What a Hand, What a Game!

I played in an interesting live game the other night, and I do mean live. It was a $10-25 with an automatic straddle of $50. The usual starting buy-in is around $5,000 but as the night progresses, buy-ins of $20,000 are common. It’s interesting to note that at Commerce or the Bellagio, the initial buy-ins are almost always in the 10-20k range for this size game, although some “short stack” it with 5k.

In this game one or two pre-flop raises is the usual case and most flops are seen with 3-5 players. Even with a large isolation re-raise you almost always get one or two callers. I would like to share a hand which occurred towards the end of the night. It had been an up and down night for me and I finally was solidly in the black, I was dealt A 3 of spades in the big blind. UTG+1 raises to $100 and three called when it came to me and with a suited ace in a 5-way pot, it’s an insta-call. So the flop comes the 4 5 of spades and the ace of clubs. I check and the initial raiser throws in $250 into a $500 pot. One-player folds and everyone else calls. Now you could make an argument for re-raising here, and it would be a good one, with top pair + a gutter-ball + the nut flush draw and perhaps getting 4:1 on my money it would be a hugely positive EV. However in this game the likelihood of getting paid off if I hit is very high and with the hands some of these guys play I am sure there is another lower flush draw and someone with 2 pair, so controlling the pot size doesn’t hurt me here.

The turn brings a red 2 and gives me the wheel, and with the redraw to the nut flush or perhaps even a straight flush, I felt pretty good. The same initial raiser guy bets $250 and with 2 callers in front of me I raise $500. I picked this amount because I wanted to keep in the flush draws and as long as the board doesn’t pair I feel invincible. Guess what, they all call. The river brings a red king, and although I would have preferred the 2 of spades or any non-pairing spade, it was a good card for me.

With $6,000 in the pot I try to pick a value bet that will keep at least one or two of them in so I bet $1,500 and try to make it look like a missed flush bluff. To my complete surprise, two call and the last guy raises $1,500. Now the only hand that beats me is 3 6, and it he can’t be the 3 6 of spades because I have the 3 of spades. This surprises me and he could have AK or even a set. I decide to just call for two reasons, the first and main one being I wanted the others to call. I realize that in must normal situations there is no way someone is overcalling here, but this is not a normal game. Secondly maybe this guy did call pre-flop and on the flop with 3 6.

Yes sir, sure enough he had 3 6 off-suit. So there went my profit for the night. Somehow I managed to break even for the night. I guess I should have raised the flop, but hindsight is always 20/20 and who knows he might have called and I get stacked off.