Sklansky Quiz

[baudib]

In his book Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, David Sklansky presents this hand:

In the middle of a NL tournament, two people limp in the pot, the blinds are 25/50. You have $5,000 and raise $200 with AhKh. The blinds fold and limpers call.

The flop is
Kd 8h 3s

Both players check, you bet $600, they both call. The turn is 2h. They both check.

Sklansky says you should bet $0, whether in a tournament or a sidegame, but that the mistake of betting is worse in a tournament. He says this is an application of the theory that you should not bet in last position or raise another bettor if you would hate him raising back. "The problem is you have a draw to the nuts but not the pot odds to call (an all-in bet)."

This was written in 2002, do you think this is still correct? I'm not sure if it was as common in tournament play in 2002 to call a raise oop with KT.

It seems we fear only two hands, 88 and 33. I agree that if you get repopped here it is almost certainly by a set.

However:
1. With no draw on the flop, there are few hands we can pick off bluffs with on the river by checking, unless it is a retarded 99 or something.
2. Limp-callers will have worse kings so, so often we lose value by checking.
3. It will be harder to extract value on the river if we make our backdoor flush.
4. Even if it is a set, often they will repop you for a minraise on the turn, which does give you pot odds to call.

Y/N?

[Jack Sawyer]

explain 1. wat?
explain 2. i expect you to explain your certainty.
explain 3. keep in mind its called backdoor. like anal.
explain 4. wat?

[baudib]

1. There's no busted draw that can bluff the river if we show weakness on the turn.
2. The range for limp-callers to continue on this flop includes many weaker kings.
3. Unless it's the Qh, KQ isn't felting very often on a three-flush board, even if it is backdoor. Although maybe that doesn't matter.
4. The pot is $1,200. Let's say you bet $1,000. Sometimes a set will minraise here, which would give you pot odds to draw to your flush. I suppose this is more common in cash games, whereas in a tournament a set is more likely to just push.

I guess with two callers on a dry flop the likelihood of a set is fairly high tho.

[DoanDiggy]

I think this is stakes-dependent. At low stakes, best here is probably BET BET BET since you will be called down by 84s or A3o (and of course Kx). At higher stakes, I really like checking behind the turn.

Question: How do you feel about a 3 river?

[AnTman_69]

only an uber nit would check behind TPTK with nut flush draw against a couple tourny donks.