Daily Hand Quiz

Its a question of how to get those chips in the middle. If he has 5 5 or J J – then thats tough and you are going to lose another 1000 chips. He is in relatively early position, he has called pre flop and then bet almost pot side into a fairly ragged flop, albeit with a pair down. He could make this play with an over pair. So its either a mediuim pair or he is trying to disguise a monster. Alternatively he could be making this bet with a two overcards, again its unlikely that he has a really strong hand like AK or AQ. AJ, KJ, QJ is possible. The more I think about it I like the call, re-raise by him is designed to see exactly where he is in the hand and if you re-raise then he can get off the hand and wait for a better spot. I would call, hope there is a blank or a good card for him and bet out small to commit him to the all in.

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Pretty tough decision here; good question.

After thinking it through, I think you have to conceed that if he’s got you beat here, that he’s going to double. If he’s got A3 or 55 or 53–the only reasonable range that beats you, I don’t think that you’re going to get away.

And, I also think that if he’s on a draw 4c2c or 6c4c or Ac4c or Ac2c, and it hits, he’s going to double.

But, in case you’re ahead of him here or if his draw misses, I think you want to get paid the max. And, while I originally voted to shove, I think that the better option is to call. If you shove, you’ll clearly give away that your hand is stronger than just pairing the 5 on the board and that really only leaves you holding trips. He may not like folding his pp of 77 or 88, but he will recognize that he is beat.

By just calling, you are telling him that you might just have the pair of 5′s.

So, how do you get paid on the river? If he’s got 77, you can’t really check to him and hope that he puts in a bet. If he’s on a draw and it misses, you can’t really bet to him.

Again, another tough decision. I guess I would check again which would follow the line for a pair of 5′s and pray he value bets his 77. By checking the river, you at least open the door for him to bluff on a missed draw.

One of the tougher questions I’ve seen here as I find it very difficult to get paid off by any hand that you beat and I find it very difficult to not go broke here when you’re drawing dead or to 1 out or to 3 outs.

Would be interested to see others’ thinking of the hand and to hear the actual results…

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It sounds to me like we’re getting greedy, we’ve already decided that the most likely outcome is that we’ll win a small pot or lose a big one, but we want to figure out how to win a big one instead.

I think if the chances are low that I can win a big pot, then let’s take the hand down now and play another one. Why give him the chance to pull the flush if he’s drawing?

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new to the site, but love it. I think that the min raise by opponent is the result of hero having loose and aggressive rep thus far. I agree with Paul in that the min raise leaves the opponent with enough chips to get away from the hand if we pop him back – so i just call. Hopefully the J hit him and by just calling, he might be wishful thinking he picked up the best hand on the turn. We haven’t been so aggressive this hand and its possible he thinks WE picked up the club draw with suited connectors in the hole. No matter what comes on the river, i check. If it’s a club, i check, he bets (most likely all-in) and i call. If its a blank, i check and if he checks, so be it. But, i think that he might try and value bet the river at which point i pop him all-in. In short, If i lose this hand, i lose this hand big . . .

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I am putting money in when I am confident I have the best hand. I can take this now.

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Hello Everybody, I have only been playing Texas Hold ‘Em for a few months and attend 2 poker leagues 3-4 times a week. I rarely play with the same people each time i go. There are always new ones at the table with me and it is a lot of fun.
I found each hand is played different, even if i get the same cards lol.
Sometimes i have followed what other have suggested to do and have lost all my chips just about everytime.
At this stage of the game i found my best pots are played with the cards i have in my hand, what’s been flopped and my instincts. Even then i lose a pot many times. Very seldom do i get a flopped full house, straight, or flush. I call that chasing when i have all the cards but one lol.
As far as “ALL IN” goes, it doesn’t work for me at all, neither do Aces or the “BIG SLICK”
Last week i had 3 Aces (thought i had the pot) until the river, when another player was chasing a flush and got it.
I am in the low to medium point range in my leagues, which i don’t think is bad for a newbie like myself. I still would rather have fun playing and if i get a great hand all for the better, if not…..i was in the pot too! lol
Have a great day my poker friends….don’t let those pocket aces get cracked….lol
hugs, valerie

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Hello again, I love 3 of a kind. I would raise the minimum hoping that he had 33 and jj. or a different two pair. Still one card to go. i would let him know i have a good enough hand to raise him and i didn’t mind being pot committed with my hand. I hope he FOLDS lol
valerie

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Valerie, welcome to the world of poker. You can find a ton of stuff out there to improve your game. This site may help, but you can also check out twoplustwo.com or pocketfives.com. Or, you could read a book or two. I’ve read Harrington and Sklansky…

As far as a specific hand analysis goes, you are always looking for one of two things… To maximize your profits or to minimize your losses. To reach these ends, you bet, raise, call, or fold your hands. If you re-raise or push all in with your hand here, you are really hoping for one of two outcomes–your opponent calls with a hand worse than yours or that he folds with a hand that’s better than yours.

