Low-stakes Special

SCENARIO ONE

You are playing in a $ 0.10/$ 0.25 six-handed cash game. It’s been a pretty standard loose/passive low-stakes game, but you’ve kept it fairly solid. You have a stack of about $ 13 when the action folds to you on the button, holding A?-9?. You make a standard 3x raise to $ 0.75, the small blind folds and the villain on the big blind calls with about $ 22 behind.

However, the villain makes the minimum re-raise to $ 4 and you reluctantly call. He shows A-K and takes the pot. Was the value bet on the river a bad idea and what do you make of the hand as a whole?

PRE-FLOP
Everything is standard pre-flop – in an unraised pot you should be raising on the button with most hands. As he’s just called here, he’s not likely to have a massive hand. It’s rare for anyone to slow-play anything big here, as they’ll lose value by not building the pot.

FLOP
On the flop, the villain has bet $ 1 into $ 1.60, and there are two clubs on the board. This very often means he hasn’t got a big hand, and is trying to protect a marginal hand from the flush draw. I would really expect our A-9 to be winning here, and I don’t mind smooth-calling at all, especially as we have position.

If he’s got A-Q or A-K I can’t see why he wouldn’t have raised me pre-flop, so at the very best I’m putting him on A-10 or A-J or maybe he’s got lucky with something like A?-6?. If he’s flopped a set I don’t see him leading out – I see him check-raising. A lot of players will raise here to test their opponent, but more than anything you want to have pot control. If we re-pop him and he re-pops us back – and he could do that with a flush draw – we have to put the hand down. But when the turn comes, and we feel that’s a safe card, we can make a move then and feel a lot safer about it.

TURN
I’m very happy with the play on the turn. I’m still thinking the A-9 is good here. The only hand I can put the villain on now is an Ace, and it might be A-10 or A-J, but I’m still happy to carry on with this hand.

RIVER
The bet here is really bad. For a start, by making such a small bet on the river, we let him think that maybe we haven’t got anything, which gives him the opportunity to bluff-raise us, which again means we lose pot control (and we have to fold if he bets the pot).

More to the point, why are we betting at all? The reason we’ve been smooth-calling is because we think our hand is good, and it might still be good. But what are we value-betting to get paid by? To me the guy’s been betting with an Ace or a flush draw. He’s definitely not calling with a busted draw, so of all the other hands the villain should have, we’re only beating A-4, A-5, A-7 and A-8. That’s a very small range to be beating, so I’d definitely check here. He’s going to call $ 2 or raise if he’s ahead and fold most hands that are behind.When the villain raises, it serves us right, but we have to call for another $ 2. And learn our lesson when he flips A-K.

I think the villain played A-K absolutely dreadfully, but he won a lot less from us than he should have, and we should feel we got off lightly. The play was fine until that awful value-bet on the river.

SCENARIO TWO

It’s the same $ 0.10/$ 0.25 cash game, but you’ve built your stack back up to about $ 14. In this hand there’s a limper under the gun with about $ 13 in chips. It’s folded around to you in the small blind. You complete the big blind with A?-3? and the villain in the big blind checks. He has you covered with a stack of $ 25. The flop comes J?-7?-3?, giving you bottom pair and the nut flush draw. You check, looking to check-raise, but the villain and UTG both check behind.

The turn is the A?, further improving your hand, and you bet $ 0.50 into a pot of $ 0.75. The villain raises to $ 1.75 and the UTG folds. You then re-raise to $ 4 and the villain re-reraises to $ 13, putting you all-in. You call for your last $ 9.75. The villain shows 3?-A? for the same two pair as you, resulting in a split pot. Was it right to get all-in in this spot and do you like the check-raising strategy on the flop?

PRE-FLOP
Just smooth-calling here with A?-3? is fine. I’m definitely going to make up the big blind with a suited Ace most of the time. Obviously I’m out of position three-handed and I need to hit a big flop, but it’s worth speculating, although I wouldn’t play it if it was offsuit.

FLOP
Checking to check-raise is sound play here. I’d be trying to get some money in the pot with the nut flush draw, and check-raising is a good way of doing that.

TURN AND RIVER
After it’s checked around on the flop, it’s obvious you have to bet the turn. You’ve got a well-disguised two pair and a re-draw to the nuts. Getting raised is even better, and when you get re-raised all-in it’s perfect.You’ve got a strong, well-disguised hand, plus you’re out of position, which means you could be at a disadvantage if a scare card falls on the river.

So, get as much as you can in the pot as fast as you can. I personally wouldn’t even mind moving all-in after the villain’s first raise, rather than just raising to $ 4. He might think that you’re on a draw, or that he’s got a better Ace, so he’s going to stick his money in with a lot of worse hands. You might even be more likely to get paid by shoving first, as it looks more like a flush draw. As it happens all the money was going in regardless, as the villain also had A-3, meaning you were freerolling to the flush. Well played.

SCENARIO THREE

You’re playing in a 180-man $ 20+2 sit&go, with the blinds at 400/800/a75. With about 28 players left it’s getting quite close to the bubble, and you have an average stack of 13,500. Your table is seven-handed. The player to your left has been playing weirdly, slow-playing big hands and generally being unpredictable, so when he limps under the gun you become wary.

Are you calling here? Would you ever make a value shove? And what do you think of the pre-flop check?

PRE-FLOP
Checking here is not good – I don’t care how weirdly or unpredictably the under the gun player has been playing. Against one player it might not be that bad, but against two players I don’t like it at all. What can we do now?

There are so many flops now that we can’t do anything with. We more or less have to hit a Queen or a really ragged flop, because we haven’t isolated against any particular hand. If an Ace or a King comes we either have to check it down or gamble that we’re in front. We are looking to get ourselves into a heads-up situation at the very least here, and I fancy we’d definitely get rid of the small blind if we raise. The under the gun player might even raise, and in that situation I’d probably, reluctantly, get it all-in. The fact that you’re nearly in the money at this point is totally irrelevant. Getting to the final three is the main thing we should be focusing on, as that’s where all the money is. Forget about the bubble.

FLOP
When the big stack just calls the raise here I would put him on a straight draw, with 6-8 or 8-10, or maybe top pair with something like K-9, J-9, 10-9. As we failed to narrow his range pre-flop he could have all sorts of hands.

TURN
I don’t mind checking behind here. On the flop, he’s either called with a 9 or a straight draw. And now all of a sudden he’s gone from being lively to checking. Why wouldn’t he bet again? It’s probably one of two reasons. He either has a 9 or he thinks we’ve got a 9. If he thinks we’ve got a 9 and we bet then he folds, but as we’re not sure I don’t mind checking to keep the pot small. My strategy now would be to check-call.

RIVER
Like I said, I’d be check-calling here, so I agree with the call. There’s no way I would ever consider raising or pushing all-in, as there’s a good chance he has the 9. Just call and let him bluff it off. Once you’ve raised and been called on the flop, this is a check-calling hand. In this situation, no matter what card comes on the river, I’d call any bet less than the pot. That’s the whole plan by checking on the turn – it keeps the pot small enough that we can afford to call most bets on the river.