Thursday, October 16, 2008

Hand follow up

All right, so when we last left, I was faced with a stiff bet holding a set of 5s, which was top set on the flop, on a 3,4,5 board. The small blind bet $5, the big blind bet $15, and I called the raise cold. The small blind called the raise as well. The big blind has a full stack of $100 NL, as I do, and the small blind has about $65.
On the turn, a 10 of clubs, the small blind checks, and the big blind bet $40, about the size of the pot.

So I pushed.
And lost.
The big blind flopped a straight with 7-6.

Hearing a little feedback on this made me feel a little better about my push. I was a little upset at myself because I kind of thought I was beat and yet pushed anyway. I could not pair the board because that would require sucking out and I lost.

This was an incredibly tight table, and the way he played the hand suggested that he did have the goods and I ignored that little voice inside. I'm not sure but I think I should have folded the turn. I was only 20 percent to win by then.

The feedback was helpful, though I disagree with one comment made by all three. They advocated raising. Folks, I am not going to raise in early position with a small pair in a cash game. I might do that in a tournament if the table was tight, but in a cash game, the only thing I can win is the tiny blind by raising.
I understand by showing strength, I could follow with a c-bet. And I also understand that raising might have driven some players out of the hand, which could have helped me avoid this mess in the first place, but I doubt a $3 raise would have gotten the big blind to fold anyway with 7-6 sooted. That's a perfect hand to defend your blind with against one raise.

The big blind's play fooled me. I thought, as some of you did, that there's no way he would play a straight that hard. A look at the preflop action might have helped me, as he did not raise, so that ruled out an overpair, in my mind, and really reduced his hands to two-pair or a set of 4s or 3s or 7-6.
Would it have fooled you?



P.S. Mucho thanks to rakebrain for last night's freeroll. I had a blast.

3 comments:

Short-Stacked Shamus said...

Gawd did I mangle a couple of hands in the Challenge -- with you being a beneficiary both times!

Good playing with you man!

Jordan said...

Um...I don't mean to be a stick in the mud, but you violated Jordan's #1 Poker Rule: When you are behind, fold.

If you really thought you were probably behind, you need to listen to that voice. That's not to say that you should self-flagulate over this hand, but you should learn from it, and the lesson is sometimes you have to make the tough fold.

Memphis MOJO said...

"...because that would require sucking out and I lost."

Not sucking out is a leak in your game that needs to be fixed.