Calling all-in

SCENARIO ONE

You are playing in a six-handed $ 2.50/$ 5 cash game online and have a $490 stack. You have not been at the table long when you are dealt 3?-4? in the hijack. The under-the-gun player folds and you elect to raise to $ 17.50, which is the standard amount for the table. The button (with a $ 1,800 stack) and the small blind (with a stack of $ 500) call, and the big blind folds.

On the A?-Q?-9? flop, the small blind checks and you lead out for $ 48 and only the player on the button calls. The turn is a 2?. You check and the button bets $ 115.12. You raise all-in and the button calls. What do you think of the play so far and was the raise on the turn the correct move in this spot?

PRE-FLOP
I would generally fold here but it is dependent on who is to my right and the frequency at which they would re-raise me pre-flop. The more likely they are to three bet, the less I would be to open here because I am going to be forced to throw away my hand and thus lose my initial investment. Although you have not been at the table long you should consider your image at the table. If I have a very tight image, I might open here because I feel less likely to get three-bet or called. However, if I had been splashing around a lot (raising a lot of pots and being very active) I would be more inclined to fold and avoid a sticky situation.

FLOP
Again, continuation betting here would depend on the factors listed in the pre-flop strategy. I would generally check here as you figure this flop hit a large part of the caller ’s range. One has to consider what types of hands are going to continue after you put in an initial bet. One could argue that on a co-ordinated board such as this if either player has a hand such as A-x+, J-T, K-Q, perhaps even K-J, K-10, Q-J they will at least see one card and maybe even raise. Your continuation bet is going to be less effective because you are sandwiched between two opponents.

TURN
Now this spot is pretty interesting. I can make a case for taking many lines here that include bet/ fold, bet/call, check/fold, check/raise. If and when you decide to check-raise the turn the button is generally going to put you on a strong hand such as A-Q, A-9 or a set. He might put you on a big combo draw such as J?-T?, K?-J? or K?-10?. However, most of the time the ‘hero’ is going to have a big hand here.

The pot at this point is a fairly large $ 267 and you are raising him another $ 312 or so. The pot will now be $ 579 so he is getting 1.85/1 or so. That’s not a bad price and you can’t expect him to fold A-2+ here. Occasionally, the hero will have A-K as well so two-pair would be a fairly easy call here. Also, the question is how often your opponent bets the turn with hands that he is going to fold. For example, most of the time he might check behind on the turn with hands such as A-10 and draws to avoid this sticky check-raise from the hero. His hands are most likely to be hands that are comprised of strong two-pair or better type hands. For this reason, I might in fact check-fold the turn or bet again rather than go for a check-raise.

It is very hard to say because I wouldn’t do any one play all of the time. It depends mostly on my image at the table and the player I’m playing against. I would say that all of these factors should be considered before making any big decision.

SCENARIO TWO

You are playing in a four-handed $ 2.50/$ 5 cash game online and have built up a $ 1,250 stack. You have a pretty loose-aggressive image at this point and have been involved in a number of big hands. There are a couple of good players at your table who have also built up decent stacks from the fish who have been and gone. Quite deep into the session you get dealt 5?-5? on the button.

The under-the-gun player, who has an $ 800 stack, raises to $ 17.50 and both you and the big blind, who has a $ 1,330 stack, call. The flop comes Q?-5?-J?. The big blind checks, the UTG player continuation bets $ 41.25 and you elect to raise to $ 121. The big blind gets out of the way pretty quickly and the UTG player calls the raise. The turn comes A? and the UTG player leads out for $ 222.75. You still think you have the best hand and so raise to $ 630 but are then surprised when he quickly shoves all-in. Is this an automatic call? And what do you make of the play up to this point?

PRE-FLOP
I think pre-flop is totally standard in this situation regardless of the players involved in the hand.

FLOP
I think this is a very good spot to raise. There are several straight draws out there and your opponent might think you are trying to move him off a hand by raising with a potential draw. Also you are both rather deep stacked so you want to build a pot – if in fact he does have a hand – so you can get all your money in.

TURN
Let’s look at the money already in the pot and the effective stack sizes here. At the turn the pot would be $ 1,168. The pot on the turn after you raise is $1,550 and you only have to call $ 400. You are getting nearly 4/1, meaning if your opponent has A-Q then this is a very easy call. Since that hand is a likely holding, you cannot consider folding here. It is just a standard cooler if he has you beat in this spot.

SCENARIO THREE

You are playing in a $ 2.50/$ 5 cash game online, which has recently started as four-handed. You have only just sat down and the game is just getting started so you have no real reads on any of the players involved. At this point, you have a little under your starting stack with just $ 490, and have been involved in no pots of any significance as yet.

After around two orbits at the table you get dealt A?-K? button. The under-the-gun player raises to $ 17.50. He has a stack of $ 1,050. You decide to re-raise and bump it up to $60 and he thinks for a while and then calls. The flop comes 2?-4?-4?. This is not a good flop for you, but when the player in the cut-off checks and you decide you should continuation bet and lead into the pot for $ 95.62. He elects to call, this time fairly quickly. You see the 7? turn where once more he checks. You decide the best play is to check behind. The river is the 5? and this time he leads out for $ 318.74 setting you all-in. Should you call?

PRE-FLOP
This is very standard play with A-K.

FLOP
I would generally always bet here, but there are some opponents that will never try and bluff me and in that case I would check. Against these players I will try and get a free showdown. I feel that if I bet they will never fold worse and always call with better. That’s not generally a good time to bet so against players that are going to let me see the river for free, I will check it back and hope to win with my A-K high.

TURN
I think a check behind is good here. At this point we are fairly certain that our opponent has some type of pair; namely an overpair. I rarely try to make my opponent fold an overpair, especially in a shorthanded game. I would almost always check in this situation.

RIVER

I would not call here. There are very few hands your opponent can get to the river with and then make this bet that you are ahead of. For example, if he had any type of Ace-high hand or worse, he would fold those on the flop to your continuation bet. His most likely holding is an over-pair that he is betting for value although he could have hit a set or a full house. I would hardly ever call here unless he was capable of calling out of position on the flop to make a play at the hand later. I don’t think most players are capable of this and if they wanted to make a play I feel they would check-raise the flop. I would relinquish the pot and cut my losses.