Hand No. 13

This hand is an appropriate entry for No. 13. This hand is typical of the type of play you'll see with online play.

Second hand of an online tournament. Ten players at the table. The players involved in this hand all have a starting chip stack of 1,500 chips. The blinds start at 10/20. I am player C in this hand.

Players A & B fold. Player C limps in for 20. Player D folds. Player E calls for 20. Players fold to the Dealer who raises to 80. The blinds fold. Player C calls for 80, as does Player E. The pot is now 270.

The flop is A 9 2, with 2 spades. Player C bets 120 chips. Player E and the Dealer call. The pot is 630.

The turn is a 3 of diamonds. Player C bets 465. Player E calls and the Dealer calls. The pot is 2,025 chips.

The river is a 10 of spades. Player C checks. Player E goes all-in for 835 chips. The Dealer finally folds. Player C calls. The pot is 3,695 chips. Player C shows A 2, both hearts, for two pair. Player E shows J 5, both spades, for a flush. Player E wins the pot. Since Player C and Player E started the hand with equal stacks, Player C is now out of the tournament.

My thoughts on this hand:

Player C (me) limps in for 20 before the flop. There were no raised in front of Player C, and he was holding a suited Ace. A 2 is a little weak to be playing from early position, and often leads to problems when you pair your Ace as you are losing to anyone else with an Ace in their hand. Limping is okay, but you should be prepared to let it go if someone behind you raises big.

Player E calls with J 5, both spades. It is very common for online players to call with any two suited cards. I think online players like playing these type of hands, because if they can make a flush they are very likely to have the best hand.

The Dealer makes a big raise. The raise doesn't really represent much strength. With online play, I would imagine an player would make this raise in position holding anything from high pair, two high cards, any two suited cards, or two connected cards. This could also be a raise designed to represent strength, so that the raiser can take down the pot if the callers miss on the flop.

Player C calls the raise for another 60. This is a marginal call, but its probably justified on at least two fronts. First, we can't be sure A 2 isn't the best hand right now. As stated, the Dealer's raise could represent a wide range of holdings. Player E also limped, so Player E may not have much either. Second, the implied pot odds probably compels a call. If only the Dealer and Player C remain in the hand, then Player C is being offered to see a flop for an additional 60 chips and a total pot of 210. But since online play tends to be a little loose (or a very loose depending on your perspective), we could reasonably expect Player E to call the raise as well. In that case, Player C is being offered to see the flop for 60, and a total pot of 270 chips. Those pot odds make the call with A 2 okay. So I elected to call, prepared to get away from the hand if the flop was all blanks.

Instead, the flop hit Player C upside the head. The flop gave Player C two pair, while Player E now had a flush draw that would probably win the hand if a third spade appears on the board. We did not see what the Dealer was holding. Player C leads out for 120, or a little less than half the pot. I made the bet hoping to elicit a raise out of a player holding an Ace in their hand. My mistake is I did not make a big enough bet to deny Player E the pot odds for drawing to his flush. Although based on his call on the turn, I am not certain Player E would have folded to any bet. So Player E called the bet, as did the Dealer.

The turn was the 3 of diamonds. At this point, I am reasonably certain I am still in the lead. I am also sure at least one of the remaining players is holding a flush draw, while the other player probably has an Ace in his hand, or a high pair below the Ace on the board. Player C makes a bet of 465. This bet was about 3/4 of the pot and was intended to chase away the flush draws. Instead Player E quickly called. The Dealer also called. At this point I start to feel like I may be getting slow-played by one of the players.

I suppose I could have gone all-in on the turn. I figured someone was on a flush draw, so I could have protected myself by forcing that player to risk all of his chips before seeing the final card. There are two problems with that strategy. First, I am not sure Player E would have folded anyway. Player E seemed happy to risk large portions of his stack chasing his limited outs. Second, going all-in would potentially deny me extra bets if the other players held just a pair of aces or smaller two pairs. In the long run, I don't think going all-in at this point is the most profitable play. So, I made a decent size bet and took my chances with the river card.

The river was a disaster. The 10 of spades completed the flush draw. I had several options acting first. I could go all-in, I could check, or I could make a bet - probably in the area of 500 chips. I elected to check to see what Player E would do with the Dealer still to act behind him. Player E went all-in for his remaining chips. The Dealer folded, and I was now 90% sure Player E had two spades in his hand. Nevertheless, I elected to call, hoping instead Player E had an Ace in his hand. I wasn't shocked to see the J 5, as I often see online players calling big raised with any two suited cards.

