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A Bold Bluff and a Sick Spot: Sin Melin Discusses Hands from 888Live London

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While at the recently completed 888Live Poker Festival London, our Sarah Herring caught up with English poker pro Sin Melin to discuss a couple of interesting hands from her Main Event run that unfortunately fell short on Day 2.

As Melin discusses below, the first was featured on the live stream, a three-way hand that after the flop eventually became heads-up between herself and Cristian Mihu.

As Melin describes, she finds herself calling Mihu’s flop bet on a {8-Clubs}{A-Spades}{2-Clubs} board holding just {J-Spades}{10-Clubs}, reading him for weakness in part because of his previously aggressive play. The turn comes the {2-Diamonds}, and after leading with a bet Melin watches Mihu raise.

Deciding he has no ace and at best is on a draw with two clubs, Melin chooses to reraise big and successfully forces a fold from Mihu. The live stream confirms he was weak and on a draw with just {5-Diamonds}{4-Clubs}.

Melin tells how she showed her bluff at the table, but Mihu wasn’t paying attention and missed seeing her cards. Then in a subsequent conversation on the break, Mihu asked Melin what she showed — and she bluffed him again!

Melin discusses a second, less successful hand from Day 2 in which she found herself in a three-way postflop situation holding pocket kings and looking at a seemingly benign {8-}{8-}{5-} board. Listen to her reads on her opponents in the hand, as well as what happened next:

 

Five Mistakes Made by Intermediate Poker Players and What to Do About Them

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In poker, there is a big difference between a clueless beginner and an intermediate player.

While beginners fumble with their chips and often take a long time deciding what to do at the poker table, intermediate players are able instantly to abandon their bad starting hands, while easily flicking in their raises crisply and confidently. It doesn’t take long at all for players to gain some basic knowledge to distinguish them from the absolute novice.

Yes, being an intermediate player in poker can feel satisfying when you compare yourself to the newbies. But there are many common mistakes that might be holding intermediate players back from realizing their full potential to make money at the game.

Following up on yesterday’s article “Five Common Mistakes Made by No-Limit Hold’em Beginners,” let’s take a look at the five worst mistakes intermediate players tend to make while also considering ways such players can overcome them.

1. Overvaluing their abilities

The American Automobile Association did a survey a while back. They found that just about 90% of all drivers considered themselves to be above average in driving ability. Of course, that can’t be statistically valid. Even so, the same overestimating tendency is often demonstrated by poker players.

Since the vagaries of chance swing so widely, even a really bad losing player might convince himself that his losses are the result of bad luck rather than bad play. This creates a problem of arrogance.

The difference between a new and an intermediate player is so pronounced and so obvious, the intermediate player often thinks that since he is no longer a beginner he is better than he actually is. By learning some basic concepts and getting comfortable with the trappings of the game, he can often speak the language of poker, thereby making him able to fit in to the poker world. But this level of comfort is in fact deceptive. Since he can converse in a way that makes him appear to a non-poker player to be an expert, he mistakenly can be seduced into thinking he is an expert. He is not.

Such a belief stops the learning process prematurely as the intermediate player thinks he doesn’t really need to learn. He tends to become complacent and even condescending about poker literature. I’ve heard many a poker player brag about how he has never read a poker book or watched a training video.

The cure for this problem is simple — humility. The best players get that way by never stopping their learning. So, too, must an intermediate player continue to learn.

2. Acting poorly toward the lesser-skilled

The second mistake that non-beginners often make is in how they act toward other players. Many intermediate players, having egos that are not supported by a successful playing history, incorrectly blame others for their losses. Their behavior and their words at the poker table often reflect this tendency.

They berate opponents for poor play that they incorrectly identify as the cause of their loss. In so doing, they sometimes drive away bad players they might actually beat. By not being welcoming and polite, they chase away the “fish,” or they make them pay attention when they would be otherwise inattentive.

The solution to this is simple, even if it isn’t easy at first. Adopt a pleasant, friendly, and welcoming demeanor at the table. Resist the urge to show off your poker knowledge, proud though you may be of your achievement. Remember that you’re really not that good yourself yet, and that your profit will come from the mistakes of players who are worse than you. Don’t frighten them away or smarten them up.

