One of the most fascinating aspects of hold'em is that top players frequently disagree. There are several poker sites where players can post specific problems. Some of the longest and most contentious discussions occur when two or more experts have differing opinions on how a hand should have been played. I believe there is a lot to be learned from following these discussions.
The following hands were taken from live games I played in or from Internet posting sites. In every case, I got differing opinions from a variety of top players, as well as other poker writers.
As always, not all of the plays leading up to the problem in question are necessarily correct, but they are usually reasonable. To make things more interesting, you may want to cover up the answer, decide for yourself what you would do, and compare your rationale with that of the "experts."
Hand No. 1 ($30-$60 game): You are in the big blind with the A
Q. Two early-position players, a middle-position player, the cutoff, the button, and the small blind limp in. You raise and everyone calls. There is $420 in the pot and seven players. The flop arrives with the K
9 2
, giving you an overcard with a backdoor nut-flush draw. The small blind checks. What should you do?
Answer: There was lots of controversy on this one. A top $30-$60 pro argued passionately that you must bet. You have represented a big hand with your preflop raise, and this board would help the hand you are representing. If you check, a player with middle or bottom pairs may correctly believe that his hand is the best. If the flop were more coordinated, checking would be fine, but with this flop, you should bet and continue betting until someone says "stop" by raising. Most of the other experts thought checking was right. One in particular thought leading out was insane, since you are leading into six opponents with nothing.
In the actual hand, the player checked and it was checked around. The turn was the 8, giving the player the nut-flush draw. He bet and got called by the cutoff. The river was the 3. He bet, got called, and lost when his opponent showed the A 9 for a pair of nines.
Hand No. 2 ($30-$60 game): You are under the gun with the J J. You open with a raise. The player on your immediate left calls. It is then folded to the blinds, who call. There is $240 in the pot and four players. The flop is 9 7 6
, giving you an overpair. The small blind comes out betting, the big blind folds, you raise, and both remaining players call. There is $420 in the pot and three players. The turn is the Q. The small blind bets. What should you do?
Answer: I received answers from seven different experts on this problem. Some thought raising was right, others would call, and some would fold. The experts who thought raising was correct were two world-class high-limit players (one of them won the World Series of Poker championship) and a top pro who averages about $75 per hour. They thought the turn card was much more likely to be giving the bettor some kind of a draw than a made hand. Had the turn card been a 10, 9, 8, or maybe a 5, it would have been a real scare card. Even the Q would have been scarier than a queen that put a two-flush on the board. They argued that the Q looks too much like a come card, unless the small blind had specifically Q-9. They would raise because they want to drive out the third player, since their hand is vulnerable to overcards. The experts who thought calling was correct were another top $30-$60 pro as well as a well-known high-limit player. Their reasoning was that they could not be sure where they stood, so they thought simply calling was the best action. The other two experts are prominent poker writers. They thought it would depend upon what you knew about the bettor and how likely you thought it would be for him to make a semibluff bet here. According to them, folding is reasonable for two reasons. First, when you are trailing, you are looking at two outs. Second, when you are in the lead, you will frequently get overtaken anyway, given that board.
In the actual hand, the player folded and the third player called. The river was the K, and it was checked down. The small blind won with the 9 8 for a pair of nines. Obviously, the player folded the winning hand. It's worth noting that there were 19 river cards (eight spades, three nonspade tens, three nonspade fives, two nines, and three eights) that would beat pocket jacks. This number does not include whatever additional outs the third player may have had.
Hand No. 3 ($30-$60 game): You are in the cutoff seat with the A Q. The player sitting right next to you opens with a raise. What should you do?
Answer: Arguments raged over whether you should three-bet or simply cold-call. To some experts, three-betting was very clear. You don't want the button, the small blind, or the big blind in the pot. You want to be heads up with position. Another group of experts thought that simply cold-calling was right. They disagreed that getting extra dollars in the pot from the blinds was worse than blowing them out. They argued that there is a huge difference between A-Q and a hand like 9-9, for instance. With 9-9, you are very vulnerable to overcards and want to eliminate opponents. But a hand like A-Q plays OK in a four- or five-way pot.
Hand No. 4 ($30-$60 game): A poker writer asked for opinions on his play of the following hand. He was in the big blind with the K K. An early-position player limped, a middle-position player raised, the cutoff called, the button three-bet, and everyone called. There was $540 in the pot and six players. The flop 8 8 3, giving him two pair. It was checked to the preflop raiser, who bet. It was folded to the button, who called, the small blind called, and he raised. The early-position player folded, the preflop raiser called, and all the other players folded. There was $720 in the pot and two players. The turn was the 9. He bet and his opponent called. There was $840 in the pot. The river was the J. He bet and won when his opponent folded. Did he play this hand correctly?
