Dealers choice at my weekly game - Omaha, HiLo, 4 5 6 card, Irish, dbl boards, courchevels, reveals, joker decks and more - anything but Holdem - makes a fun game.
This one is Anaconda - 7 cards no board. Bet - pass 3 cards to left - bet - pass 2 - bet - pass 1 bet - showdown
Can’t believe I had to split the pot 
looks like AKQJT royal beats his AKJQT royal to me
I would have no clue how to even start gauging relative hand strength in that game, but it seems passing high suited connected cards seems like a pretty bad play, no?
Kinda weird hand from last night:
Blinds 200/400+400a. I have 30k chips or so - villains have similar stacks.
2 bad players limp. I complete with Q2o in he SB. BB a tight straightforward 60-year-old reg checks. Posflop play has been so passive at my table I expect to take it down with air on the turn some % of the time when the flop action checks through.
Flop Qh8h2d. I check. Is there any merit to leading here? I planned to go for the CR over one of the bad players.
I check - BB (tight reg) leads for 1200 into 1600 chip pot. One very bad player who plays way too many pots, floats flop and turn with air, and overvalues hands - calls. I’ve played with BB some and have only seen him bet when he has it. In real time I just felt like raising folds out all hands that I beat and bloats the pot if he somehow has Q8 or 88. But those are the only two hands that worry me so maybe I should just raise here? I know I don’t want to see a heart but I’m not sure I’m ahead.
Anyway I just call. Turn is Jc. So T9 got there but not much else. I check again, I guess I’m committed to calling down now. BB leads for 3000 into the 5200 chip pot. Bad player calls. Just call it down?
if you’re afraid you are beat with two pair every single time you play Q2o don’t bother calling it preflop.
I’m not afraid I’m beat. I never considered folding. I’m just not sure raising is the best play. The tight reg probably folds any Q except Q8 to a reraise by me. I assume he’s noticed how I play as I have him. Plus with the bad player in the hand - he knows the odds of me making some kind of Postle-esque move go down even further.
As far as the bad player - he could have anything.
Can someone explain the rule here because literally no one seems to know at my table - including the dealer and floor.
Blinds 200/300, I make it 800 in MP.
Guy next to me 3bets to 2500.
Short stack goes all in for 3500.
If I call, can the 3bettor reraise me?
What is the threshold?
No. 3bettors raise was from 800 to 2500, so 1700 more. To reopen the action the next raise must be at least that amount, so to 4200 total.
In the Q2 hand just checkraise flop and try to stack the bad player. The reg is a bit of an irrelevancy in the hand, you’re rarely getting fat value from him but it’s so unlikely you’re beaten that you’re just getting stacked if he outflopped you. You lose to Q8 but you beat 82, so that’s a wash, and it’s more likely he has a draw than a set. He may raise 88 pre.
Chris has it. Some of the misunderstanding among staff come from rule where more than half the bet constitutes a full bet reopening the action in limit games, but it has to be a full raise in big bet games.
Interestingly that’s not what they ruled. They said 3bettor could reraise me because shortstack’s raise was more than half of 3bettors raise.
Binked $7k tonight in that tourney - the Gardens 30k guaranteed. Had to fill out the stupid IRS form which I guess means I have to file as a professional poker player or something. So much weird stuff I’m going to have to learn.
Amazingly I didn’t have one tough major decision. Just always had better hands and they held - or won my races. Skillz.
Here’s the only two hands of note I can think of. Both weird flopped straights.
Blinds 200/300+300a. 4 or 5 people limp. I check with 57o in the BB. I have 17k behind.
Flop 468 two clubs. I check, one player who has about 40k chips and recently sat down but hadn’t done anything out of line, bets maybe 2/3 pot. It folds to me. I reraise to 4k. He calls.
Turn 9d. I bet 5k. He calls.
River 8s. Obviously I wasn’t nuts about the board pair. But I sill have to shove here right? If he has a FH he’s putting me all in anyway. And I seriously doubt a busted flush draw is going to put me in for my last 8k. The only hands I beat that might call like weird 2 pairs might just check behind.
Second one. Way late in the tourney. Blinds 3k/6k+6ka I have 400k chips, guy to my right who hasn’t been aggressive at all has 700k chips. Everyone else has much less. We have two of the biggest stacks in the tourney.
Passive lady raises to 13k from UTG. Bad player in MP calls. Big stack calls 10k more from SB. I say wtf and call 7k more with 56o.
Flop 234 rainbow. Bigstack checks. I check. Passive lady checks. Maybe I should have bet?
Turn 2. Big stack bets 25k for 1/2 pot or so. Hmmm. I doubt he has a FH here. But I also don’t think he calls 10k more with many 2s in his range. I kinda wanted to see what passive lady did so I just called. Probably bad. I think I’m ahead of bigstack. But I also wonder what he calls a big reraise with that I’m ahead of. Passive lady folds.
River 8. He leads for 50k. Obviously I’m not folding. But is there merit in reraising? He’s either bluffing (so he won’t call) or he really likes his hand (and I may be screwed). He hadn’t been aggressive at all. I just didn’t like that paired board especially after the first hand debacle. What if I raise and he shoves? Can I get away? And honestly I never even considered he could have A5 - which is pretty bad.
That’s generally wrong and i doubt that is the actual rule, but I’m a prop and i just asked one of the best rules guys where i work and he said he worked somewhere in 2012 that used a half bet rule in no limit but later changed it. So it’s theoretically possible that is the house rule.
