How would you play this poker hand?

[Giants Fan 85]

I love hands that are kinda connected. 79 9J 10Q KJ ...etc., because when you hit your straight with them, it's harder for your opponent to see.

 

So today, 1/2 NL at the casino, I have 8Jo and the flop come 7 9 10 rainbow. Perfect! I have a read on my opponent that he will chase hands if I make the bets small enough. I want to build the pot, so I bet 5 (pot is like 8) and he calls.

 

Turn is another 10. About the worst card that could fall because 9 10 or even 10 7 now has me beat. Still I am relatively confident that my straight is good, I bet 25. He calls.

 

River is another 9. I check and he kinda shrugs his shoulders and says ... I check, I know right away what he has. Can you figure it out?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full house. He had a 9. but not a 10. If he has a 10 he bets there, he's worried I have a 10, so he can't bet. He had 95 off. So, did I play it badly? I don't think I can make him fold on the river. Maybe if I go all in on the turn ... but he might call, or like I said earlier, already had me beat with 9 10.

 

Stack sizes were about equal at 150. The turn is my only real chance to get him off the hand, but don't I want him calling with 2 pair there? I made a bet that was a little more than the pot, hoping he calls and an ace falls on the river. Anything that doesn't pair the board. Then I bet 50 on the river .... and he might call with 2 pair.

[rholio 339]

Sounds like you played it okay, there's just hands that are going to take your money. You could have gotten rid of him after the flop most likely, but that's when you want him sticking around.

[Giants Fan 85]

Sounds like you played it okay, there's just hands that are going to take your money. You could have gotten rid of him after the flop most likely, but that's when you want him sticking around.

 

Yeah, I think only losing $32 to his runner, runner isn't that bad. All I could do is show my hand and say, "You got there."

 

Then he said, "If I bet on that river do you call?" and I was all, "No way! With 2 pair on the board?"

 

I had bluffed him off a hand earlier, and I bluffed him off another one later. That hand is actually worth telling to.

 

Splash pot. House added $50 to the hand. Everyone limps. I look down at 57o and limp too. The guy to my left at the table and I have a deal that if either of us win a splash pot, we give the other one $25. I'm on the button, so he's first to act, and I'm last.

 

Flop is like 2 6 7. Decent flop for me, I forget who bet first, but like 4 of us see the turn. It's a Q. My friend to my left makes a decent bet, 20 or so, one caller and I call ... strictly pot odds here, I might spike a 7 on the river. River is a K. My friend goes all in for like his last $15, other guy calls. Now, I've got a pretty good read on both of them. I'm almost sure both have a Q. I am worried he has my friend out kicked ... and I see he has like $40 left. "How much is that? $40?" and he confirms. "I raise .... $40 more." and he starts squirming in his seat. "Why would he do that unless he had a king?" he says. He flashes a Q and folds. I show ... just my 7 ... and muck when my friend shows QJ.

 

One guy at the table who I have played with many times said. "Why would he do that? He was giving the other guy protection."

 

I didn't say anything .... and later my friend not only gave me $25, but also gave me $15 more because I lost some chips to him with that protection move. If the guy who folded was telling the truth he had a weak kicker anyway, so it didn't make a difference (besides the $40 side bet he woulda won). Worked like a charm though. He mighta had AQ.

 

My friend actually won both splash pots today, so that $50 helped my bottom line .... only down $130. That straight cracked, and twice I had trips and was out kicked. Those 3 hands killed me today.

[Giants Fan 85]

I also pointed out my first marked card to a dealer today. Kinda cool.

 

I have rx sunglasses and I noticed right away there was a little white spot on the back of this card. In case anyone else sees it, or marked it, I make sure my next card covers the spot. Then I look at my hand and it's the ace of clubs. My other card is the 8 of clubs. I ended up folding the hand ... but I pointed the card to the dealer and the floor came over and we changed decks.

 

Someone said, "Nice! You spotted that wearing sunglasses?" and I said "Well, they are prescription." and several people laughed ... and I said, "No ... seriously. They are." If it's too dark to wear them, I wear regular glasses. These sunglasses are awesome ... Ray Ban curved lenses deal which also makes my perhiperal (sp?) vision 20/20. I'd bet they would expose a shade marked card ... I can see patterns in window tints that you can't see with the naked eye.

 

ETA: A shaded card is a marked card that you can only see the pattern wearing special sunglasses.

[nobody 2,672]

You know that's collusion right?

[nobody 2,672]

Also, next time you spot a marked card, don't say sh¡t.

[Giants Fan 85]

Also, next time you spot a marked card, don't say sh¡t.

 

I was thinking that, but I wasn't sure I could spot it across the table, and if I am wasting an effort looking for this card ... I was also huge stacked in this tournament at the time ... and just figured it was best to eliminate it.

