Was i trapped or was my call correct?

[Dan Bevan]

On the button with 325 stack. Blinds are 1/2. There are two flat calls in MP and I look down at Qh Jh. I raise to 14. SB folds and BB raises to 30. Both MP callers now fold and I call. Heads up to a flop of Th 8h 3s. BB checks, I bet 40 and BB insta-shoves for 240. I tank call. BB shows KK. Turn is 2d and river is Kc. Should I have checked back the flop for pot control? Given that I didn’t, should I have folded to the check raise all-in?

[Look]

HI,

THANKS FOR posting this hand.

I like the button raise with QJhh and i like the flat after the BB 3bet. Id quickly ask myself what type of player is in the BB and what his range of hands are to literally min click us back. If my read is player is tight and won’t get out of line I’d proceed cautiously obviously.

The flop comes as close to gin as it gets Th 8h 3s pot is $66 at this point. I believe your sizing is too big because if he has Ax hands or big pairs a 1/3 bet will accomplish the same thing. By betting $40 which is 2/3 you are putting yourself in a tough spot when you get raised because you can’t ever fold that flop with so much equity.

You bet $40 into $66 making the pot $106 and he shoves for $240 making it a pot of $346 and you have to Call $200 and you are 47% to win the hand so you’d need a pot of $400 to merit the call. NOT terrible but def a high variance play and IMO because of your pot bet sizing you got trapped.

[Steve]

I too like the pre-flop action. To 3 bet and then check that board on the flop in a 1 – 2 game is quite suspicious. I generally default to lower variance plays, so check back seems best to me. Then, semi Bluff the turn if he checks again.
As played, I would fold to the shove because I do not like risking my stack on a draw. But that’s just me.

[guldmalm]

Hey Dan!
I think the preflop action is fine, a very playable hand on the button. If you perceive your opponents to be weak postflop you might even wanna size it a bit smaller. You could check back the flop since the bb:s range is so strong. In case you hit your draw you might be able to get your money in against an overpair or set of 10 and you also get to realise your equity for a cheap price. However I dont dislike the more aggressive line since it might fold out some overcards like AK or AQ. Once you get raised it’s a very close spot. You don’t get the right price to call against his valuerange and he is probably almost always gonna have an overpair or maybe set of 10. But it’s not that negative EV so why not gamble?

[Mitch]

Please double check my math.

66 pot + 40 your bet + 240 his jam = 346 pot

200 to call / (346 pot + 200 your call – this is important – you must add your call to the denominator here – I did not understand this for a long time but it is correct – see Janda) = .367

So we need 36.7% equity to make calling a +EV play.

We have 42.93%, according to PokerCruncher.

It was the correct call.

[Author]

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