3. Playing too tightly preflop

Getting into other types of mistakes having to do with actual game play, one common mistake among intermediate no-limit hold’em players is to play too tightly preflop. Whereas some brand new players will be too loose with their starting hand requirements, the non-beginners will often play too few hands. This is understandable, to be sure — but it is still a major flaw.

One of the first things that a beginner can learn quickly is the need to be selective. While this can help new players save money while they learn — and while it can keep them out of some trouble by helping them avoid hands that can cause problems — when applied too mechanically and severely, such an approach can greatly restrict potential profits.

The intermediate player may not be properly valuing the implied odds that exist in no-limit poker. Or, lacking experience, he may not have the temerity to mix it up when he holds anything but a truly superior starting hand. Similarly, he may have tried to become a winning player by memorizing a simple and short list of playable starting hands, and subsequently won’t want to deviate from it.

This over-tightness will cut into his potential profit in two ways. First of all, he’ll be missing opportunities to profit from hands that might well improve to winning hands as the hand progresses, opportunities of which his opponents will be taking advantage. Second, his super-tight style will train even his unobservant opponents to avoid him at all costs, severely hurting his ability to make money when he does hit a monster hand.

4. Staying too long in a hand

Another intermediate mistake is staying too long with a good starting hand, even after the action of others should convince you to fold. Players who learn simple lessons simply and then apply them robotically tend to get themselves in trouble by not having the flexibility to get away from hands that start out superior, but go south against other hands. They invest too much in high quality starting hands, and then can’t find folds with them.

Here’s an example.

Imagine an intermediate player in a $1/$2 game who starts with {Q-Hearts}{Q-Spades} in early position — one of the very few starting hands he’ll play in this spot. He opens with a raise to $10. His opponents being relatively loose and passive, he gets two people to call him.

The flop comes {A-Diamonds}{9-Diamonds}{2-Clubs}, and being first to act he bets $25. The next player raises him to $60. The last player takes some time thinking, looks at the pot for a while, then calls. The intermediate player then also calls, figuring the raiser might be bluffing and the next player is probably on a flush draw.

In this hand the intermediate player saw a rare premium pair, bet it aggressively preflop, but then couldn’t get away from it, even when the objective information should have convinced him to fold. Intermediate players, playing as tightly as some often do, often fall in love with the few hands they do play. This is perhaps the greatest and most easily exploited mistake in the way they play.

Intermediate players sometimes do not properly respect the bets of others. Also, since they overvalue their own play they tend to mistakenly downgrade the abilities of others. Accordingly, they too readily call large bets from opponents they see as inferior, not being willing to give their opponents credit for the hand that they are representing.

The antidote to this and the previous mistake is to loosen up preflop and then to develop the discipline to throw away good starting hands that seem to fall behind on the flop. This takes experience and judgment — something that intermediate players often lack.

5. Overvaluing the importance of winning during any particular session

Excellent players understand that it is all one big game. They know that if game conditions are favorable, it’s critically important for them to make as much money as possible for as long as they are able to play profitably. Similarly, they are able to recognize when game conditions are not favorable, and they know how to limit their time in those games.

But an intermediate player often makes the mistake of caring too much about whether he is up or down for a particular session. His ego is not yet confident enough to withstand the rollercoaster ride that is poker. So he cuts off winning sessions too soon, locking in a win in his mind. He also makes bad situations worse by chasing his losses until they have become huge.

He does not yet have the skill to truly size up a game — not based on how he is doing but based on the skill of his opponents. This can be a bankroll crushing error.

Conclusion

The intermediate player will forever stay at his level, which is almost surely losing to the rake if not to the other players, if he doesn’t develop the humility to recognize that he still has a lot to learn about poker. He then must learn enough about the game to move beyond the simple and mechanical style of play that he first mastered when he moved up from beginner.

