Annette’s streets

SCENARIO ONE

It’s the fourth level of a $55 online MTT, with the blinds at 50/100. You have a stack of 4,450 from your starting stack of 2,000. You hold 8?-8? and raise pre-flop from mid-position to 300. Both the button (a good aggressive player) and the big blind call. The flop comes K?-7?-6? and the big blind checks. You think for a short while and then bet out 600 into the 950 pot. The button, who has you covered, just calls, while the other player folds. The turn is a 9?, giving you additional straight outs. You lead again for 1,000 and your aggressive foe on the button calls once more. The river is the Q?. What should you do here?

PRE-FLOP
I think raising here is fine. I would probably raise any pocket pair in that spot. In fact, I will generally raise any pair in any position if my stack is 40 big blinds-plus. I would usually make it 250 in this spot, but 300 is okay.

FLOP
I would definitely bet out on this flop, and I think 600 is a good bet. I would probably bet 650 into 950, so that’s about right. King-high flops are dangerous because people like to call pre-flop with hands like King-Jack and King-Queen, but you have to find out if he has it, so betting here is the right move.

TURN
Once you get called on the flop, I don’t think you should be betting again on the turn. If he called with a 7 on the flop he will probably check behind you, and if he has a King he’s probably going to call you either way – it’s not like you’re going to push him off top pair. I think you just have to check-call or check-fold your straight draw here, depending on how much he bets. You can check and call a medium-sized bet, as there’s no way he’s going to put you on a straight draw if you hit it on the river, and if he has a King he’ll probably pay you off. If he bets the full pot however, I’d fold for sure, because you’re not getting the right price to draw to a straight, and if you hit trips there’s going to be four to a straight on the board and you might not get paid off. If you check and he checks behind you should value-bet the river, putting him on a weak seven or something like that.

RIVER
On the river, I’m check-folding for sure. Once the guy calls on two streets there’s no way he doesn’t have a King. If you bet you’re basically turning your eights into a bluff and expecting him to fold top pair. If you really think he can fold a King on this board then you should probably just shove and hope he folds, but I really don’t think he’s going to fold at this point. A lot of people will call the river if they’ve called the turn just out of principle.

SCENARIO TWO

You are playing in a live $1,000 tournament and by the 200/400 level have moved yourself into the top of the chip counts with 40k from a 5k starting stack. You have been running good and have been betting your good hands strongly so your image may be a bit LAG. A tight/solid player limps under the gun and you look down at A-K offsuit in mid-position and raise it to 1,500. The effective stacks here are 20,000. He flat-calls and you see an A-9-9 rainbow flop. He checks and you think about betting but as you haven’t been getting much action you decide to check. The turn is the 4?, and he checks once more. You lead out for two-thirds of the pot and he calls. The river is a blank 10?. He checks again, you value-bet and he insta-shoves. Can you call here?

PRE-FLOP
I like the raise here. You have to raise A-K if a guy limps, even if he is tight/solid.

FLOP
On the flop I don’t mind checking. I don’t mind betting here either, as you can usually assume you’re ahead at this point. If I decided to bet I would probably make it 1,800 or 2,000. However, as you’ve checked, I think your plan should be to just call the turn and call the river. If you check the flop and then raise the turn it looks like you have a really strong hand, because if you had nothing on the flop you’d probably take a stab at it then. So if you do check the flop you should probably just call it down and try to get him to bluff off some chips. Of course, if you think he’s so solid that he’s not going to limp under the gun with A-J or A-Q, then most of the time he’s going to have a 9 – something like 8-9 or 9-10 suited. In that case you could check behind on the turn and maybe just call the river in the hope that you’re wrong.

TURN
Having said that, I would bet on the turn when he checks again. Unless you’re fairly certain he has the 9 I don’t think you can check twice, because when are you going to get value then? If he has an Ace you want to get as much money in the pot as possible. Leading out for two-thirds is fine – that’s pretty standard. At this point I just can’t see him having anything else but an Ace here. Maybe he could have pocket nines and is trying to trap you with quads, but it seems unlikely.

RIVER
Okay, when he shoves on the river I totally fold. He’s clearly got quads now. You value-bet the river, which you had to, but when he shoves you have to fold because you don’t beat anything any more. He definitely has a monster, probably 9-9 or maybe he even limped Aces under the gun. I like the way you played the hand, but calling the river would be really bad.

SCENARIO THREE

You hold A?-J? in the cut-off at the 100/200 level of a $22 online tournament. You have built up a 7,800 stack. There has been a limp in mid-position from a player with a 9,800 stack and when it’s your turn to act you raise to 800 to take the dead money in the pot. However, both the button and the big blind call, as does the mid-position player. With play four- handed, the flop comes down A?-Q?-7?. The big blind checks and the mid-position player leads out for 1,200 into the 2,500 pot. You raise to 3,000. The button passes, as does the big blind, while the mid-position player just flat-calls. The turn comes 10?, giving you a load of extra outs. The mid-position player checks so you decide to check behind, not wanting to stack off with top pair. The river bricks 2? and now the other player shoves. Should you call?

PRE-FLOP
I like the raise pre-flop – it’s pretty standard. You probably have the best hand unless he has a pocket pair of some sort, so you want to get some money in and build a pot. I would usually consider the other player’s limp pretty weak, and as he has a deep stack you might get value if you hit a Jack and he has something like K-J. The raise size is okay. I would probably make it 700 rather than 800, because I want people to call when I raise. That way, I get an extra 500 when he misses and check-folds the flop, which is what happens so often.

FLOP
Why would you raise to 3,000 here? That’s an idiotic raise. Either you raise with the intention of getting it all-in on the flop or not at all. You can’t raise-fold here. That would be way too spewy. If you raise for information with such a small stack, people are just going to totally run you over. Say your opponent has a hand like A-9 and they don’t want to fold their Ace. They don’t care if you raise – they’re just going to shove anyway and then you end up folding the best hand. And that’s going to happen way too often in $20 tournaments. You either have to raise to get it all-in or just flat-call the flop and try to play a smaller pot. Most of the time that’s what I’d do – just call and see what happens behind, as there are still people to act.

TURN
On the turn, why are you checking? You have 4,000 chips behind and you’re checking when there’s 7,000 in the pot? Why would you do that? Stick your chips in and hope he calls with a worse hand! Are you thinking if you check here he might shove on the river with a worse hand? But then if your flush comes on the river that’s a scare card, and even if he has an Ace he might check/fold. But that’s beside the point, because at this point you’re committed. You raised the flop, so you have to push your remaining 4,000 here, especially with that many outs. He might have A-9 and call because he thinks you’re full of it, and even if he has A-Q you have tons of outs.

RIVER
Having played it so badly, I would probably fold on the river. I’d put him on something like 7-7 or maybe A-Q, though he’s more likely to be limping with pocket pairs than big Aces. But the hand was just badly played overall. You should have just called the flop, then if the guy bet the turn just shipped it in. There was just no reason to raise the flop, unless you think he’s a total maniac or a calling station, but even then you have to shove the turn.