Undisciplined play costs ‘Hero’

Being an ambassador for the poker hand-sharing app Share My Pair, I have the opportunity to review hands submitted by users. This hand from a small-stakes tournament illustrates an important concept you must master if you want to succeed at poker.

With blinds at 800-1,600 plus a 200 ante, an aggressive player called from the button. The small blind (I’ll refer to him as Hero) raised to 4,000 with Ah 6s. The big blind folded, and the button called.

Hero should have made a bigger raise, perhaps to 5,000. When facing a raise of only 2,400 on top of his 1,600 limp, the button will call with his entire pre-flop raising range. Generally, when you’re out of position, you want opponents to fold. This should lead you to a raise size that pressures your opponent to fold.

The flop came Qh 8h 6c, giving Hero bottom pair, top kicker and a backdoor nut flush draw. He bet 4,500, and the button called.

Either betting or checking this flop is acceptable. If the button is a player willing to call with a wide range of hands and then apply pressure on the later streets, Hero should check. If the button is the type to play in a straightforward manner when facing a bet (raising with premium hands and folding everything else), Hero should bet. Generally, hands with marginal showdown value should be checked, because if you bet and get called, you usually will be in bad shape.

The turn was the 2d. Hero bet 8,000. The button called.

As with the flop, I don’t like a bet in this situation against competent players, because their calling range will include only decent made hands that Hero loses to and draws that have a lot of equity vs. Hero’s weak pair. If Hero checked, the button might turn many of his weak draws into semibluffs, making it reasonable for Hero to call. Quite often, the turn will check through, allowing Hero to checkcall all non-heart rivers. Checking also takes away the button’s ability to raise the turn, which would force Hero to fold.

The river was the 3s. Hero checked. The button bet 15,000, and Hero decided to fold.

This was a tough spot because Hero’s turn bet didn’t do much to narrow the button’s range, meaning the button should have all busted draws (which Hero beats) in his river range. The tough part is knowing whether the button will bluff in this manner with some of his missed draws. Some players will play their value hands and bluffs the same way. Others will vary their bet sizes, making one bet size with bluffs and another with value hands. If Hero thinks the button will make the same size bet with his entire range, he has an easy call because he only needs to win 23 percent of the time to break even, based on the pot odds. If Hero thinks the button will only make a bet of this size with value hands, Hero should fold because he loses to all value hands.

After folding, the button showed Jh 9d for a bluff (and a very optimistic turn call).

If Hero elected to check the flop or turn, he might have been able to see a somewhat cheap showdown. Of course, the button could have run a sizable bluff, betting all three streets and pushing all in on the river, but most players aren’t willing to risk their tournament life on an all-in river bluff.

If Hero played more cautiously, he would have won a medium-sized pot. Instead, he lost a mediumsized pot and was exploited by his opponent.