In so doing, he will need to outplay opponents, putting himself into more hands where he can use and develop his skill. And finally, he will need to stay or leave games not based on whether he is ahead or behind but based on his honest assessment of whether the game conditions are profitable. (source: pokernews.com)

Five Common Mistakes Made by No-Limit Hold’em Beginners

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Remember when you first started to play no-limit hold’em? During those first few sessions — whether live or online — did you appreciate just how complicated a game NLHE really was?

Chances are you did not. After all, the rules are relatively easy to learn, and it is even possible to do reasonably well with just a rudimentary understanding of no-limit hold’em and a tight approach from the get-go.

Eventually, though, most players come to realize there is more to the game that simply catching cards. New players especially can fall into bad habits if they continue to play without being mindful of strategies that can help them increase their chances of success.

Here are five common mistakes new players of no-limit hold’em often make — and continue to be guilty of until they are able to make a conscious effort to avoid them.

1. Playing from out of position

Experienced hold’em players well understand the three important factors that most directly affect your strategy in each individual hand — your hand strength, your stack size, and your position.

New players generally understand the importance of hand strength, and many quickly pick up on how stack sizes can affect how you should play a hand both before and after the flop. But the importance of position is often not appreciated by those just starting out — not until they get burned a few times by getting involved too often from out of position.

Playing hands with position means knowing your opponent’s action before you have to act, which in turn allows you more opportunities to exert pot control, take free cards when they’re given, bluff when missing flops, know exact pot odds when calling, among other advantages.

2. Playing too many hands

Never mind playing too much from out of position, new hold’em players often play too many hands, period. They fail to recognize the value that comes from being smart with starting hand selection. Even worse, a lot of beginners will play too many hands passively, calling others’ preflop raises with marginal or even weak holdings because they just can’t resist seeing flops.

Savvy opponents — or even those with just average hand- and player-reading ability — will exploit this kind of play mercilessly, knowing they’ll get value from their bets by players unwilling to let go of medium-to-weak hands. And they know as well they won’t be pressured into having to make tough decisions against such opponents who rarely raise or apply pressure when calling hand after hand after hand.

3. Being too predictable with betting patterns

New players just figuring out what hands are worth betting and what are not will frequently fall into very predicable patterns with their betting — patterns which more experienced players will easily exploit after observing even just a few hands with such players.

Some examples of these patterns include:

  • limping preflop in an effort to “see a cheap flop” with a medium-strength hand
  • always betting or raising extra big when strong (either before or after the flop)
  • only betting with “made” hands (and never with drawing hands)
  • sizing bets obviously according to hand strength (big bet = big hand, etc.)

Players making these mistakes fail to realize they are often playing their hands “face up” against opponents aware of the never-changing significance of their bets.

4. Calling too much/thinking everyone is bluffing

New players tend toward passivity, generally speaking, checking and calling too much and betting and raising too little. One area, though, where this passive play manifests itself in particularly expensive ways is the frequent calling of postflop bets with subpar hands — especially on the turn and river — in the belief that everyone around them is bluffing.

I can think of three reasons why new players fall into this trap. One is that general unwillingness to fold hands once they get involved, a habit players often grow out of over time. Another is a lack of understanding that in many games — especially when playing the lower limits — players who bet the turn and river more often than not do have what they are representing. That is to say, bluffs aren’t nearly as common as new players tend to think.

A third reason is that the new player has yet to develop a strong enough understanding of postflop play to be able to appreciate the difference between a credible bluffing “story” and one that is not. Such an understanding can be gained with practice, but new players are often better off not trying to make lots of “hero calls” and pick off suspected bluffs.

5. Not value betting enough

The same timidity that often marks the new player’s style (and causes that player to play passively and call a lot) will prevent such players from betting when they should. I’m not simply referring to missing those “thin value” bets on the river you often hear pros talk about, but not betting when holding especially strong hands.

Worried that opponents will fold should they bet their flopped sets, turned straights, or rivered flushes, new players check and vainly hope others will do the betting for them. It’s a strange instinct — not to bet when hitting hands — but it absolutely affects new players who are still learning how to build pots and increase profits.

Which of these mistakes were you guilty of when first starting out? Which others would you say are most common among new players?

 

Five things to think when playing against brand new to poker in Home Game

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Over recent articles, we’ve looked at how to make money in your home game by exploiting the tendencies of loose-aggressive players, tight-passive players, and loose-passive players.