In this particular hand, by going all in, I think you are going to maximize your losses and minimize your winnings. He or she will most likely not call you with a hand that you’re beating and will not fold any hand that beats you…

FYI, if someone here has JJ, they’ve got a full house and beat your trip 3s. If someone else has 33, you had better check the deck because that accounts for a total of 5 3′s…

Good luck!

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Ally, I think what Valerie’s doing is that thing newer players do where they care what the actual poker hand is. When she says hope he has 33 and JJ she means he has a jack, making his hand two pair–jacks and threes. And yeah, that’s what you want him to have. I think you push and hope he thinks you’re bluffing and trying to push him off this hand.

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It’s a small set…good, but certainly not the best. It’s time to end this hand. You’ve extracted a good amount of chips and don’t need to mess around with any more cards. Don’t let his pocket pair triple up, or his flush draw hit, or maybe even his straight draw line up (although unlikely unless he limped in early with something like A2 or A4) on the river. Go all in here. He probably folds, which he should do, and you make out quite nicely. Or maybe he calls with his draw or pair, certainly wouldn’t be the first time, and you’re in good shape going into the river. Or maybe he’s already landed a full house, 5′s or J’s over 3′s, 5′s of course being the more likely scenario. In which case you were screwed right from the start. If that happens or he hits his draw, you’re not dead, you’ve got him covered. But don’t sit on 3 of a kind for too long, it’s never quite as good as it looks. And there’s nothing more demoralizing than finding out you let an opponent make his hand because you slow played yours for too long…

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I think many of you (including our wise and humble host, with whom I usually agree) are ignoring the image that you’ve crafted here — aggressive! So you go all in, and he thinks you’re just being aggressive, and he calls, except you have a real hand, and you take all his chips.

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Hi..
First of all great site. Been a guest here many times now.

I agree with Matt Tag on this one. Theres no reason to also put yourself in a situation where you have to take a difficult dissition if a club hits and he bets or raises. Instead I’ll let him think about my hand when I push. If he folds I pick up the pot right here and improve my chipsstack about 45%. If he calls because of my aggressive image and think his overpair or two pair is good I improve even more. If he hides a monster Im gonna loose a big pot anyway.

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Hello…Chloesdad hit the nail on the head. That is exactly what i meant about other player having 2 pair. Want to hear something candid? I played cards that night and i ended up with a three and a pair of threes were flopped. I played it like i said in this senerio and ended up winning a really NICE pot! It was a rough night of poker for me……I couldn’t seem to a hand no matter what i did. lol Had fun though. Have fun! hugs, valerie

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Question about the rules: a min-reraise here would be only 200 chips, right? I think that would give him so good odds that he almost has to call, but it also helps build a pot. Because I’ve already made up my mind that I want to get my chips in eventually anyway, I think just a min-reraise for value makes him more pot-committed and builds a pot. At the river, I will then shove and hope to get called

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there are many things that you could factor into this hand, but the truth is that it is very possible that he is throwing those bets out as semi bluffs, he could very easily have 4-2, 4-6, or a single 5. He could also have 5-3 or 3-x which would both have you beat. these are all hands that he might call with against a loose player. so seeing as how this might be the case I don’t choose any of the 4 options. I personally would have raised $400-$500 more for 2 solid reasons:

1. $400-$500 is definitely a big enough bet to throw him off of his draw.

2. $400-$500 is a perfect tester bet to find out exactly where he is in the hand, meaning that as soon as he makes a move after the $400-$500 bet you’ll surely know what he’s up too.

for example:

if he folds, he had nothing

if he calls he’s either and idiot on a draw, a guy with a better 3 than yours, or possibly holding an over pair, but i think even he would fear calling with an over pair considering that you checked the big blind indicating that you could easily have a 3.

if he pushes all in he’s most definitely got you beat with 5-5, 5-3, or j-j.

let me know what you all think of my theory. i look forward to hearing your responses.

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