Answer: Not really, according to three experts, two of whom are high-limit players. They argued that slow-playing a very strong hand like pocket kings is a bad idea. They would have four-bet preflop and simply bet out all the way. They figured that the player cost himself several bets by playing the way that he did. With pocket queens or jacks, they could agree with not four-betting, but not with kings or aces. However, a second group of experts thought he played just fine. Not four-betting with bad position and lots of opponents conceals the strength of his hand and allows him to play more effectively post-flop. The check-raise on the flop was good, since it helps eliminate players and increases his chances of winning the pot. He might have considered waiting until the turn to check-raise, since this was not a drawing flop, but was rainbow, paired, and disjointed. If the board were something like 8 7 3, check-raising was even better, since you would eliminate gutshots.
Hand No. 5 ($20-$40 game): This hand came from a very loose and aggressive $20-$40 game. Our hero is in the big blind with the Q 6. He gets a free play after an early-position player, two middle-position players, the cutoff, and the button all limp in. The cutoff is a loose, unpredictable player. The button is a solid player. There is $130 in the pot and six players. The flop is Q 7 5, giving him top pair with a flush draw. He bets, and a middle-position player, the cutoff, and the button call. There is $210 in the pot and four players. The turn is the 2, giving him a queen-high flush. He bets $40, the middle-position player folds, the cutoff raises to $80, and the button makes it $120. What should he do?
Answer: Most of the experts thought calling was right, but a few thought folding was reasonable. Those who advocated folding argued that between the raiser and the three-bettor, someone must have a bigger flush. How could a "solid player" be three-betting with the fourth-nut flush? In fact, the initial reaction of most players when faced with this situation is to fold without a second thought. But this is one situation in which taking a "timeout" and thinking about what has happened is critical. If someone had an ace-high or king-high flush, he would have flopped a big flush draw with an overcard from late position. In a loose, aggressive game like this, he might have raised the flop bet with 12 outs to a big flush as well as top pair. The absence of a flop raise tends to deny a higher flush being out there. So, what is going on? The loose, unpredictable player might well be raising with a set or two pair, hoping his hand is good and having outs if he gets called or reraised by a made flush. He could even have something like a pair with the A, figuring that no one can three-bet him because they cannot have the nut flush. The solid player may well recognize this fact and be three-betting a smaller flush, hoping to move the bettor off his hand and get it heads up with the loose goose.
In the actual hand, our hero folded instantly, and the cutoff called. The river was a blank and it was checked down. The button won with the J 9, while the cutoff had flopped a set of sevens.
Hand No. 6 ($30-$60 game): You are on the button with the 8 8. The cutoff opens with a raise and you three-bet. Only the big blind and the cutoff call. There is $290 in the pot and three players. The flop is J 8 3, giving you middle set. The big blind checks, the cutoff checks, and you bet. The big blind now raises and the cutoff folds. Rather than three-bet, you decide to just smooth-call, planning to pop him on the turn when the price doubles. There is $410 in the pot and two players. The turn is the 6. He bets, you raise, and he calls. There is $530 in the pot. The river is the 10. He bets, you raise, and he makes it three bets. What should you do?
Answer: Opinion was evenly divided between four-betting and just calling.
The experts who advocated four-betting said: "Let us go through the hands that beat yours, one at a time. You lose to Q-9. But would your opponent check-raise the flop bet with a gutshot and a third player in the hand given the power sequence shown preflop? It seems very unlikely. How about 9-7? Would he have called two more bets out of his big blind with 9-7 and check-raised the flop bet? This appears even more unlikely than the first case. How about pocket jacks? With this hand, he would have had the nuts on the turn and would have clearly three-bet you as opposed to just calling. How about pocket tens, giving him a set of tens at the river? Given a jack-high flop, he would not have check-raised the flop and led out on the turn with just a pair of tens. The only hand he can have that makes sense, given the betting, is something like J-10, which you can beat. Four-betting is clear."
The experts who advocated calling thought that they could not count the times they kept raising someone who couldn't have the nuts or anything close to it, only to have their opponent show it to them! Sometimes you need to reassess the situation in the face of repeated raising. Your river raise showed more than an overpair. Four-betting means you are risking two bets to win one, since you will be obliged to make a crying call if he pops you again.
In the actual hand, the player just called and won as his opponent showed J-10 for the top two pair.
Editor's note: Jim Brier has co-authored a new book with Bob Ciaffone entitled Middle Limit Holdem Poker. It is available through Card Player.