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Question on how to play a hand


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You're playing NL Holdem with $1/$2 blinds. You have about $250 in fron of you and get dealt 77 in late position. The guy on the button makes it $10 to go. One other calls and you call. flop comes down - 2 6 7. Check, you check, button bets $30. Other player folds. Do you call, raise, or move all in?

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At this point, I'd just raise. You have the nuts right now, but as we all know, they always change. He's probably holding AA or KK or at the least AK and he thinks he has you beat. He will probably reraise and then I'd just call. If A or K falls on the turn, watch out. No use going all in right after the flop and getting busted for all $250 on 4th or 5th street. Depending on how he's playing, he might be a player who would never lay down AA or KK, so if no scare card falls for you, you'd probably bust him anyways.Plus, if you go all in right away, there is a chance he will fold it if he's on AK and you won't get paid off on much on your trips.

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I think you need to raise the flop here, and not go for the slow play. If he is really on AA or KK, and you lead into him, he should reraise, allowing you to win more..... JMO. In the above sit, I think you need to move in with top set, and hope he doesnt hit the A or K on the river to make his set.

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Because it was the button that raised he may have simply raised with a marginal hand. Possibly playing suited connecting cards, like 5-6. Don't forget to keep that in mind should a straight-draw appear on the board. However, if he is a tight player that you know only raises with premium hands, then you can probably put him on a pocket pair, or two overs. In either case, right now you have him smoked. Raise. Double his bet, at least. I might even triple it to see how far I can push him. If he has pocket AA - TT then right now he is probably loving his hand and will call anything.Also watch out for flush draws. He might have looked down to see A-Q of hearts...*I had a similar situation. I was away from the table getting a drink when the cards were dealt. I called the BB in the dark. Flop comes 2-4-6 (rainbow). SB checks to me and I bet $10 in the dark after someone told me what the flop was. SB re-reaises to $20. I decide to sit down and look at my cards and I see 6-6. I know the SB wouldn't push it all-in here with just a couple of overs, even an over-pair. I also know he never plays suited connectors with any type of gap (ie. 5-3 which would give him the nut straight, or 6-4 for two pair) so that means he has a pocket pair 2s or 4s. I triple his bet and he pushes it all-in for another $50 on top of my raise. I have to call because I know I have him beat. Sure enough he flips over 4s.

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I actually like betting on the flop instead of checking. If you get raised, you can re-raise and get more money in the pot. If you check here and they all check and get a free card to a straight, you've made your hand worthless unless the board pairs. Also if you bet on the flop and a face card comes you can now check which would represent top pair on the flop and you are scared of the overcard, so someone in late position might try to steal here, at which point you slap on the re-raise.But since the question was what do you do in the instance you gave, I'd definitely raise here. I don't want someone drawing out for free. That said, you could make a case for just calling here and if no scare cards come make your move on the turn. Either way you are looking at seeing the turn unless your opponent was just trying to steal from late position. The player's betting tendencies also need to be factored in here, and since there wasn't much of that described it's really hard to say how to act here. But I'm going with raise here.

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First of all, why are you not raising in late position with this hand if it is folded around to you or only one limper??I also agree that you should have raised on the flop. A player raising on the button could be holding anything in my experience, unless you have a real clear read on him. Also, you didn't mention suits of the flop, so I'm assuming there is no solid flush draw there. I would definitely raise to about $75 or so in this situation enough to make him want to call or reraise me. If he comes over the top, I'd beat him into the put with an all-in. If he outdraws on the turn or the river, that's poker. You want to get your chips in with the best of it, which you definitely have in this situation.

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I agree with the previous posts. You should've raised pre-flop. However having played the hand the way you played it, I'd actually still raise. Moving all-in is the worst move. Your not likely to get called and if you do there are several "one card" straight possiblities that could arise aside from him hold a higher pair he could catch a higher set with. IE: 8-9 comes on turn and river and he holds 10's. It's better to slowly make him pay to draw and build a slightly bigger pot with your set.

