$5/$5 Live Hand

[zaaaaaak]

I was up $1700 this month playing .25/.50 NL on Pacific. I decided to go to my local card room where there was a $5/$5 full table NL game. After scoping out the table play, I realized it was a very soft table with lots of limping in and checking down.

I sat with $200. This came up in the first hand.

I was dealt Ks-10s in late position. I limped in with about 5-6 players in the pot, so the pot is about $30 preflop.

The flop comes K-10-6 rainbow.

It checks around to me and with only the button to act behind me, I bet out $25. It folds around to the last guy who just calls the bet.

Note: While scoping out the table, I had seen this same guy call off about $150 of his stack with A-J on a Q-K-3 flop trying to hit a gutshot and then revealing his hand in frustration of not hitting after his opponent's big river bet.

The turn comes 8 and now the board is completely rainbow. He checks again and I bet $55 into an $80 pot. He calls.

The river is a 7 for a board of K-10-6-8-7 and he immediately slams a stack of $100 in front of him. I look down at my final $115 and go into the tank. Did this guy call me down with a gutshot? Maybe Q-J trying to push me around. The only legitimate hand I could imagine was K-9, maybe.

The pot is $290 with his bet and I am putting $100 in to win an almost $400 pot.

Having a pretty good read that he wanted a call here, I thought for about a minute and decided to muck and fight my way back. What do you think?

[johnny_fish]

Easy call with those odds.

[lamaros]

I think you can fold it with that read... but not most of the time. You have to consider 2pair.

I also think you can bet a little more on the turn with that read.

[michael1123]

Sounds like you were kind of playing scared, playing at MUCH higher stakes than you're used to online. I understand your reasoning, but the pot odds are such that you need to be 75% sure that you're beat to fold.

Even if you feel more than 75% sure that he has a hand, the guy is obviously a fish, and he could very well have K7 or T7 and think he has a monster. But the main thing is just that being that this is the first hand you've played with him (watching is different), its probably not possible to have a good enough read on him to lay this down and have it be a +EV fold. From what you've said, you haven't even seen how this guy looks when he bluffs.

Did you have more money to be able to re-buy in, assuming you lost your buyin? 200 is a pretty damn low buyin anyway, and if that was all you brought with you / were willing to spend, you probably shouldn't have been in the game. At the local 2-2-5 game, I can't count the number of players I've seen buyin for 100 or 200 and then bustout within an hour and leave the game. Maybe once or twice have I seen one of these players actually build a stack and keep it. 500 is a good amount to buyin for. 200 is only ok as long as you have more with you, are willing to rebuy, and are more comfortable playing a shorter stack. Bringing 1k with you would be optimal. If you're not comfortable bringing / losing at least 500, you probably shouldn't be playing in the game.

I have a feeling you would've called had you been properly rolled for the game, in terms of both actual BR and the amount of money you had on you.

[zaaaaaak]

Turns out I made the correct laydown. He showed me 8-9 after I mucked and I felt pretty good about the fold even though it was tough to fold to those odds. I only folded because I was more than 80% positive I was beat right here (I got paid off huge by this guy later on due to his terrible play), and I knew from watching I could double up a couple times and start dominating the table.

About the sitting with $200 issue, I brought 200 thinking I was going to be playing $1/$2 NL, but found out there was only a $5/$5 game. After watching, I decided I could break the table. I would only have to double up early so I could have a decent stack. Plus, the largest stack on the table was around 450 when I sat down, the average stack hovering around 250-350. So I wasn't in too bad of shape here.

Also, my reasoning for not betting pot size on the turn was because I wanted to badly price him into calling while still not scaring him off the hand. Turns out I probably could have bet 80 here and still got a call, which would have made it way tougher to muck on the river.

I ended up doubling back up to around $220 the second hand, and eventually cashed out with $800.