1. 2008-06-25 08:12:29

   Ask And You Shall Receive (Thank You, Poker Gods)

   Adrian made me go to Lucky Chances tonight to play 1-1-2 NL, even though I wanted (yes, wanted) to work and had a million things to do at home. I rescheduled the home projects with Garrett, and we were on our way. We stopped by the Steelhead Brewery, and I had a salad (yes, salad) and no coke (yes). I am two days in to no drinking sugars and things that turn into sugars. BTW, I'm hungry right now :/

   So, isn't that a nice story? Yeah, it is. I figure not many people read this anyway, so if I feel like telling a pointless story, I might as well. To those of you who actually read this, I apologize and will get to the point now.

   Shortly after sitting down with my $200, I take some small pots, get lucky with and beat pocket eights, and take somebody out with . Awesome. But then I go right back down to even after making a terrible bluff into a set of nines. Oops.

   Weird Call

   I tighten up a bit and either raise to 12 or 16 or fold. No limping. I even raise with my crap and make a continuation bet about 75% of the time, regardless of the flop. This build me to about $300. I pick up on the button and 3 people limp in. I make it $16 to go, which was my "people limped in" raise. The guy two to my right pops it up to $40 and has about $50 behind. I decide he must have a small pocket pair (or is a genius with and I call. The flop is and he quickly goes all in. He seems to be a really good player, and I decided that he was probably planning to go all in if an ace didn't come up. I had been raising fairly frequently, so it seemed like an accurate read. I decided all of this as he was pushing his chips in and Phil Hellmuthed an insta-call. He was not happy, but didn't realize he was still ahead! The turn was a and I celebrated and threw my hand down face-up. Yessssssss. The turn was a just for fun and I scooped a nice pot. He showed .

   Bad Call?

   I pick up in the cutoff and limp in (this one is for you, Nick). The big blind raises to 12 and a couple people call, so I do, too. The flop is - I just flopped a straight flush draw with a pair. The raiser bets $20 or so and the guy on his left goes all in for $68. I think and think and think, and decide I can't fold, even though I really felt like my flush draw was compromised.

   It turns out the raiser had and the other caller had , so I was practically drawing dead. Crazy!! I had a straight flush draw but instead of 15 outs I had only 2. The turn was the magical to give me hope (now 12 outs for the full house and straight flush), but, alas, I didn't hit. Wow.

   Would you fold to the $68 with that draw? And with a bad beat jackpot of over $150k if four-of-a-kind loses? One of those guys could have had pockets...

   Finally, Straight Flush

   I was feeling randy after building my stack to over $400 and limped in on the button with . I did have a dollar in :p

   The flop was - I flopped the nuts (but there was a flush draw). The small blind bet out all in for about $28 and another player flat-called, so I just called. I wanted to be able to get away if the flush came. The turn was the , so the board was paired and the flush draw came. The other player went all in for about another $60 (this is the same guy who made the move with the underpair nines). I didn't like it, but I decided I wasn't going to believe, and besides, if I was wrong, I always had the straight flush draw. Obviously, the river was the and I yelled "oh my god". I thought we could have a possible bad beat, but it turns out both my cards have to play. Small blind shows for the rivered (losing) full house and the other player shows for a flopped baby straight. BTW, he flopped 2 other straights and a flush earlier. Can't win them all, I guess :)

   Yay

   So I played a bit more, missed a good bluffing opportunity and decided to call it a night. And I was just saying the other day how I haven't had a straight flush in forever. Thanks, poker Gods!

   Questions

   1. Would you call with the ?
   2. How would you play the flop/turn differently with the flopped straight?

   Posted by Jason M at 2008-06-25 08:12:29

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Comments on “Ask And You Shall Receive (Thank You, Poker Gods)”

1. • Posted by Nick L g 2008-06-26 12:37:47
   • 

   • Dude it is the hand!!! of course you call with an open ended straight flush with a pair cause even if you would of called or you would of lead out on the flop then with the turn coming trips then that is a cooler and there isn't much you can do. No fault you flopped the nuts and was in the lead the whole hand it sucks for the guy rivering a full house but what are you going to do ha.

2. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-25 22:22:46
   • 

   • yup on the flush draw deck vs pot odds. tough one.

     definitely agree "you had to be there". still good to analyze mathematically and in general :) thanks!

3. • Posted by Graham g 2008-06-25 21:25:01
   • 

   • LOL on the headings for real...

     That you assumed the player left to act would call improves your odds from the pot, but probably decreases your odds from the deck. I think we can agree that it was a close call, regardless.

     Word on the 98. Being at the table is the X factor in forum discussion. I agree with your analysis.

4. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-25 20:45:17
   • 

   • I agree with the heading thing. I'm lazy at 1am, sorry! I'll try harder next time.

     I like cookies

     If I recall correctly the flop bettor had less than the $68, so I assumed he would call, which would make my odds better (unless he had the nuts, of course). It was not a lot of money compared to the pot, which is why I finally decided to call, even though I didn't like it.

     And ice cream

     Would it help on the 98 hand that when the guy pushed it in, he pushed it in the same way he did when he had the pocket nines, which were 3rd pair? It didn't seem like he had a mega-hand. So I decided to call. More importantly, the flat call was a mistake because he didn't have much behind. It was mostly pointless to consider folding to the rest of his stack. Like I said in response to K, after analyzing it, it didn't matter - the money was going in either way. BUT, I should have made him put his is "bad", so I should have raised.

5. • Posted by Graham g 2008-06-25 20:37:30
   • 

   • Let me take this opportunity to voice my dislike of giving the 'answer' in the paragraph heading. Everyone does it and it really takes away from the suspense, not to mention the ability to 'play along.' Think about if you were reading a book and the chapter headings told you what was going to happen. I guess sometimes they do, actually... and it's lame. I could go on, but I feel I've made my point.

     Anyway, on the J9 flop, I immediately thought of what could go (went) wrong. I felt like your pair was beat. A made straight seems quite possible. Axd and Kxd no so likely, but still there. I felt like your flush was good, but I wasn't at the table. My instinct was that the non-diamond kings weren't outs, but that still leaves you with 12. What's that, about 3 to 1 from the pot? Seems like you felt the original raiser was calling or all in-ing, is that the case? Would he have anything left? I'm left leaning marginally towards folding if you know the man left to act will call or re-raise.

     On the 98 hand, I thought, 'Are you insane!?' when you flat called the flop... and then proceeded to not get away when the flush (and full house) came. You have to make them pay to out draw you on a hand like that. Winning the pot right there >> losing the pot in the end.

6. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-25 18:44:57
   • 

   • I felt the same way with the , but still almost folded it. It flashed through my mind that my flush draw was compromised, and there was a bet and a raise. I think I would have folded had I not had a pair in addition to everything (which would at least beat the flush draw with no more improvement).

     You're probably right about going all in with the straight, but the pot had something like 100 in it and the guy only had 50 or so behind after he flat-called. I suppose if he was going to call for sure, I have no argument and I should get the money in while I'm best.

     I can't believe you got quads for your captcha!

7. • Posted by Krishna g 2008-06-25 08:30:43
   • 

   • I would call with J9. Too much of a draw. What are the odds you have all your outs compromised!!

     89 hand - I would probably go all in with straight and protect my hand.

     My captcha is 555. I have pocket quads - LOL.