This week's Hand of the Week was prised out of the blonde Bash archives and stretches all the way back to er... April 28th. After blowing the dust off the tapes, we unearth a cheeky confrontation between Messieurs Ben Turnstill and his slightly older opponent Tony Kendall, the aggressive young online whiz versus the wily veteran.
£50 rebuy, 92 players and blinds of 100 and 200, everyone folds round to Ben in the small blind (lucy gucy table, huh?) who chucks in the extra 100. Tikay checks behind him, and we're away.
Flop = Kh Qd 9s, to which NoflopsHomer asks, what next?
Well, we had some great replies this week, as expected, including one from MANTIS01 who even questioned the pre-flop call from the small blind:
My inclination would be to fold pre-flop. You see a King and think that it may be worth a raise but the deuce that goes with it is decisive for me. Often when you see this sort of hand you will only be playing one card after the flop. So the four factors to consider here are A) A one card hand...B) Out of position after the flop...C) Pot size negligible...and D) Opponent's stack size.
And the ever reliable totalise who argued:
Now that I've limped, I'm playing against a random hand, so on the one hand I like my hand a lot, it's ahead here almost always, and I'll steal pots here frequently with air, so it makes sense to bet when my hand is almost certainly best (and likely under-represented). What to do on later streets depends on what happens on the flop and what has happened in previous hands.
On the other hand, if stacks get into the middle here, I'm behind a good % of the time, given the fact that live players don't "go broke in unraised pots" without big hands, so at some stage if the pot is growing, I'd be looking to control it... but there's plenty of time to worry about that if and when it happens. I guess my plan is to maximize my EV and win the most when ahead and (try to) not go broke when behind, but that's standard for most hands.
At this stage, tikay revealed a slight faux-pas, saying that he'd actually raised pre-flop from the big blind, and Rookie called. Doh! However, we still received plenty of replies, many of which claimed the pre-flop fold was the only option.
Boldie: I would say with the raise from the BB pre-flop it's a clear fold for me. However, since it's tikay, he probably has Ace 4 thinking he has pocket Aces.
Then, out of the blue, we learn that tikay is being even dopier than normal as he informs us that he DID actually check pre-flop. Double doh!
Anyhow, back to business, Rookie (Ben) checked, tikay bet 400 and Rookie called.
Turn = 3c, check call again, this time 1,000.
River = 6s, check, bet yet again, 1,700, which led to the following responses:
thetank: On the river, I think you really have to flat call if you have chosen to flat call the turn.
and even a few words from little ol' me...
Snoopy: I don't like the way the K-2 played this hand. You're working off guesswork and ought to find out where you stand earlier on. There's a good chance your opponent has nothing, but it's costing you a bet on every street to find out.
Not to mention an observation from TightEnd who was watching the hand unfold...
I thought you looked uncomfortable throwing in the last bet. That combined with the reduced size of bet relative to the pot certainly got me thinking about whether it was a true value bet or something that had to look like a value bet to make him pass, if you like. Personally, I liked the idea of check call on flop and lead on turn line from yr opponent The way he played it, I think has to call the river, eyes closed.
The bottom line however, was that people thought that by calling the Turn, you had committed yourself to making the call on the end too, especially with the River bring out such a raggy card. However, what I'm sure you all want to know is what Mr Kendall had. Well, wait no more, because he had the good ol' Brian Wilson hand, 7-4 off, and, of course, he was indeed caught with his pants down and called by Rookie on the River.
Once again, many thanks to all those who played. Apologies for the confusion, tikay was having a senior moment in which his memory was letting him down, but Floppy will be back next time for another hand analysis, which we hope you'll be a part of. If you are a keen analyser of hands, then be sure to keep an eye on the Poker Hand Analysis board on the forum for the next addition by clicking here. If you would like to view this week's analysis in it's entirety (it's worth reading for the 'Did he or did he not raise pre-flop' saga), then simply click here.
Until next time, toodle pip Hand Analysis fans...