Daily Hand Quiz

I’m rather sure we have the best hand. A very TAG player doesn’t raise UTG with T9, 66 or 77, and very unlikely with 88.
If he has two high spades (note that we have the A) his min re-raise makes very little sense. Given our image, he wouldn’t do that with air either (he might against another nit).
Most likely he has 99-KK, and is trying to trap us into thinking he whiffed. Or even AA, in which case we are still freerolling for a flush.

It’s tempting to play along and just call, but our best chance for value lies in shipping it right here. We already disguised our hand pre-flop. Our flop raise wasn’t very suspicious – apparently we’ve been helping ourselves to c-bets a lot – but a flat call here will be.
Our all-in is likely to get called by all overpairs to the board except perhaps JJ. Which is all the action we can expect in this hand unless we get beaten.

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It’s a scary board and it’s scary getting minraised, but I’m with T in that his most likely holdings are an overpair, since he is raising pre so rarely. So I’m not folding.

Looks like he wants to get it in with whatever he has too so I would raise here before a scare card like an A or 9 comes on the turn.

Also about us preflop – Why are we only flatting with AA given it seems likely the villian has a big hand pre, and also that it doesn’t seem likely he’ll get spewy post flop?

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Major Dude Reply:
February 15th, 2011 at 8:27 am

+1

A lot of the quizzes involve passive preflop play – I guess so that we’re faced with harder decisions later on. It does have the side benefit of reminding me about the Evils of Passive Preflop Play.

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Pirate21 Reply:
February 15th, 2011 at 8:47 am

“I guess so that we’re faced with harder decisions later on”

- No doubt. That’s the biggest thing I’ve this site has taught me… how much more difficult the hand becomes when you play poorly p/f.
I do think there are times when it makes sense to play passively preflop (to balance your range, pot control early in tourneys, avoiding akward OOP situations, etc…), but even at that it’s better to play aggressively the majority of the time.

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lol@tag not raising 66-88 preflop. We are four handed mate.

We have the best hand too often. He can have draws/overpairs. Ship it.

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T Reply:
February 15th, 2011 at 7:51 am

“since your opponent rarely raises preflop”

A pre-flop range that includes 66-88 occurs more than rarely.

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blue Reply:
February 15th, 2011 at 8:10 am

uh we are 4 handed. Even if someone has a ~15%pfr they are still raising every pair.

fwiw having a pfr of 15% 4 handed is what i consider “raising rarely”

even 6 handed i would expect a “tight” player to still raise mid pairs UTG

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Marty Reply:
February 15th, 2011 at 9:15 am

Have to agree with blue regarding the pf range… So from the villains perspective I consider myself TAG and I would nearly always raise with 66-88 4 handed at these stacks because:
1 – I will have position post flop most of the time
2 – The hand figures to be the best hand of the 4 at the moment
3 – If I limp it hands over initiative
4 – regularly limping medium hands and raise strong ones gives away information
5 – Playing post-flop will me much easier if we have the hand definition having our raise called gives us

Regarding this hand decision… his raise is a little weird given stack sizes (it’s almost asking for a shove)… and I don’t like weird sized raises because I always seem to do the wrong thing…. Here I would shove…. so I’m sure a call-fold is the better option.

Raise. I’m guessing since we smooth called pre-flop our opponent is not putting us on Aces. He’s playing like he has an over pair. Hope that he does and ship it. If our opponent has a set so be it.

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Well it definitely appears that he could have an over pair, in which case we’re looking good. I’d raise but I’m also not totally comfortable with it. And frankly, I don’t really understand the other posters that don’t think its possible for him to have a set here. We’re 4 handed! Seriously, just because he is labeled as tight doesn’t mean he wouldn’t raise under the gun with pocket 6′s, 7′s, or 8′s. For all of you posters that don’t think that is possible, what do you think he would do…just limp in preflop?…when its 4 handed?…no way.

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T Reply:
February 15th, 2011 at 11:09 am

No, he’d fold.
I’m not saying that’s the right play, but since the quiz goes out of its way to emphasize A’s tightness, it seems to make sense to tighten up the UTG range even more.
Given also the fact that we have picked off several bluffs, it stands to reason that the blinds have been playing pretty loose. Thinking (very) TAG, that means less fold equity, which has to made up for by playing less marginal hands.

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Unless we have some sort of sick read on V (which the site admin decided not to share):
- Folding is out of the question.
- Calling is doing V a favor.
- So… raise (AI)
While it’s possible V lucked into a set, it’s far more likely he has an over pair. Smells to me like KK or QQ. Spade draw is also a possibility with something like KQs. 2-pr and made straights seem very unlikely given V’s image and p/f play.
If we shove, 99+ are likely coming along and we fold out the spade draw a fair amount of the time.

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4-handed implies a wider than normal range even for TAG opponent. Given this, a set is certainly possible. However I read the min-raise as weak since that flop hit our range of draws. I think a set is raising larger to protect, hoping Hero has an overpair that they can’t let go.

Calling offers the possibility of having the V put more $ in on the turn. However, given the short-handed nature of the game, big spades are in their range and I don’t want to offer them a chance to draw-out. Let’s get the $ in ahead – RAI.

Despite slippery slope, folding AA 4-handed indicates you need to drop to the penny stakes.

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If Player A is as tight as the quiz implies, isn’t shipping it on the flop going to scare him since you would now be 4-betting it? I think I call here with the knowledge that you’ve got him pegged for that 99-KK hand and get ready to ship it on the turn.

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Pirate21 Reply:
February 15th, 2011 at 5:50 pm

It’s also giving him a chance to draw out on you at a minimum price.
If I assume I’m ahead right now (which I do), I want my opponent to cough up as much money as possible to see another card. If that means I lose a little value the times he folds, so be it – I make that back the times he calls for his whole stack and doesn’t suck out.
Also – do you really think 99, QQ or KK are folding here? I be those hands call at least 80% of the time. It would even take a really good read from TT/JJ to fold, but I bet we get calls from those at least 40% of the time.

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4pela forma como os viloes jogam acho que a meohlr jogada e apenas CALL, provavelmente no river o SB de check mas da forma como ele aposto no turn e muito provavel q ele tenha acertado 1 straight com 2 pontas no flop.. ou ate 2 pares com 7 -4 4-K K-7, se nois voltarmos 1 raise no turn fica mto na cara o nosso flush.. meohlr apenas da call ja q tamo jogando contra 2 loose, o CALL e a meohlr jogada aqui pra nos podermos fazer 1 value bet no river, ou nos tomamos call de 2pares ou straight do SB, ou torce pro UTG+1 ter acertado algum flush no river q com certeza ele ira pagar! Eu jogaria dessa forma, mas podemos fazer 1 value bet ja no turn pra tentar extrair o maximo dos 2 looses ja que nao iria mudar mto, se eles tem pedida eles iriam pagar no turn de qualquer jeito se fosse outro opononente 1 poco mais tight eu optaria pela primeira opcao que eu falei .AHHH lembrando q qlqr (K 7 4) no river pode foldar se o SB der shove!!![]

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