Greenstein’s weird lines

SCENARIO ONE

You are playing a six-handed $3/$6 online cash game and have built a big stack of $1,520. The button is the only other good player at your table and he is sitting on $1,410. You get dealt A?-K? under the gun and make your standard pre-flop raise of $22. A player in mid-position calls and the button re-raises to $76. You call the additional $54 and the mid-position player folds. The flop comes K?-Q?-8?. You check, with the intention of check-raising, but the button checks behind. The turn is a 9? and this time you bet $120 into $184. He raises to $305. You call. The river is a Jh. You check, with the intention of check-calling, but he goes all-in. Can you call? Should you have bet the river?

PRE-FLOP

The problem is you have such a big stack and it’s a tough decision because your stack is so deep and you don’t want to go bust with A-K. It’s not unreasonable to call with that deep a stack but it’s a tough hand to play in this situation.

FLOP

It’s ridiculous that he raised pre-flop and is not betting on that kind of flop. Normally, meaning 99% of the time, the person with the betting lead is going to bet the flop if they have shown any kind of strength. Here is a situation where it’s not going to go check-check more than one percent of the time. And the one percent of the time is when the guy has flopped a set of queens and is trying to be tricky. Just look at the situations where unless the flop comes with three of a suit the guy who raised before the flop is going to bet on the flop. It’s almost like the decision making doesn’t even start until the guy bets on the flop. Usually, if there is a check on the flop it is because they have flopped a set.

TURN AND RIVER

When you bet and get raised on the turn you are wary that he has flopped a set of Queens and it’s reasonable to think about folding at this point. So your initial instinct is the guy flopped a set and you are in trouble so you want to keep the pot small. When you put out a feeler bet and he raises you, then you have to think he flopped a set. Against a lot of players you are going to fold there. But you can call and hope he tries to keep the pot small as somehow you might have the best hand if he has played funny with A-Q. But when he moves in then you know he flopped three queens and you fold. It’s probably better to check the turn here because it just isn’t a play that makes sense. The only reason he would have checked the flop is because he flopped the joint; not because he was afraid of it.

SCENARIO TWO

You are playing in a six-handed $5/$10 cash game online and have a stack of $1,600. You are dealt A?-Q? in late position. The under the gun player with a stack of $1,450 raises to $40 and you elect to call. He is a tricky player who you have some history with, and he is capable of making moves on you. The flop comes Q?-7?-8?. The under the gun player checks and you bet $65 into the $95 pot. He thinks for a while and then calls. The turn is a J? and at this point he leads out for $150 into the $225 pot and you decide to call. The river is a horrible looking 10?. The under the gun player checks and you make a thin value bet of $300 into the $525 pot. The player under the gun then moves all-in for the rest of his stack. It’s another $895 to call.

PRE-FLOP

Sometimes you raise, and sometimes you call in this situation. Against some players who are solid I fold that hand. A-Q can be a trouble hand, but a lot of times I will call, particularly if I’m up against a player who is loose enough to warrant it.

FLOP

It is strange because when the flop comes you would expect the guy to make a continuation bet. You have to ask, why didn’t he? He didn’t bet the flop so what you are afraid of is that he could have flopped a set. The number of times someone raises to $76 and checks this kind of flop is close to zero. People don’t check the flop after raising very often, but if they do there is a good chance they flopped a set. It’s weird that he checked the flop, and let’s say he checked with two Kings. Some people may do that, trying to get you involved. He is taking a strange line so at this point you are playing pretty cautiously. The good news is you bet the flop, which you are kind of forced to do to figure out where you are. When the flop comes you would expect the guy to make a continuation bet. You have to ask, why didn’t he?

TURN

When the opponent leads out on the turn he is taking a really weird line at this point. You could have raised on the turn, but you are more likely to do that if he bet the flop. When the ten of diamonds comes on the river you should check because you are not likely to get called by anything you beat. I don’t know what he has because he has played so strangely. But on the river it is pretty clear he is not calling me unless I am beat. I don’t see that big a reason, especially if he is a tricky player who is capable of making check raises with good hands on the river, to value bet here.

RIVER

The only time I would make a thin value bet here was against a player who habitually likes to check-raise bluff on the river. They have to be pretty predictable for me to bet on the river. If they will only raise me with a good hand, then I can fold, and if they will habitually bluff-raise me then I can call. If they are not predictable then it’s better to check the river. I think I have the best hand, but betting here is a zero play. There is no reason to bet as I am only getting called when I am beat. Any hand that beats A-Q is going to call me and any hand that is losing to A-Q is going to fold so betting the river is a bad move. If I would call here depends on what he has played like in the past – will he check-raise bluff on the river? He is saying he has a straight with that raise, and I will only call if he is a player who is capable of making a move in this situation. I think normally it’s a fold. At that level, when people raise you they are not bluffing, so my first instinct would be to fold. But I would probably not have got into that situation in the first place.

SCENARIO THREE

You are playing in a six-handed $3/$6 cash game online. You pick up Q?-Q? under the gun and open for $20. It’s folded to the button (who is a tight aggressive player) who calls, as does the small blind (a calling station who is pretty passive post flop). You have $640, the button has $890 and the small blind has $440. The flop comes 2?-8?-9?, the small blind checks and you bet $40 into the $66 pot. Confusingly, both the button and small blind call. The turn is a 4?. The small blind checks and you bet $120 into the $186 pot. The button folds and the small blind calls. On the J? river the small blind instantly shoves all-in. Can you fold here?

PRE FLOP & FLOP

It was reasonable to open for $20 with Queens under the gun, that’s a pretty standard play. And it’s perfectly reasonable to bet continuation bet $40 on the flop. I don’t see anything wrong with that, but I don’t see why it’s confusing that two people call. When that happens on this type of flop you can usually presume one guy has a pair and the other guy has a draw or one has a straight draw and the other has a flush draw. Of course a set is also a possibility.

TURN

I would have bet more on the turn because I want to price them out of their draws. When the small blind calls we assume he is a passive player that has some sort of draw in this spot. I would have bet closer to the pot size, rather than betting two thirds of the pot as the player has done here. In this particular case, I would have bet $180 rather than $120. Then if the passive player calls he has already put in over half his chips. If you bet the right amount on the turn then your opponent doesn’t have much left on the river so moving all-in is not an overbet.

RIVER

When the Jack comes on the river he shoves in, but at that point he is betting half the pot. So moving in on the river isn’t really that big of a bet. He doesn’t have a lot to bet, so he would very likely bet with a hand such as J-10 here. The problem comes when he has $1,000 starting out and he moves in on the river. In that situation now you really have a poker problem. At the moment he is more than half the way all-in already when he makes the bet on the river.