But what about that other variety of home-game player we occasionally encounter — the complete newbie who is more or less clueless about strategy and/or playing styles?

I’m referring to players who know the rules of poker but very little else. What’s the best approach when playing against these players, both in terms of your own profit and other, larger goals associated with keeping a good home game going?

Let me give you some ideas about how to best deal with such novice players. Here are five considerations.

1. Consider the Long Run

You really have two objectives with new, inexperienced home game players. Sure, you want to win money from them during the poker session. But you want them to continue to be part of the poker world as well.

Regarding that latter goal, you don’t want to make new players feel so miserable about losing that they don’t ever return to your game. Sometimes these two objectives may seem at odds with each other, but they need not be. Go ahead and win their money, but be aware of how you are winning it.

The worst thing you can do is to appear rude, condescending, unhelpful, impatient, or overly aggressive. This will make new players feel either repelled or completely overmatched, disliking you in the process and vowing never to return (at least not to your game).

It’s much better to be genuinely warm and easy to deal with, especially about the things that new players are apt to have difficulty with such as acting quickly or understanding the less obvious rules of play. Be a welcoming and friendly player.

In games with newbies, your best poker face is a welcoming smile. You’ll probably end up enjoying the game more as well.

2. Be Helpful and Easy on the Rules

New players often won’t know what they don’t know. They may not understand the importance of acting in turn, of protecting their hands, of placing their bets in one motion, or even of the nomenclature of poker. They may say “raise” when they mean “bet.” They may fold when they can check.

Don’t scold or chastise them for their mistake. Be their guide and helper instead. When they make a misstep — perhaps betting out of turn, for example — smile or laugh as if it is a common and unimportant mistake that is easily corrected. Humor goes a long way toward relaxing people who are new to a game, and will encourage them to see the experience as a good time, as opposed to a humiliating defeat.

3. Expect Them to be Afraid

Most new players enter a game afraid. What they are primarily afraid of is looking foolish — we’ve already addressed that somewhat above. But they’re also afraid of losing their money, which leads us into some strategic considerations for how to play against such players. You can take advantage of their fear of losing money in two ways.

First, you should respect their large bets. Newbies tend to be very cautious because they are afraid of the consequences of losing, so when they do get up the courage to bet big, be wary.

Second, you should keep in mind the fact that new players often don’t trust their judgment regarding the strength of their hands, and they surely don’t have much (or any) confidence in their ability to read that you are weak. This combination sometimes will allow you to bully them — not by looking tough, mean, or intimidating, but by looking sincere when betting your weak hands.

Ironically, it’s the friendly, earnest player who is most respected by the new player, not the tough and aggressive looking one. So when you’re stealing, be smiling warmly!

4. Recognize When They Have Given Up

There is a threshold of misery, beyond which new players will be ready to just throw in the rest of their chips and concede that they have lost what they brought to the game to lose. Pay attention and take note if it appears that moment has arrived.

Imagine the following scenario. Charlie, very new to the game, bought in for $100. He has been guarding his stack very carefully, playing very few hands. Even so, his stack has diminished. He has recently lost another $40 in a hand and has only about $20 left in his stack after about two hours of play.

Based on comments he’s made, you don’t think he is planning to buy in for any more. You might be tempted to bluff him out of the next pot you’re both in — figuring he is guarding what little he has left. Rethink that strategy! It may very well be that he’s given up on the game, at least for now, and is ready to fling his remaining $20 in with just about any hand. Wait for his aggression, and then tend to call when you have a moderately strong hand or better.

5. Don’t Squeeze Out Everything

There’s a famous poker expression, “You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but only skin ’em once.”

With that in mind, there’s no requirement that you completely clean out a newbie when he is unfortunate enough to sit in your game for the first time. You should always have an eye on inviting him back to your game. I’m not suggesting that you deliberately lose, but when you sense that your opponent has had enough and is getting discouraged, you don’t have to be the aggressor to win his last buck.

Let him decide when he wants to play for his remaining chips, going out as the product of his own aggression. He’ll feel better about you and your game if he busts out on his own terms.

