The Tank

Laying ’em down

I have a burning issue with the best pair in the deck after running into trouble recently. It was the second hand of a no-limit freezeout live tournament with 1,500 in starting chips. We’re playing ten-handed. The blinds are 25/50 – going up every 20 minutes. The first three players call and the next player raises to 100. I find A♠-A♥ and re-raise to 200. The cut-off calls. It’s then folded round to the initial raiser, who calls.

So it’s three to the flop, which is 10♠-9♠-4♣. The initial raiser now bets 200. I don’t particularly want any more action at this point and am happy to take the pot as it stands, so I go all-in. The cut-off thinks for a while and pushes all-in, as does the early position player. He shows J♠-8♠ for the straight flush draw whilst the cut-off shows 9♣-9♥ for the set. The turn and river cards are blanks and both I and the initial raiser go out. In hindsight, I realise that my pre-flop re-raise was way too small, but is there any realistic way that I wasn’t going broke on this hand?

Anthony, via email

This scenario demonstrates two well-known – but consistently forgotten – points about poker. Firstly, while a pair of Aces is the best starting hand, the whole scene changes when the flop comes down and you can’t fall in love with them forever. Secondly, it demonstrates that you shouldn’t – and ultimately can’t – win the tournament in one hand. So let’s review the play: I actually don’t mind the re-raise to 200 that you made pre-flop. Early on in the tournament, you should be looking for action and don’t particularly want everyone to fold pre-flop.

The flop is extremely dangerous; somebody could be flushing, somebody could have two pair and somebody could have a set. You have no right to go all-in on the flop. That might be an okay move if there was no one to act after you, but the cut-off could have a big piece of that flop and you would never know.

Why not just call the 200 and see what happens? If the cut-off re-raises substantially, then you probably have to lay your Aces down. If he flat-calls, at least you have the chance to improve your hand or get away from it when you take even more heat on the turn. Some might say that you were unlucky to run into a set of 9s, but by going all-in, you did not give yourself a chance to make decisions that could have saved your tournament life.

Good show of restraint

During a major no-limit freezeout tournament, I had A♣-2♥ on the small blind and there was a very loose-aggressive player on the big blind, who had me covered. The blinds were 4,000/8,000. I made it 25,000, the big blind called. The Flop came 2-5-6 with two spades. I checked, the big blind bet the pot. I flat-called and the turn was 2♦. I checked again. He bet 30k, I flat-called. The river was another spade. I checked for the last time. He bet 120k and I called. He turned over K-10 for a complete bluff, so I took the pot. Obviously it turned out great, but if he had turned over two spades, I would have kicked myself. I’m concerned about my play on the river. Should I have bet out? Or, should I have re-raised when he bet 120k?

Vicky, via email

The raise to 25k is fine. Now, you know the big blind is a loose-aggressive player who will bet, so you check. He bets and you call – there’s certainly no harm in doing that. It’s very likely that your deuce is good. Now on the turn, you make a monster, which is also well camouflaged. Again, relying on your read, you check, knowing the big blind will bet out again.

Some people might re-raise at this point, but this is an opportunity to let a little more rope out for your opponent to hang himself with. Some may say it’s not text book poker to flat-call with two spades on the board, but what a fantastic opportunity this is to become chip leader.

A flat-call shows great restraint. The river is a scary card and does indeed put a possible flush out there, If you bet out, your opponent will fold if he has no hand. It would be very hard for him to reraise without a hand. If you check, you show a bit of weakness, inducing a bet. Now you can call, but reraising him at this point would be a cardinal error. If he has nothing he will just fold and you’ll win nothing more. Most importantly, he can only call you with a better hand like pocket 5s, pocket 6s or a flush. By reraising instead of calling, you would have put yourself needlessly at risk. So I think your play was spot on.

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.