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 KidPoker's (Apparently) Bad Call
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This post involves an interesting hand I played a couple of days ago while killing time in a two-table Sit & Go tournament. I'm posting this hand for two reasons. The first is that I would like to hear from a few advanced players about how they would have played this pot. The second is to demonstrate to players who are newish to the game that certains pots contain very subtle nuances that may not seem obvious at first glance. So, hope you enjoy and lemme' know.
P.S. to the Intro: Sorry if this post is longer than both volumes of "The Wealth of Nations".
So, here's the backround. I'm killing time in a $50 sit & go on PS before philosophy class on Tues. We're midway through the second level (blinds $15/30) and I'm comfortably situated w/ $2400 chips or so. The player immediately to my right was sitting on a stack of $1300 or so and was generally pretty awful. It became apparent to me that this player had roughly the poker I.Q. of a waffle iron. He made erratic and illogical bets with little regard for value or pot size and was suprisingly timid when pushed. This player will be henceforward refered to as WaffleIron, or WI for short.
With one limper, the action gets folded around to WI in the cutoff who makes a raise of 4x the BB ($120). I've got the button and am fortunate enough to get dealt 43, both clubs. For most this would seem like an attomatic fold, but being the silly, arrogant KidPoker I am, I decided to take a flop. My reasoning is this--I've got position on this player and am pretty certain I can outplay him on the flop. Secondly, if I call, the early position limper will probably come too, creating an OK sized pot for a hand of texture. There is of course also the possibilty that I will flop huge to my hand and win a monster pot off either the limper or my pal WI. So, anyway, I call and so does the limper.
The flop comes down J25 rainbow. Well, this wasn't exactly the monster flop I had envisioned, but then again it could be worse. After all, I am open-ended to the nuts which leaves me with a variety of creative plays I can employ if I sense weakness. Unfortunately and to my disgust, when checked to him WI decides to move in for all of his chips (roughly $1100 or so).
Well, this is most definately bizzare. I couldn't for the life of me imagine what hand would merit this play from ole' WaffleIron. From his previous play, I knew that he would not make this play with a J or probably any pair 5's or higher. He would definately try to extract some kind of value from his hand--even though it would certainly be in his own cooky way. It dawned on me that WI might hold something like AK or AQ, figuring that a jack probably helped neither of us and he could just pick up a nice pot by moving in right there. If this was the case, it would bring an entirely new element to this hand. That would mean that not only would any A or 6 win me the pot, but also any 4 or 3 might just be good too.
Now, by my estimation I have at least 8, but maybe up to 13 outs. Those being any of the three remaining A's (assuming one might be dead in WI's hand) any of the four 6's, or any of the three remaining 3 and 4's. I go from behind a 3:1 dog, a prohibitive favorite for calling in this spot to almost being, as Mike Sexton would say, in a coinflip for the pot.
The only problem here is the pot size. There is at this point roughly $1500 in the pot, but I would have to call off about half of my remaining $2300. Right now, I'm only getting 1.5:1 to call, which fankly isn't super-duper. I can't imagine that the limper would call here with an all-in raise and a call behind him--even with a J--so the pot's prolly not gonna' get bigger. Here's where you experienced players come in. Given my stack and odds, how would you proceed (being almost certain that your opponent held AK or AQ or something of that nature)? How would you apply your tournament theory to this call?
Well, after taking all this into consideration and knowing that it probably wasn't a Mensa caliber play, I went ahead and called. The limper quickly folded and WI turned over the AT of clubs. I was happy he held what I had suspected, but still suspended in trepidation. The turn was a blank and the river was a 3, thus shipping me a $2600 pot with a pair of 3's.
I don't even know if I LOVE my play. I probably could have been patient and busted WI on a later hand knowing his amentia worthy poker play. But still I am open to any suggestions and or comments about his play.
As I said earlier, this play is just an example of the many subtle complexities a hand can take on. For anyone who is new to the game, just remeber that it's important to analyze a big hand from every possible angle. Try to consider all of your opponents prior moves and take into consideration all of the posibilites. But most importantly, take your time. Quick call are usually bad ones. If you use those tools you find yourself making the correct laydown or call. Then again, you could be like KidPoker and make a "questionable call" at best.
So, that's it. Thanks for reading and thanks for your contributions and again appologies for the oppressive length on this post.
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