Conclusion

There will be plenty of opportunities to win money from new home game players. The key is to make sure that you avoid humiliating him when you do so. Be warm, welcoming, smiling and helpful, so the new player genuinely enjoys your game, even while he’s losing.

In the process, you may encourage him to return — and you’ll enjoy the experience more yourself!

Vayo, Josephy, Ruzicka Talk Strategy and More Regarding Key November Nine Hands

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This week’s finale of the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event featured a ton of excitement as well as numerous hands over which many are still discussing strategy and decisions the players made.

PokerNews was on hand for all three nights of the final table, of course, and was there to gather some post-elimination thoughts from some of the players regarding key hands they played at the final table.

Following his elimination in fifth place, Vojtech Ruzicka was asked to discuss his thought process during a key hand for him in which he lost most of his stack to Gordon Vayo before getting knocked out shortly thereafter.

Ruzicka and Vayo were nearly even in chips when the hand began with Vayo raising the button, Ruzicka three-betting with {A-Spades}{K-Diamonds} from the small blind, and Vayo calling.

Ruzicka then led with bets on the {Q-Clubs}{3-Clubs}{8-Diamonds} flop, {7-Hearts} turn, and {5-Spades} river, with the last bet being an all-in push. Vayo called the whole way, ultimately tabling {8-Spades}{8-Clubs} for a set of eights to cripple Ruzicka.

Hear what the Czech Republic pro had to say about that hand and his performance generally speaking at the final table:

 

The next night third-place finisher Cliff Josephy spoke about the big set-over-set hand he lost to Vayo and how his read in the hand was affected somewhat by a hand he’d seen Vayo play at the final table the night before.

Josephy also shares some compliments regarding the toughness of eventual winner Qui Nguyen. Take a look:

 

Finally, runner-up finisher Vayo also spoke with our Sarah Herring after the conclusion of his grueling, 182-hand heads-up duel with Nguyen.

Vayo talks about how he was able to maintain his patience during heads-up, despite being behind for much of it. He also addresses in particular one hand in which he regretted not making a river call versus Nguyen.

Nguyen had 218.9 million to begin the hand, and with the blinds 1.2M/2.4M he made it 6.7 million to go from the button. Vayo — who had 117.7 million to start — called with {Q-Hearts}{9-Diamonds}.

The flop came {9-Clubs}{4-Clubs}{2-Diamonds} to give Vayo top pair, and he check-called a continuation bet of 9.7 million from Nguyen. The turn brought the {10-Hearts}, and after Vayo checked again, Nguyen fired a big 27.7 million bet into the 33.6 million pot. Vayo called again, bringing the pot to 89 million even.

The river was the {5-Spades}, and after Vayo checked one more time Nguyen didn’t waste much time before saying he was all in.

With 162.2 million in the middle, Vayo thought for a long while before letting his hand go and preserving the 73.2 million he had behind. If he had called, he’d have been the one with a better than 2-to-1 lead as Nguyen had only had {J-Diamonds}{5-Diamonds}.

Vayo adds a few more thoughts about his final table experience as well, sounding remarkably lucid after such a long, pressure-packed night:

 

Source: pokernews.com

No Limit Hold’em (NLH) Poker in Midtown, NY.

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What is No Limit Hold’em Poker?

NLHE is an abbreviation for No Limit Texas Hold’em.  No-limit hold ’em is the form most commonly found in televised tournament poker and is the game played in the main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). In limit hold ’em, bets and raises during the first two rounds of betting (pre-flop and flop) must be equal to the big blind; this amount is called the small bet. In the next two rounds of betting (turn and river), bets and raises must be equal to twice the big blind; this amount is called the big bet.

Poker Room in Midtown, NY:

If you’re a serious poker player and looking for poker room in the NYC area, you are in the right place. We have two different location around the New York City. One in Midtown and another one in Queens. All are welcome including Street brokers, doctors, business owners, and people who make their living playing cards.

What We Offer?

We offers No limit Hold’em (NLHE) cash games, Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) and rebuy poker tournament. Our poker room is a very safe and secure place where you can win more money within couple of hours. Our staff is dedicated to running a clean, friendly, and low-key cash game.

