Tricky AK result

Recap: I raised to 2 holding AdKd from middle position and got called by a somewhat loose passive player in CO position. I hit a beautiful flop Ac6d8d, and let out with a standard C-bet of $3. Turn came 3c, I bet $5 and got immediately raised to $13. This is an obvious call, since we do not want to face an all-in bet and be forced out of the hand. On the river, 7c shows up completing the flush if our opponent has a flush. (Although this is somewhat unlikely given the action so far in the hand).

I decided to check the flop. I think there are some merit in making a defensive bet, but I feel that our opponent has us beat most of the time. In the rare cases he has air, he will often give up on the river. Checking I was initially planning on calling a small bet on the river. Not sure were my cutoff is, but Im not calling anything bigger than ½ pot in this spot.

In this hand my opponent bet $28 into 35 pot and I folded.

 I think that this is a pretty obvious fold. In order to call I need to win 30% of the time. People simply doesn't bluff like this, unless they had a strong draw on the turn that missed. All the club draws got ther. Also, most straight flush draw (with diamonds) got there to such as Td9d or 5d4d. That leaves QdJ and JdTd and I have a hard time putting these hands in his range. Other strong Aces such a AK and AQ would most likely check behind on the river, or bet small for thin value. Hence, he either has us beat or complete air. Given what I have seen, I think he has it at least 80% of the time.


 Being a Zoom table you really dont have to worry that much about table image, and showing weakness on the river. Since the only opponent paying attention at this point is the one that has bet into you on the river.  This is a typical situation were many players myself included stare to much on the strength of your own hand instead of looking at the entire picture. In this spot, you need to win more than 30% of the time in order to justify a call. This is a spot where you just simply have to fold your hand. The line that I took with this hand might seem weak to some players, but Im fairly convinced that this is the right line to take.



 I chose this hand to illustrate what poker is about. It is not about bluffing, or hitting the nuts. It is about folding when you feel that you are beat. The difference between winning and losing has almost nothing to do with how big hands you are winning. It is about avoiding that last bet on the river, when you know that you are most likely beat

If you have questions or inputs, feel free to comment below
Pokerguden








PokerStars Zoom Hand #110068541821:  Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2014/01/13 23:13:11 CCT [2014/01/13 10:13:11 ET]
Table 'Omega Centauri' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: matiko09 ($149.97 in chips)
Seat 2: baiyushan ($49 in chips)
Seat 3: Helbisch ($100 in chips)
Seat 4: ThIxOtRoPiE ($151.59 in chips)
Seat 5: machineeeee ($45.50 in chips)
Seat 6: skala81 ($35.16 in chips)
Seat 7: Pokerguden ($176.71 in chips)
Seat 8: Jennarito ($153.21 in chips)
Seat 9: Zarzoor912 ($161.75 in chips)
baiyushan: posts small blind $0.50
Helbisch: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Pokerguden [Kd Ad]
ThIxOtRoPiE: folds
machineeeee: folds
skala81: folds
Pokerguden: raises $1 to $2
Jennarito: folds
Zarzoor912: calls $2
matiko09: folds
baiyushan: folds
Helbisch: folds
*** FLOP *** [8d 6d Kc]
Pokerguden: bets $3
Zarzoor912: calls $3
*** TURN *** [8d 6d Kc] [3c]
Pokerguden: bets $5
Zarzoor912: raises $8 to $13
Pokerguden: calls $8
*** RIVER *** [8d 6d Kc 3c] [7c]
Pokerguden: checks
Zarzoor912: bets $28
Pokerguden: folds
Uncalled bet ($28) returned to Zarzoor912
Zarzoor912 collected $35.81 from pot
Zarzoor912: doesn't show hand

Tricky AKs

100NLHE ZOOM

I have not written a blog in a while, but hopefully I change that. I have a goal of writing a new blog every week, focusing on some of the more interesting hands that I played last week. This week I will discuss a hand from a recent season of $100NLHE ZOOM.

When it comes to pokerblogs, I think the by far best pokerblog out there is thinkingpoker.net. If you haven’t checked it out, do it right now. It is written by Andrew Boroks, one of the greatest poker minds (that is able to translate that thinking into logical and comprehensive English).  One my favorite segments of his blog is what he calls “What’s your play”. I want to try something similar this week. I will give you the action of this hand until the river. At the river, think about what you would do. Would you bet or Check and how would you respond to your opponent’s action. If you bet how much would you bet ? What range of cards do you think your opponent has? What kind of ranges does he thinks that you have?

I will give you my thoughts and the outcome of the hand in a few days.

To the hand:

I had accumulated some chips and had $175 at the table and my opponent had $160 at the start of the hand. 3FOLDS, I raise to $2 with AdKd, fold, 1call, 3fold. Flop (2way $5.50).

Note preflop: I tend to stick to a standard 2x preflop bet in all unopened pots. I used to bet closer to 2.5, but I think that in zoom tables people fold way more often using “fastfold” so 2x is often sufficient and I save ½bb everytime I get 3-betted and forced to fold my weaker holdings.

Opponent HUD: 65 hands, VPIP/PRF/3bet (26/18/0) Note not 1 single 3-bet out of the 25 times he faced a PFR. Also, he cold called 3 out of 7 hands from the CO position. These are very small samples, but it is all clues that we have about his playing style.

Flop: Kc8d6d

I bet ½ pot $3, which I think is pretty much standard C-bet against 1 opponent. My opponent called.

Turn: 3c I bet ½ $5 got re-raised to $13. I think this is a clear-cut CALL. With nut flush draw, folding is out of question. My opponent is polarized towards sets, possibly twopair (86), and some draws. It is possible that he holds a weaker K such as KQ. I think raising would be really bad since you would have to fold to a 4-bet and lose tons of equity. Also, I think that I have some call down equity to some of his range.

River: 7c.   

What do you do? Small bet to protect against big bluffs or check? If you check, how to you respond to a bet. What size bet would you call etc.

I would love to hear your inputs and ideas.

Pokerguden