Ultimately, I feel it was a mistake to call the all-in on the river since I was so sure Player E had the flush. Had I folded, I would still be alive in the tournament with 835 chips. Since the blinds were still 10/20, I still had ample time and opportunity to come from behind.

I won't try to justify Player E's play in this hand. Player E's strategy is a losing one over the long run, as he won't make his flush most of the time. However, I will try to explain his strategy. As I mentioned, playing with any two suited cards gives you two ways to win a hand. You'll either make a weird two-pair that will be hard to recognize, or maybe two of your cards will hit the board giving you a disguised three of a kind. Alternatively, you can hope to make a flush that more often than not will be the best hand. Again most often these cards won't connect and the player can get out of the hand. In this instances where you do connect, you could win a substantial pot. In this case, Player E ended the hand with about 3,700 chips. He now had a dominating chip stack and was in great position for the remainder of the tournament.

What do you expect out of online players? Feel free to compare notes in the comments section. Thanks for reading.

Hand No. 12

This hand demonstrates the inherent danger of playing less than premium hands.

Blinds are 100/200, and its still early in this tournament. I have already devoted a lot of space in prior entries discussing how the rebuy option affects play and strategy, so I won't further belabor the point, other than to say all the players involved in this hand still had the option to rebuy. Each player has close to their starting stack of 16,000 chips.

Player A folds. Player B raises to 600. Player C raises to 1,600. Player D folds, Player E calls. Play folds around to Player B, who calls the extra 1,000 chips. The pot is 5,100.

The flop is Q J 4, with 2 clubs. Player B bets 2,000, Player C calls, and Player E folds. The pot is now 9,100.

The turn is the 8 of diamonds. Player B bets 4,000. Player C goes all-in for another 7,000 chips. Player B calls and just has Player C covered. The pot is 31,100 chips. Player B shows J 10, with no flush possibility. Player C shows pocket Jacks. Player B needs only a 9 to make a straight and win the pot.

The river is a 10. Player C's trip Jacks beats Player B's two pair, and Player C wins the pot.

My thoughts on the hand:

Player B makes a raise from early position with J 10. This is a pretty marginal hand to play from early position. You are only going to be called by hands that are beating you. Or worse, you might get a re-raise and then be forced to either dump the hand or commit more chips to the pot with a losing hand. In this case, Player B saw a re-raise and a call of the raise. Nevertheless, Player B calls with likely the third best hand.

A lot of players like to play with J 10. The player hopes to flop a straight or a draw to a straight with high cards on the board that pair their opponent's holdings. You see this type of play online quite often. Players will call a pre-flop raise with J 10, hoping their opponent is playing A K or something similar. The player has two live cards, and the player is hoping to make a pair on the flop while their opponent misses on the flop. This play can be quite profitable, because a lot of online players holding A K become committed to the pot and will often go all-in after the flop, even if they don't make a pair. At the end of the day, A K is still just two unpaired cards, and a lot of players get busted committing themselves to the hand. But this entry isn't about A K.

The flop gave a Player B a pair, which might give him the lead if Player C re-raised with A K or a smaller pair. Player B decides to see where he stands and bets 2,000. Player C just calls with a set of Jacks. The call by Player C disguises the strength of his hand, and may have given Player B the impression Player C was playing a flush draw. There is an argument for Player C to raise on the flop due to the presence of straight and flush possibilities. But those possibilities are unlikely, and a raise might scare away hands like what Player B is holding.

The turn gives Player B a inside straight draw to go with his pair. Player B bets 4,000 chips. Player C decides to go all-in at this point. Here, I think going all-in is the right play. Player B had already committed almost half his chips to the pot, and its going to be hard for Player B to get away from the hand unless he has been bluffing the whole time. Player C is also making Player B pay to draw if he has been playing with 2 clubs or something like K 10. It is probably correct for Player B to call the all-in. Player C is unlikely to be holding three of a kind (although this time he is), so Player B may believe his outs include the remaining Jacks, Tens, and the Nines. Player B still has a rebuy option to boot. Unfortunately for Player B, his only outs are the four remaining Nines.
Even if Player C only calls the bet on the turn, all the chips would have gone in on the river, where Player B makes two pair.

Playing hands like J 10 take a lot of discipline and skill. Even if you pair your Jack on the flop, there are a number of hands that have you beat, including higher pairs and Jacks with better kickers. Raising with hands like J 10 may be appropriate, but you have to be able to let the hand go if you meet resistance of if your straight potential is low. Alternatively, these hands can pay off well when you do make your straight. For some players, J 10 is their "favorite hand," and I admit I like to play the hand as well - just not from early position.

What's your favorite hand or hands? Sound off in the comments section, and thanks for reading.