Have you ever had those days where nothing is going right? In yesterdays live game
session at the Aria, I was off my game and making poor decisions, until the
last one, which was to quit. When
your game is off, it’s best to swallow the pride and call it a day.
Here is an example of a mistake
I made in this session.
PRINCIPLE:
Don’t Call Raises OP (Out of
Position) with a hand that can easily make “Second Best.”
The worst hand in poker is
not 7-2, for it rarely losses much money.
No, the worst hand in poker is the one that losses the most money
without winning the pot. Also
known as trap or mediocre hands they include such holdings as; KQ, KJ, QJ, AQ, AJ, etc.
These type hands do hold
value in certain situations, but in the situation I describe above (OP in
raised pot not closing off the action) these type hands offer nothing but
trouble.
This was the action in the
hand I played in a 5-10 NL Cash Game at the Aria in LV: MP = Middle Position. LP = Late Position.
MP (1200) - good player raises to 40 – LP - Solid
Player (1000) calls – BT (Button) (3500) –Fish, raises to 200. Hero (me J) is in the BB (3000) – Calls with KQ and both of the
other players call and we take the flop 4 handed with the pot at 800.
Flop: Q-6-4 two spades.
Hero C-R, Late Position
better who bets 200 to 800, BT (Fish) folds and the other player flats
800! The LP calls all-in.
Turn: 7 of diamonds.
I move in and MP folds an
ace-high flush draw.
River: 7 of clubs.
MP turns over AQ and wins the
pot.
Analysis:
So there was obviously
multiple mistakes in this hand.
Along with violating the principle I listed at the top, my betting
decisions were poorly timed. If I
was going to take an aggressive line, I should have taken it early against the
Fish, since that it is him that drew me into the pot in the first place. Taking an overly aggressive line with
just top pair in a multi-way raised pot is not a profitable play in the long
run. I contributed to making this
pot multi-way by just flatting pre-flop.
I could have made it 600 to go pre-flop to isolate the Fish, take
control of the pot, and set myself up to win it. Instead I left myself in middle ground, as they say in
tennis, and hit it into the net. A
costly mistake that can simply be avoided by applying the principle: “Don’t call raises OP with second-best
hands.”
Poker can sometimes offer expensive
lessons.
KJ
