The Tank

Simply a suckout

I was playing in a $50 multi-table tournament online, which started with 145 players. We were on the second level of blinds at 20/40 with 139 players left. I had 2,400 chips from a starting stack of 1,500 and had been playing pretty aggressively; only showing good hands like A-J and A-K. I was dealt K…-QÚ on the button. It was folded to the cut-off, who limped in. He had 1,600 in chips. I opted to also call.

The small blind – who was a pretty tight player – raised to 120 (three x the big blind was the standard raise at this table). The big blind folded and the cut-off called. I decided to call. The flop came 8Ú-9Ú-Q…. The small blind checked, the cut-off checked and I bet 360. The small blind folded and the cut-off called. The turn came 3;. The cut-off bet 360 and I re-raised to 720. After almost timing out, the cut-off went all-in. I called. The river was a 9 and the cut-off showed A-9. I was right in thinking I had the best hand on the turn, but that’s not the issue: should I have just gone all-in at that point?

Richard, via email

You’re absolutely correct in your judgement that you should have gone all-in on the turn; the re-raise to 720 was pointless. It would be fine if you had the nuts or a massive hand like a set or a made straight, but you simply have top pair and a good kicker. Your re-raise should either have the effect of getting him to call with a worse hand or pass because he knows he’s beaten. After the cut-off bets 360 and you simply double his bet, he can’t possibly pass – after all, he now has 760 left and if he just calls he’d only be left with 400.

So his decision to move all-in is automatic and you should be expecting it. The fact that he hits one of his outs is of course unlucky for you, but he should never have been allowed to get to the river in the first place. If you had pushed all-in when he had bet 360 on the turn, it would be very difficult for him to call off the rest of his chips with middle pair, top kicker.

Three-handed issue

I was down to the final three in a multi-table tournament. The stacks were fairly even, the button had 75,000, I had 90k on the small blind and the chip leader – who was on the big blind – had 105k. The button – like me – was tight-aggressive, while the big blind was a little looser – but still aggressive. The play had been cagey for the last ten minutes; the chip lead kept changing hands and no one was willing to get involved in a big pot.

Okay, that’s the background information. The blinds were 2,000/4,000 with a 200 ante. The button made a standard raise to 12,000 and I looked down at pocket 10s. I thought about re-raising, but figured that this might be a great hand to trap with if the flop went my way – so I just called. The big blind also called. The flop came 7-6-3 rainbow. I checked, planning to check-raise, but it didn’t quite go to plan.

The big blind bet 20,000 and then the button moved all-in. I knew this would be a great chance for me to wrap up the tournament there and then, but was petrified that someone had made a set. So I folded. The big blind called with a pair of 5s and the button showed A-K. The turn and river were no help and that was that. Obviously I was kicking myself for not calling, but was I right to fold?

Aston, via email

The first thing I have to emphasise is that three-handed pocket 10s is a pretty strong hand. You’re in good shape against everything save the four bigger pairs, so most of the time you can assume you’re ahead pre-flop. Objectively your call of the button’s raise is fine, but from a personal point of view, I would be inclined to go all-in to pick up the 18,600 in chips. With this simple play, you move into the chip lead and already the whole dynamic of the game changes. The flop is a dream one, and this is where you make your mistake. You want to check to check-raise, but what you’re really doing is setting yourself up to be outdrawn. Let’s say everyone else checks and the turn is an Ace or King.

It’s very likely that one or both of your opponents now has a piece of it, and that would be your own fault since you let them have a free card. If you had bet 30,000 on the flop, it would have been extremely difficult for either player to call and you would have picked up a nice pot of 42k. By checking, you created a dilemma situation for yourself. You made the right play in folding (given that you had not committed too many of your chips to the pot), but really it should never have come to that.

ASK WILLIE!

If you’ve got any poker problems – strategy, etiquette, anything at all – Willie will be only too happy to answer your questions.

Just drop him an email at WillieTann@dennis. co.uk or post to:

Willie Tann,
Poker Clinic, InsidePoker,
Dennis Publishing,
30 Cleveland St,
London,
W1T 4JD.

Letters may be edited for length.