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I think the deciding factor is not the cards, but the players and positions at this stage. Even in the worst possible situation, where the button has a straight and a flush draw, you are a favourite to win. Therefore your goals should be to 1) Get as much money in the pot as you can2) Get the best possible read on your opponent, especially if it's a live gameThe first goal is dependant on your opponents style and your table image. If they are the type of player that's not afraid of mixing it up and you don't have a table image of being tighter than a camels backside in a sandstorm - then get an honest raise in (2-3 times their bet), you might even get called by overcards. Also given you are out of position this should be the best play if you have no idea of your opponent's style.Alternatively if your opponent folds at the first sign of a fight (in which case you should have them on a big pair by now...), or if you only raise when at least four planets are aligned and you have the nuts, then put on your best "I'm drawing face" and simply call.The second goal is very important. Yes your winning now - but you haven't won yet. Get a good read as the cards come out and dodge what could be a huge loss if you do get beat.

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I may be suffering from a lack of information from the original post here, but I dont agree with any of the previous posts. What I do agree with is that I would probably not want to check here, but rather lead into the raiser, but Im not going to go into that as that's now what you were asking. You were asking whether you should raise the better here or not, and the answer is no. He appears to be suffering from a bad case of keeping the lead on this hand, generally a poor play in No Limit but we're all guilty of it. The hands it would be right to raise here are AA, KK, QQ becuase they're going to continue to play, but they're going to continue to play if you just call here as well, so you'll get the same result: a showdown where barring them hitting their 2 outs you will have the best hand and a lot of money. My girlfriend could double up in this pot against those hands. The reason it's right to just call is that you're likely to be up against 88-JJ or AK AQ KQ even AJs or some other random marginal starting hands. If you raise here you've lost your player, a call gives these hands another card, which is something you actually want. If the overcards hit they're going to asume their good, and you can then check raise the turn, you can do this even more likely if they DONT hit because they have to continue the bluff or they can't win the pot. Another small card will also increase the likelyhood of any other PP calling, so where it seems like you want to just raise the flop here and get the cards that could hit out on you out of the hand, you're going to see a much bigger return on just a check here because you can only get action from a premium pair or a draw, against which waiting until the turn gives you a much better opportunity to determine if a draw is what you're against.Also note there is not much information on this hand so this could be the wrong way to play in other situations all depending on the player. I tend to do this exactly thing in my home 1/2 NL game when Im making a move on the pot so I do it a lot when I actually have a hand too so that affects the way I see playing the hand

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I think you might have made a mistake by checking, now if you just call or re-raise you might make the raiser very suspisious, even aces or kings will have to be very careful, so you might not profit that much. I would bet into him then if i get raised I would just call, then there's a bunch of hands that he might put me on ranging from a draw to an over pair but probably not trips then on the turn if none of the draws hit I would check he would probably bet no matter what and I would make a big re raise after that, that way if he has aces or kings he would be put to a big decision for all his money (considering that if he called you'd put him all in on the river). Then if he folds you only show him one card and let him tilt, lol. basically the only way I might check it to him is if I knew he was a bluffer then i might let him bluff and slow play it the whole way through..PS: I have trouble playing big hands when the draw card hits on fourth St. and I get a big bet or an all in... Any advice?

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You're playing NL Holdem with $1/$2 blinds. You have about $250 in fron of you and get dealt 77 in late position. The guy on the button makes it $10 to go.  One other calls and you call.  flop comes down - 2 6 7.  Check, you check, button bets $30. Other player folds. Do you call, raise, or move all in?
First of all, I don’t like your play before, or on the flop. But, if for some reason I was in this situation as you laid it out, I would do the following:Since you didn’t raise before the flop in late position, you have signaled to the button that you are weak; therefore, he could be raising with anything trying to pick up the pot which means you have no real information about his hand. He could have anything.Since you didn’t bet the flop, the button still could be betting with anything, including an open-ended straight draw which would be your main concern since it’s his best chance to beat you (barring any flush draws—you didn’t mention any suits). The odds of him making an open-ended straight with two cards to come is 2.18-to-1. So, with $60 already in the pot I would call his $30 and raise at least $90 more which would reduce his pot odds to less than 2.18-to-1 and making it an unprofitable play for him to call.
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I'd also bet it on the flop, but in that situation, I agree with ??? (forgot who), kick in a raise 2X or 3X what he bet, make him pay to try hit his set or whatever hand he has, better to win $50 then to lose $40

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SexyStudThang, your theory sounds really interesting, but there are some things I didn't understand 100%, just wanted to clear them out before agreeing or disagreeing with you:

