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Sorry I haven’t posted or contributed in a while but I haven’t played since September.
Playing 2/3 last night at a casino I’ve never played at before. This is the first hand I played that night and noticed it was a limp happy game… very soft. I open 89hh in middle position for $15 and get a call from HJ, button and BB.
Flop: Kh10s2h. BBx I Cbet $20 and only HJ calls. Plan is to check turn if I don’t improve.
Turn: 7c. I pick up a straight draw and decide to do a semi-bluff bet of $55 and I get a fairly quick call. I can tell my opponent had no intention of folding or raising here.
River: 4h. I’m thinking I should bet but I can’t talk myself into pulling the trigger. I chicken out and my opponent checks back his top pair. I win… Am I missing equity here in the long run? How often do you think I’m good here?
I have another hand that I will share in another post. Thanks guys!
Oh Patrick… some much value unrealized.
(1) Don’t play scared. You were going for value to make the flush and when you did, you got scared. Keep in mind that the flop certainly hits the HJ’s hand. He’s calling in position and given the other folds, its more likely that he made top pair.
(2) Not a terrible flop as it hits many ranges, and your hand is kind of hiding in there from what someone would put you on. I don’t mind the c-bet for one reason… as we are playing for the flush, the c-bet will certainly get calls (given the range of the other position players). We are building our pot to realize our equity. I’m also ok with a check as it likely hit someone else, and we can check call
(3) When we pick up the straight and flush, I’m ok with either play. Again, we can check call as the player will likely bet with top pair. I like this choice better as we are behind at this point. So not too bad to limit our action. But I think its perfectly ok to build that pot so we can bet nicely on the river given how much equity we have. And finally… I’m not opposed to a check raise. Again, it builds the pot if we get called, and if we miss, it also reps us having a AK. If he didn’t re-raise, likely doesn’t have AK here.
(4) Now we made our flush. There’s only one thing to do and that’s grab the value. If we think he has top pair, or maybe even two pair… what value will he call. I think we should bet about 60-75% of the pot to get our call. And if he shoves on you… well then we can go back and reconsider the hand and a possible fold. But I just don’t see how there’s a folding situation here.— just my thoughts, I could be wrong
Thank you this is great feedback… I usually don’t like to lead against 3 opponents on flop but 2 of the players were calling every pre-flop raise and then folding flop so I figured their money was dead.
On turn I think I like the x-call more than x-raise as I’m not made yet. Or I need to make my bet bigger… maybe 3/4 pot instead of half. It gives me fold equity and disguises my hand when I hit.
On the river I know I need to bet… I don’t see how top pair gets away from a bet of $120. I’m terrible at getting value in these spots… it’s a massive leak in my game.
One of the weakest parts of my game over the last few years as been getting max value. I felt like every time I bet big on the river, I would get a fold, and when I valued bet, I got snapped. This is a huge part of the game as getting those payoffs are the difference between profitable sessions and unprofitable ones. Never considered how much skill goes into finding the right value. Once I’ve adjusted… well its made a big difference.
The key is to focus on what you think your opponent is playing, and then what does it look like you are representing. From there you can determine how many streets of value you think you can get. For instance, your opponent having top pair top kicker is more likely to get 3 streets of value, than someone on a flush draw. Maybe only two streets if they missed. This helps you determine when to check or check it back vs when you need to keep betting.
Another great example of this is taking a chance when you think someone is repping a big pocket pair. You call with a small pair looking for the set. When you make it… you want to target max value as it will be very hard for this person to fold if you get a garbage flop.
I have to say one of the biggest tools that have helped this is reading “The Course” by Ed Miller. I actually picked it up when I read an interview from Brad Owen where he noted that as a must read. Incredibly helpful in this area… especially at the smaller stakes
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