 

Also, it just makes me look good to point it out.

[Giants Fan 85]

You know that's collusion right?

 

My buddy was even counting out the chips and was looking at me all excited and I just said, "Later." Occasionally we do hand each other chips under the table. And there was one hand today .... this is really cheating and I have told him before not to do this.

 

I had J7 and the flop comes J22. He bets ... 2 callers ... comes around to me and he pokes me in the leg. I know right away he has a 2 and I fold. But I was gonna fold anyway, J22 .. bet $8 ... call, call .... J7 is no good. Somebody has a 2 or has me outkicked (or both in this case). I told him again, "Don't do that anymore. I was gonna fold there anyway."He plays so tight, I know he's not betting there without something better than J7, and the 2 callers confirm it is a fold, but I am still gonna think about it for 10 seconds. He won the hand with 2 4.

 

Next time he does that, I'm just gonna come over the top all in ... and unless he has the nuts, he'll fold.

[Giants Fan 85]

It's a good idea to make friends with the old guy regulars. Once you become a regular .... it's like that scene in Rounders .... we aren't there to play against each other ... we are there to eat up the new guys. I don't bluff my friends, and they don't bluff me.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PvL-B7aoHo&feature=related

 

But sometimes dealers will be nitty about things. A dealer wouldn't let me play my BB in that tournament I made $1300 in because I wasn't "in my seat when the last card was dealt." Later she brought it up, "You did Ok the other day right?" and I said, "Huh?" and she said, "The tournament ... you made the final table." and I said, "Yeah." and she said, "Good. So that hand I didn't let you play didn't matter." and I almost said, "No that's why I only tipped $25." but I just said, "I still think that was a little uncool. That mighta been the hand that made me the big stack," and she said, "But it also could have knocked you out." and I said, "That's true."

 

I was playing with her today. She should stick to dealing. One of the dealers also made the final chop in that tournament. They allow the dealers to play, but they don't get comp hours. Most the hands I have been in with dealers, I have a monster because I assume they have seen me play more than anyone else ... one of them is just super aggressive gambling addict. He'll stay up for 24 hours playing poker. A couple of them are actually pretty good players

[Giants Fan 85]

It should be noted that this is the same injun casino where someone, in a tournament, exposed their cards (2 black aces) and it was clear he was folding (567 all hearts on the flop) and said, "These are no good huh?" and I assumed that was a fold and said, "That depends on the next 2 cards." and I showed my pocket fours (no hearts) and he said, "I didn't say I fold .... I call!" and they let him call, and he won the hand, but they gave him a 10 minute penalty.

 

 

I actually brought it up to the poker room manager today, 6 months later, but I've seen it more than once. He said, in 5 years nobody has brought it up. It's just easier. If you intentionally expose your cards in a tournament, your hand should be dead. It's not allowed ... even under the existing house rules, but the house rules do NOT say the hand is dead, to try and have it consistent with cash games where that is allowed with no action to come.

 

"It's your responsibility to protect your hand." was his response and it is good words to live by, lesson learned but .... the rule still sucks.

[Giants Fan 85]

Also, I think a good dealer would point that out right away, in a tournament. "You can't do that ... you are going to take a 10 minute penalty after this hand. Is that a call or a fold?"

 

I've seen people do it ... and I haven't said anything .... nobody said anything ... it's not my responsibility to enforce the rules.

 

I'm not nearly as nimble with cards as I am with chips .... but I hope they can hire me as a part time dealer at some point.

[IGotWorms 4,058]

I would do exactly what you did: run to a low-rent fantasy football message board, start yet another tread about yourself playing poker, and promptly post 10 replies in a row in it.

[Giants Fan 85]

I would do exactly what you did: run to a low-rent fantasy football message board, start yet another tread about yourself playing poker, and promptly post 10 replies in a row in it.

 

It's the only sensible thing to do.

 

 

ETA: Blowing off some steam. Thanks for reading.

[Giants Fan 85]

I explained to him ... another time ... this old guy was in a hand with this other old guy. All the way to the river. There's no pair, no flush .... K Q 10 and 2 other cards. I am not in the hand. One player goes all in. The other player thinks about .... says, "Damnit!" and throws his cards on the table .... not in the muck, just on the table in front of him and they flip face up. J 9 or maybe it was even AJ. And I said, "Wow ... you are folding the straight there?" and the dealer took his cards and turned them upside down and I said, "Wait a second, is that hand still live? Can he still call?" and they called the floor, they let him call but gave him a 10 minute penalty, and he did decide to call and the guy with 2 pair was pissed!

 

It's just a lot easier to say it's an automatic fold to expose your cards out of turn in a tournament.