Yeah I didn’t think enough about what tight reg might have. On a river blank, he checked, bad player bet like 1/6th pot. I called. Tight reg folded A9hh face up for the flush draw and turned gutshot. I learned tight reg wasn’t as tight/straightforward as I thought.
I can’t figure out if he deliberately donks draws (which isn’t a bad strategy I guess) or just thinks it’s a good hand so he bets. I guess it doesn’t matter but it’s interesting to me if he’s actually applying strategy or just always mindlessly betting what he thinks is a good hand.
Re the other two hands, it’s probably best to shove against a player you think is passive and check against one you think has some aggression in them. An aggressive player will bet with any 8 and hopefully bluff something like 76 or a busted flush draw. Against a passive player the chances of a bluff are small and you risk them checking back something like 87. The chances of getting called by a worse hand other than an 8 are pretty small. I’m not all that worried about a full house in view of them flatting the flop raise and the turn on a super wet board.
You don’t really want to be calling 56o in the BB but it can’t be that bad. Checking or betting small are both OK on this flop. If you flopped a straight on something like 456 then I would definitely want to be betting, but chances are good here that everyone has absolutely nothing. If you can get someone to like turn a J with JT and call a couple bets, that’s a win, and you want to be thinking more in those terms than in terms of stacking someone, which is pretty much not happening unless they flopped a set or the wheel. The downside of checking is when someone does have a piece, like if they have A3 then you want to be betting, because they might not bet themselves and certainly can’t stand a checkraise if they do.
Call is definitely right OTT, you don’t want to be going to war with the big stack when it’s unlikely he has just a 2 and there are upsides to flatting - you let people in behind you who are probably drawing dead, you allow the big stack to continue to bet if he just has a 5 or something.
River you should probably raise - there are 12 combos of A5 and only 7 combos of flopped set. Edit: In view of it being raised pre (so that checking flop is standard) I guess he could also have 88 or a FH with a small suited connector. His sizing does suggest A5 more than a full, so I think it’s close. Getting reraised isn’t an issue, it clearly means you’re beaten, so you can just fold.
Nice bink, btw
Thanks.
I know I’m not good enough to fold 56 there is the problem. It turned out he had 56 as well. Not sure if he reraises but I bet he does. He said he put me on A5.
I might have folded to a shove. He’d show probably and I’d be apoplectic.
Oh yeah - on hand 1 he had 86 for the FH.
Two hands from tonight. One I super butchered.
Blinds 400/800+800a. I have 25k chips. Tight-ish passive reg limps from MP. I make it 2500 with KcKs. Button - novice lady who calls 50% of raises pre - calls. She says she plays cash and tourneys are new to her but her play is definitely still way to loose preflop.
Flop 678 two spades. Reg checks. I bet 8k. Novice lady minraises to 16k. Reg folds.
9T could definitely be in her range, as could sets and 2P obviously. I have 14.5k chips behind, she has me covered by maybe 20%. Is there any universe where I can find a fold here? Having the Ks helps. Assuming no, is there any merit to calling down instead of shoving?
And now the butchered hand. Blinds 600/1200+1200a. I have about 50k chips. Guy I’d never seen before with Elvis-ish shades limps from UTG+1. I make it 3500 with AQss. Novice lady calls in SB. Elvis shades calls.
Flop 4s5d7d. SB checks. UTG+1 thinks for a bit like he’s going to bet, then checks. I do this when I want a free card so it’s possible he’s screwing around. I decide not to c-bet because super-coordinated board and my spidey sense put him on a PP. I think in the future I’m just going to c-bet when checked to and closing the action almost 100% of the time and stop over-thinking things.
Turn Js giving me overs and NFD. SB checks. UTG+1 bets 8k into the 14k pot leaving himself about 20k behind. Call, fold, shove? If he’s got 66 or 88 he’s obviously not folding. A7s is possible - maybe that folds. I could also have the best hand. And of course he could still have sets. I just call because I feel like my fold equity is low unless he’s bluffing. I at least think I might call a river shove with A-high as well depending on the river and how he reacts to it. IE - if the river is a K and he just insta-barrels - that screams bluff to me. SB folds.
River 9h. He checks. Ok now I’m pretty sure he’s on a marginal made hand. Put him all in hoping the two overs are enough to scare him? I’d shown down nothing but the nuts at this table. It’s kinda hard for him to put me on a busted draw. But they do love to put you on AK when you raise pre.
I’ve made one big river bluff in all these tourneys I’ve played. It worked. But in general I just don’t think they’re worth it as no one ever folds and there are easier less risky ways to pick up chips. But then I think maybe I’m not doing it enough when I sense weakness.
AQ might’ve been good anyway given your line looks like a bluff. Villain could’ve easily had worse. That said you don’t know for sure so might as well fire. It’s easier for him to call lighter on the turn even though that makes less sense. (ie, your bluff range is thinner than value hands here on a turn raise but he can always hit the river with whatever)
hand 1 I usually just call and evaluate as I never know right away with novices whether this is just some rando pair just to see where they’re at or a big hand (even a draw we’re not that thrilled about getting it in now).
Is it just me or is some of the advice in the thread above absolutely abysmal?
How are people saying fold flop?
That’s the way they handle it at the casino I play at. If the person going all in raised half of the previous raise then it opens the action up again. I thought they did it like this at the WSOP but cant remember
