The fishtank part 21

Flushed out

I’ve been playing poker for about a year and have been a winning player at low limits playing ABC poker. I know that to win at higher levels you have to mix your game up a little bit more, so I’ve been concentrating on improving my game by trying different styles before moving up levels and playing bigger buy-in live tourneys. Recently I’ve tried playing mid-suited cards from late position. Twice, in quick succession, I’ve limped in and flopped the Jack-high flush. Both times I’ve faced big raises prompting me to move allin with a reasonable-sized stack. Both times I’ve been called and beaten by better flushes. Is this bad play or just bad luck? Should I only make this play with a suited Ace?

Nathan Loader

SF: Bad luck! You can’t start basing your decisions on the results you’ve previously had. In each situation, try to make the best decision possible and you’ll be a winning player in the long run. Trying to improve your game by experimenting with different styles is a great thing to do – don’t let a few lost hands discourage you. I also advise you to try out some of the other games, like Stud and Omaha, in order to gain different skills that will be useful in Hold’em as well.

Bluff

I was playing in a deep-stack tournament and had seen my stack fall from 10,000 to around 7500. In the third level – blinds 100/200 – a guy in middle position who had accumulated a decent stack (about 15,000) made a standard raise of three times the big blind to 600. I was in the small blind and called the bet with A-Q. The big blind also called and the flop came down King-high with two rags. I was first to act and quickly checked, as did the big blind. The original raiser looked as if he was going to bet, but then, after a few seconds, checked.

The turn brought an Ace, so I bet 1200 into the pot of 1800. The next guy folded and the other guy thought for a while before raising me to 3600. I went into the tank and studied him intensely for a couple of minutes as I tried to get a read but eventually I folded, knowing that if I called I would probably be committing my entire stack to the hand.

After he raked in the pot I heard him remark to others around him that he had nothing, but no one believed him, speculating that he must have had at least A-K for two-pair or, more likely, a set, which he slow-played on the flop. In that tough situation was I right to preserve my stack with a semistrong hand, or do you think he bluffed me off the pot?

Ian Jones

SF: Unfortunately you will never really know if he was bluffing. Although, if he’s telling people that he had nothing, he’s probably the kind of player that would have shown the bluff to annoy you. I think it may have been better to check-call the turn and keep the pot small – perhaps you can try that in the future. Remember, it is okay to be bluffed in tournaments and it happens quite often. Many times I strongly feel like I have the best hand, but still fold to preserve my stack.

The best thing you can do now is to move on and don’t obsess over the hand. Discussing the hand afterwards with friends and thinking about what you could have done differently for a short time is fine, but if you continue to beat yourself up over one particular hand you’re doing yourself a disservice. I know it’s not really easy to do, but you must trust your instincts. So in this instance I lean towards you making a good fold.

Your call

The situation
Bellagio: $1,000 No-limit Hold’em tournament
Blinds: 100/200 with 25 ante

There’s only one minute remaining until blinds increase to 200/400 with a 25 ante The cards are dealt and the tournament director announces that there will be a seat redraw after this hand. I am in middle position with 2225 in chips and 8♣-9♣. Player A has 7000 chips and raises from early position to 750. Player B on his left with a big stack of 12,000 calls. What would you do?

The answer

I push all-in for 1475 more for the following reasons:

1. The fact the blinds are going up leaves me very short-stacked (only five big blinds). I need to push in before the blinds go up, but since there is a redraw, there’s a chance I could draw the big blind and my tournament would be over unless I get very lucky.

2. If both players don’t fold pre-flop, there is a very high chance that Player A will re-raise all-in in an attempt to knock Player B out and isolate me. Player A just calling the 1475 is more unlikely because he only has about 6000 left and if he has a middle range hand, calling 1475 is not a good play.

3. If Player A flat-calls my all-in there’s a good chance Player B will now re-raise all-in if, like me, he came to the conclusion that A is weak and by raising all-in he can get him to fold as well as isolate me, since he has a big enough stack to overcome a loss to Player A in the case that Player A is trapping with A-A or K-K.

4. I know Player B does not flat-call pre-flop with monsters and Player A’s range of hands is very large when raising from early position. There’s also a pretty good chance that A and B are in a similar range of hands and are holding each other’s cards. For example, if they both have something like A-J, my 8-9 becomes stronger mathematically. This being the case, there is a small chance both players will fold to my all-in.

One of the most vital components of poker is paying attention and observing everything while playing. The reason I chose this hand to talk about was not only to explain why I pushed all-in with 8♣-9♣, but also to show how valuable the isolation play is against a short-stack. I know this may sound like a lot to think about in the short amount of time you have to act in a tournament situation, but I’m asking you to put yourself in the shoes of each player and understand why each made the decision he did before making your own decision. For example, imagine yourself as Player A. If you were paying attention to the fact that I was paying attention to the different factors, you would have noticed me looking up at the clock, which might lead you to believe that I was making this play just because the blinds were going up, concluding that my hand is weak and subsequently push all-in.

In actual fact both players just flat-called, which did surprise me because it was a big bet and most of the time one of the players would have isolated me. I ended up making a full house and went from 2225 to over 7000 chips, putting myself in a good position.

Winner

Roy Lobban mirrored Scott’s thinking. He says: ‘With one minute remaining at this level, you have effectively only five times the big blind, so your dwindling stack loses scare power. Your hand stands a fair chance in a showdown against one hand but against two is unlikely to prevail. Luckily Player B outchips Player A. If you go all-in now, unless he has a big hand, Player A will probably fold as he stands to lose one-third of his chips if Player B comes back with a big re-raise. Either way an all-in now will probably leave you heads up against A or B. If not, Lady Luck may still smile upon you and treble you up.

Next month

2006 WSOP sensation Jeff Madsen has the latest question from the Aussie Millions. Can you play like the wonderkid? If so, send in your answer and win a chipset.

The situation
Aussie Millions: AU$10,000 buy-in
Day 2, level 3: blinds 800/1600
Your chips: 40,000

I’m short-stacked compared to the table and in the big blind for 1600 of my 40,000 stack. The fairly solid player in first position raises to 5500, Gus Hansen calls from early position, a player in late position also calls, and so does the SB. It’s on me and I look down at A-Jos. There’s 23,600 already in the pot and I have 38,400 left. In this situation do you call, fold, or raise and why? Does it affect your decision knowing this is the televised feature table? Why or why not?

Send your answers to pokerplayer@dennis.co.uk – the best one wins a chipset. Find out what Jeff did next month.