Adventures From the NH Seacoast to the Jersey Shore

We have all seen it happen.  The guy(or gal) with pocket aces pushes all in after the flop, gets a couple of callers and is then forced to watch the river card crack another pair of aces.  I had something similar happen last night.  In my opinion, a bit uglier.  I should also start this by noting what is described below happened early in a tournament while the ratio of good:bad players is probably 1:5. 

After flopping top two pair(jacks and nines) my opponent bet out with $500.  I pushed all in figuring he held AJ or KJ.  Sure enough he had AJ and we then both watched the dealer peel off running Qs, effectively counterfieting my hand and sending me to the parking lot.  Could that hand have been played differently?  What if I waited to the turn?

Waiting to push after the turn card may provide you a much better picture where you stand and also give you the ability to do the right thing and lay your pre-turn monster down.  I think we are all pre-programmed to push all in pre-flop or after smashing a flop.  What about pushing after the turn? 

Before making this decision you must size up your opponent. The turn card was a Q.  Against an experienced player, a push after the turn may be the right move as his top pair top kicker has just been squashed.  AJ would be an easy laydown.  Against a less experienced player, they are most likely not going to get off the hand.  They don’t see the queen.  They are not calculating their outs.  Which by the way are now 10 (if I put them on AJ or KJ).  Pushing here has now gone from a dominating position to somewhat of a gamble.  Not something you want to put your tournament life on.

Your success in this game is not determined by the hands you win; but the hands you fold.   Putting your ego aside and making big laydowns(when necessary) should be an essential part of your game if you play on going deep and cashing in large field tournaments.  If you think you may be beat…you probably are.  You can always win the chips back…you cannot rebuy into the tournament.

Next time I feel the urge to push all my chips into the middle post flop, I think I am going to get a better understanding of where I stand and wait for that turn card.

Two days ago I entered a pot raising 3x the BB under the gun with a 6d-10d.  Yes..I know that is suicide..but I wanted to play some poker,  get the weak-mid strong aces out, see who was left and hit a flop.  One gentleman obliged and called my bet after everyone else folded.

The flop came Ks-9h-2c.  Wow! I totally missed that flop and guessed my opponent did as well so I bet out 400.  He smooth called me.   

The turn hits with a Jd, ok…now I am at least on a flush draw.  I still did not believe the card helped him so I bet out another 700.  My opponent called which left him with 300 behind.  The only thing going through my mind is that he as an ace and is just praying it hits.  The river card is a 5c and as expected my opponent throws his last 300 in.  I am left with nothing to do but call and get ready for the public humiliation of showing my hand.

I flip over my junk…my opponent flips over a pair of threes.  I could not believe it!  I was about to congratulate him until he sniped at me, “I knew you had nothing!”.  Believe me, this guy was no Nostradamus and I obviously had everyone else at the table with 1/2 a brain and respect for their chip stacks fooled.

This guy was not going away with the pair of threes, or probably would not have with an Ace as I suspected he had.  The idiom held true, you cannot bluff a donkey.  I should have layed down my hand after the flop; but I knew he had nothing.  I just did not have the sense to figure out his nothing was better than my nothing.

Next time at the table, be sure to sniff out those players as described above because they are the ones that will do the most damage to your stack.