Reactive play isn’t ideal but can still be a winner

In early October, I was in the Los Angeles area and paid my first- ever visit to The Gardens, formerly known as Hawaiian Gardens. I had the opportunity to sit down in a $5-$5 no-limit hold ‘em game featuring a buy-in of $300 to $600. I sat down with $500 and immediately got to work spinning it up.

One hand that stuck with me happened when an aggressive player opened for $20 and another player called. I then called holding 6h 7s in the cutoff seat.

I know, I know: It’s not a great hand, and I shouldn’t have been in there. Nonetheless, I called for two reasons. First, I knew I was likely to win a big pot if I connected. (These weren’t the type of players to give up easily.) Second, the table dynamics suggested other players would join the fracas. Indeed, the player on the button called, as did the player in the big blind to make it five-way action.

The flop came 6d 3h 7c, which gave me top two pair. Action checked to the original raiser and he continued for $65. The limper folded, and I decided to just call, hoping one of the other players might make a move. As it happened, the player on the button came along, and the big blind got out of the way.

The Ah peeled off on the turn, and the original raiser slowed down with a check. I could have and maybe should have bet here, but I thought checking opened two doors: Either the button would make a move, in which case I would check-raise, or I could go for value on the river.

The Qs river was interesting, as it put another big card out there. The original raiser checked for the second time, and even though I had planned to go for value, my gut told me to check. I can’t explain it, but I just had a feeling the button would take a stab at it, which he did to the tune of $140. Much to my surprise, the original raiser called.

This suddenly became a tricky spot for me. I figured one of them had either a pair of aces or a pair of queens, but going up against both of them was an added wrinkle. Was it possible someone flopped a straight? Maybe a set? Did someone make a better two pair somehow?

I only had around $290 total and figured that if I moved all in, I’d only get called by a better hand. I just called, and the button showed 9d 9c for one pair. I then tabled my two pair, and the original raiser mucked his hand.

I was happy to win the $700-plus pot, but the way I played the hand was less than optimal. I gave my opponents every chance to catch up and used my strong hand to play defense instead of offense. I’d much rather be acting than reacting like I did here.