kicker and he fired two bullets already. He will only get called by a hand that beats him and that's what happened.

I think your call is good.

 
At 12:00 PM, Blogger Jordan said...

I tried to remember what I was thinking during the hand. Initially, all I recalled was that my calls were very fast on the flop and turn. Since then, I've rethought it some more and I remember thaton the flop, I didn't believe him and wanted to see how he would act on the turn. Once I hit the turn, I called quickly because he had established a very clear pot-raise pattern (i.e., flop-->bet pot, turn-->bet pot). I hoped to keep him in that mindset for the river and it worked. River -->bet pot. Only then did I really become worried about a better 4. I didn't worry about the straight unless he had a double belly buster. That's ultimately why I called. I was worried about a better 4 and I didn't need to lose my tourney life over it.

 
At 1:16 PM, Blogger Jestocost said...

I like the call. Those low three of a kind hands when you hit a paired board can be chip suckers. They're frequently good, but much weaker than sets, obv, and can cost you a ton of money if you play them too aggressively. And if there's a way to lose too much by playing any hand too aggressively, I know a lot about it. I just don't learn anything as a result.

Congrats.

 
At 1:26 PM, Blogger David Westbay said...

mattyebs and kajapoker's comments, when you put them together, say what I was going to say: you don't want to raise (or bet) when the only hand that calls is one that beats you. I think your call was correct, because there was a good chance you were still ahead, but why risk the rest of your chips if there are possible better hands out there, which there were? You played it well, IMO.

 
At 1:27 PM, Blogger Pokerwolf said...

I can't see doing anything else but calling in that situation. The bet is too much of a "standard response" for me to be worried that I'm beat.

 
At 12:45 PM, Blogger MrGoss said...

I agree with your call. The flat call protects your hand from further action on his part and let's you look him up for the semi-bluff. I had him on a busted flush draw or straight draw as you surmised. I think his pot bet on fourth street was because he thought the 4 was a scare card instead of a card that improved your hand.

MG

 

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