February 9, 2008

Thanks for Not Stacking Me, Bro! (Part 1)

In the spirit of blog continuity, we will be running several series. This will be the first installment of 'Thanks for Not Stacking Me, Bro!', in which we will show our gratitude towards villains for slow-playing their monsters and extracting minimum value.

Here's a hand I played against a 17/5/0.75 villain. It's kind of a counterpoint to the 98s hand I posted about earlier where I missed a bet on the river.

*** STACKS ***
BRUECHIPS ($101.35)
UTG ($98.50)
BRUECHIPS posts the big blind of $1
 
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BRUECHIPS [7c 6d]
UTG calls $1
MP1 calls $1
MP2 calls $1
SB calls $0.50
BRUECHIPS checks

*** FLOP *** [6s 6h Jc] - (Obviously, looks like a great flop. No reason to get fancy here, just lead right out and start to build a pot.)

BRUECHIPS bets $4
UTG calls $4 - (I'm pretty happy about this call. His UTG limping range definitely includes all the pairs 77-TT, as well as a bunch of jacks, probably AJ-JTs and AJ-KJ or QJo. 56s rounds out the range of his hands that I beat. The hands I'm worried about are A6s - players at NL100 LOVE to see flops with suited aces, no matter their position - and JJ. His UTG PFR% is less than 1, so he's definitely limping JJ. With an AF under 1, he's probably flat calling ALL of these hands.)
MP1 folds
MP2 folds
SB folds

*** TURN *** [6s 6h Jc] [9s]  - (Somewhat of a blank, only hand that this card improves is 99. No reason not to lead out again.)
BRUECHIPS bets $8
UTG calls $8  - (Now I'm beginning to get somewhat wary. I'm kind of no longer worried about A6s, since I think he would raise the turn with that hand, with the board starting to look more suited and coordinated. I think he would fold 77-88 and maybe TT at this point. I could see him continuing with a J, and flat calling with 99 for a turned full house.)

*** RIVER *** [6s 6h Jc 9s] [8h] - (Now I'm behind 88 as well, if he did call the turn with it. I'm not crazy about my check here, for the same reasons my check in the 89s hand was really bad. I should try to get value out of a jack. Against this player, I could bet and easily fold to a raise. I think when I play it this way, he checks behind all the hands I beat and only bets the hands I don't, which is exactly what happened here.)
BRUECHIPS checks 
UTG bets $12 - (He bets half-pot. This is a crying call, but I can't fold trips for that amount. Hopefully he has 65s and we can chop.)
BRUECHIPS calls $12

*** SHOW DOWN ***
UTG shows [Jd Js] a full house, Jacks full of Sixes
BRUECHIPS mucks
UTG wins the pot ($50.35) with a full house, Jacks full of Sixes

Aaaand....thanks for not stacking me bro! I guess I can see flat calling the flop with three players yet to act. They could raise and build a big multi-way pot for you. On the other hand, a lot of turn cards kill your action. Any overcard is going to scare someone with a pair of jacks, or a middle pp. So I would favor a raise here to try and build a pot big enough to stack someone with trip sixes by the river, but a flat call on the flop is defensible, particularly at an aggressive table. But you HAVE to raise the turn to build a pot big enough so that you can get all-in or close to it with a river bet. As played, he flopped top boat vs. trips and won only 25 bbs. Terrible.  

BRUECHIPS


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