Game Details:

  • $1/$2 No Limit Holdem.
    Mon – Fri @4pm. Sat – Sun @2pm.
    Minimum $80.  Maximum $500.
    10% Buy-in Bonus up to $30 with receipt.
  • $2/$5 No Limit Holdem.
    Mon – Fri @3pm. Sat – Sun @6pm.
    Minimum $300.  Maximum $2000.
    $75 New Player Bonus.

Poker Bonus for You & Your Friends

When you come with a friend, you’ll be rewarded with 10% bring a buddy bonus. And the good news is that your mates are going to benefit too! Every new friend who join our cash game will receive a 10% Bonus up to $30 for $1/2 NLH Cash game and every new players get $75 for $2/5 No Limit Hold’em Poker Cash Game.

How To Get a seat?

If you would like to play cash game or poker tournament but you don’t registered yet, you can now join the tournament! Here’s how to get started:

  1. Fill out the form. Or
  2. Text “SPblog” to (347)-471-1813 with full name, email & occupation. and
  3. Final Step:Please add Becky Shellz on facebook to quickly verify your identity for the safety of our members and get the address

The next time you just need to text to lock your seat. Don’t miss this huge opportunity.

Invite Your Friends to Play Poker and Get Bonus

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Invite a friend to play poker!

Poker is all about fun. You’ll have more fun if you bring your friends in our poker! We are excited to offer you the opportunity to share your gaming experience with your friends and family. We offer 10% buy-in bonus up to $30 for our No Limit Hold’em cash game.

Poker Prizes for You & You’re Friends

When you come with a friend, you’ll be rewarded with 10% bring a buddy bonus. And the good news is that your mates are going to benefit too! Every new friend who join our cash game will receive a 10% Welcome Bonus up to $25.

The Invite a Friend to $2/5 High stakes!

Add friends in our $2/5 No Limit Hold’em Cash game & Get bonus.

Details of the $2/5 No limit Hold’em Contests:

  • What: $2/5 No limit Hold’em cash game.
  • When: Mon – Fri @3pm. Sat – Sun @6pm.
  • Where: Midtown, Manhattan.
  • Buy In: Min $80 Max $500.
  • New Player: Gets $50 bonus
  • Early Bird bonus: 10% cap at 75.
  • Registration: It opens Up 2 hours before starting-time.

Make it a Regular Thing

Having poker night regularly can be a great way to bond with your friends. Plus, playing together on a regular basis makes everyone better at the game and increases your chances of winning at live poker games. The more you play, the more you’ll win!

How To Lock Your seat? Read Here!

If you would like to play cash game or poker tournament but you don’t registered yet, you can now join the tournament! Here’s how to get started:

  1. Fill out the form. Or
  2. Text “SPblog” to (347)-471-1813 with full name, email & occupation. and
  3. Final Step:Please add Becky Shellz on facebook to quickly verify your identity for the safety of our members and get the address

The next time you just need to text to lock your seat. Don’t miss this huge opportunity.

Don’t Miss The Poker Tournament in Queens!

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What is Poker tournament?

A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a “heads-up” tournament), and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of tables. The winner of the tournament is usually the person who wins every poker chip in the game and the others are awarded places based on the time of their elimination. To facilitate this, in most tournaments, blinds rise over the duration of the tournament. Unlike in a ring game (or cash game), a player’s chips in a tournament cannot be cashed out for money and serve only to determine the player’s placing.

Where & When

  • Where: Queens, New York
  • When: Daily (except sunday & wednesday).

Do You Want to Join? Read Here!

If you would like to play cash game or poker tournament but you don’t registered yet, you can now join the tournament! Here’s how to get started:

  1. Fill out the form. Or
  2. Text “SPblog” to (347)-471-1813 with full name, email & occupation. and
  3. Final Step:Please add Becky Shellz on facebook to quickly verify your identity for the safety of our members and get the address

The next time you just need to text to lock your seat. Don’t miss this huge opportunity.