...He appears to be suffering from a bad case of keeping the lead on this hand, generally a poor play in No Limit but we're all guilty of it. The hands it would be right to raise here are AA, KK, QQ becuase they're going to continue to play, but they're going to continue to play if you just call here as well, so you'll get the same result: a showdown where barring them hitting their 2 outs you will have the best hand and a lot of money.  My girlfriend could double up in this pot against those hands.
OK, bear with the newbie here. I need some vocabulary help:"keeping the lead on this hand"?"continue to play"?
The reason it's right to just call is that you're likely to be up against 88-JJ or AK AQ KQ even AJs or some other random marginal starting hands.  If you raise here you've lost your player,  a call gives these hands another card, which is something you actually want. If the overcards hit they're going to asume their good, and you can then check raise the turn, you can do this even more likely if they DONT hit because they have to continue the bluff or they can't win the pot.
Hmmm... Let's say the player has 88 and the turn or the river comes an 8. The player has the better hand. Why are you check raising on the river (assuming there's no flush draw)?
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You're playing NL Holdem with $1/$2 blinds. You have about $250 in fron of you and get dealt 77 in late position. The guy on the button makes it $10 to go.  One other calls and you call.  flop comes down - 2 6 7.  Check, you check, button bets $30. Other player folds. Do you call, raise, or move all in?
I assume this is a cash game?? At least it sounds like it. Also, this doesn't make much sense, did you just call when it was your turn pre-flop and then call a raise by the button? Or did you raise pre-flop? Either case, I think what you need to look at is that you should have folded 77 to a raise 5 times the big blind, yeah you had the best hand after the flop, but you still need to look at the fact that you should have folded against a raise like this. How often will you actually flop a set? Now, the board will generally have at least 1 card higher than a 7, then what do you do? By calling with 77 to a re-raise, your essentially giving yourself 2 outs to improve your hand or fold it. Why invest so much pre-flop to try and hit 2 outs?
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Well... This really depends... I mean every situation is different isn't it? If this is Dan Harrington raising into you or Gus Hansen makes a difference. What I mean by this is, What type of player is this raising? And what is your "Image" AT the table. These factor are extremely important when it comes to decisions, I'd like to know both of those things and then I'll give my opinion on what I'd do :D Not that its very important but my opinion DOES depend on those factors, and if it was a rainbow or not.

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sorry about the original post. i had been playing a while and i was kinda tired, the flop was rainbow which was why i checked the flop to him. I understand why people say they would have bet and after thinking about it I probably should have bet the flop hoping for a re-reaise. This guy was pretty tight/aggressive so i did put him on a higher pocket pair after his flop bet.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So what did YOU do?I agree though, it really depends on a lot of factors. But given the flop being rainbow, and he's tight/aggressive, I would rule out the straight draw and put him on overcards, maybe a pair but not necessarily since you both checked the flop to him he is probably trying to take it down right there. You can reraise as mentioned and take it down and you're up $30. I would probably call as mentioned earlier to get more out of him, which though somewhat risky you have a great chance of killing him for alot more especially if he pairs up on the turn or river.

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Well I really think I misplayed it. If I had a second chance I would have bet it to him, hoping he would re-reaise. He ended up having pocket kings, and turned a set. I bet out and then he re-raised, at this point I put him on AA, KK, or a very long shot of AK, and i mean a very long shot. At the point i was fairly convinced he had it but I couldn't lay it down as I was so completely commited to the pot.

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Well I really think I misplayed it. If I had a second chance I would have bet it to him, hoping he would re-reaise. He ended up having pocket kings, and turned a set. I bet out and then he re-raised, at this point I put him on AA, KK, or a very long shot of AK, and i mean a very long shot. At the point i was fairly convinced he had it but I couldn't lay it down as I was so completely commited to the pot.You didn't misplay it, he hit a two outer. The result's the same if you push all in on the flop.You want his whole stack with this flop, how you get there is almost unimportant. If he'll call an all in on this flop then push all in every time without pausing. If he won't, finesse it. Most people will call an all in with KK here thinking you have JJ or QQ. The rare player will fold thinking you hit a set or AA.They're going to be pretty suspicous when you flat call a pot sized raise too, though.

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