Poker Action Midtown: Live Cash Game

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Test your skill and try your luck in our stylish new Poker Room in new york, where the wildfire Poker sensation Texas Hold ’em is the main attraction. Limit and No Limit, casual games and tournaments are played here all day, every day.

No Limit Hold’em Poker in Midtown, New York:

  • $2/5 No Limit Hold’em,
  • $1/2 No limit Hold’em and PLO Poker

How to get a seat?

Join the widest Cash Games and Tournaments in Midtown/Queens! Whether you’re a beginner or more experienced, we’ll help you find the perfect fit.

All it takes to get a seat is registering via text/our website. If you don’t registered yet Text “SPblog” to (347) 471 1813 with full name, email & occupation.
>> Final Step: Please add Becky Shellz on facebook to quickly verify your identity for the safety of our members.

Hand Review: Fold the River or Bluff Facing Three Barrels?

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Covering live poker tournaments for a living affords me the opportunity to see countless thousands of hands played out, many of which offer interesting and potentially valuable insights into how players — both amateurs and professionals — play the game. In this ongoing series, I’ll highlight hands I’ve seen at the tournaments I’ve covered and see if we can glean anything useful from them.

The Scene

Last weekend, this weekly feature did not appear on our site as I traveled to Chicago to play in the $1,675 buy-in World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Hammond Main Event. Things did not go as planned in the event as I was unable to even give myself a sweat by making it to Day 2, but perhaps I can discuss an interesting hand or two, at least.

The early levels had gone fairly well for me and I had built my starting stack of 20,000 up to about 37,000 when a fun hand came up against Jose Montes (pictured above) who had me covered in this hand.

Montes is a traveling pro who has been very successful the past few years. He seemed to be playing pretty aggressively as he had opened a number of pots and three-bet a few more. Meanwhile I had been on the tighter side as I hadn’t been dealt much.

The Action
With blinds at 300/600/100, action folded to Montes in the hijack seat, where he opened to 1,300. The next three players folded, and I called in the big blind with {5-}{5-}.

The flop came {6-}{7-}{6-}, and I checked. Montes bet 1,200 and I called. The turn was a {k-}. Montes fired again for 3,000 after I checked, and I called once more. On the {a-} river, I checked a final time. This time, after Montes fired 5,500, I folded.

Concept and Analysis
Preflop, I expect Montes to be opening pretty wide from the hijack. He had been playing lots of hands in late position, although he hadn’t shown down much. Fives seem like a pretty standard call from the big blind, where I’m getting a great price but don’t want to three-bet to start building a massive pot with a hand that’s likely to be mediocre after the flop.

On the {6-}{7-}{6-} flop, I think it’s a pretty easy check-call. My hand should be the best hand here the majority of the time. Of course, it’s likely to get tricky to play on some later streets when more overcards arrive. But, I would usually want to check-call my strong hands here, too, since he isn’t likely to have anything to pay me off.

The turn is where things start to get interesting. A king is a pretty good card for his range and bad for mine since I check-called that flop. He’ll have lots of hands he stabbed at the pot with that include kings, so it’s a pretty mandatory barrel card for him.

There’s probably merit to folding right here, especially against good, aggressive players. They’re going to put you in tough spots on the river sometimes. Plus, there’s now six cards that could come — any king or seven — that would completely kill my hand. He also sized his bet more than double his flop bet, indicating a big river barrel might be coming.

However, in the actual hand, I did decide to call and see the river. I think I’m still beating a decent chunk of his range, such as {a-}{x-} hands and stuff like {q-}{j-}.

When the {a-} fell — no flushes were possible this hand — I was looking at a really ugly runout. I checked and he bet 5,500, and at this point, I don’t think there’s enough air in his hand for me to profitably call. I quickly dismissed that option, but it occurred to me that I could fire out a raise to about 15,000 instead and turn my hand into a bluff.

All of the ingredients were in place. My opponent was a late position opener, meaning he was more likely to have a weaker range. I was in the big blind facing almost a min-raise preflop, so I could absolutely have a six in my hand. And I could credibly represent a six since slow playing would be understandable on such a dry board. Finally, I had been playing fairly tight and hadn’t shown down anything too crazy.

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