PezRez and md261 are two of the poker world's most consistent 6-max SNG players. Together they run 6maxcoaching.com, which offers coaching and staking services. Here they dissect hands and games they've played. Also found at: www.6maxcoaching.com/blog

Friday 15 October 2010

Mediocre Top Pair on a 3-Flush Board

PezRez on 16th October 2010

In this hand, I flop mediocre top pair out of position and take a line which looks inconsistent, but which actually makes perfect sense.

PokerStars Game $72+$6 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50)
Seat 1: Player 1 (1900 in chips)
Seat 2: PLAYER 2 (2025 in chips)
Seat 3: Player 3 (1345 in chips)
Seat 4: Hero (1640 in chips)
Seat 5: PLAYER 5 (1105 in chips)
Seat 6: Villain (985 in chips)
Player 3: posts small blind 25
Hero: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [8c Ac]
PLAYER 5: folds
Villain: raises 50 to 100
Player 1: folds
PLAYER 2: folds
Player 3: folds
Hero: calls 50
*** FLOP *** [7h 5h Ah]
Hero: checks
Villain: bets 50
Hero: calls 50
*** TURN *** [7h 5h Ah] [2d]
Hero: bets 150
Villain: calls 150
*** RIVER *** [7h 5h Ah 2d] [9c]
Hero: checks
Villain: bets 350
Hero: calls 350
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain: shows [8s Kc] (high card Ace)
Hero: shows [8c Ac] (a pair of Aces)
Hero collected 1325 from pot

An aggressive villain minraises, and although I’m not thrilled about A8o out of position, I’ve got 3.5-1 and stacks behind against an aggressive player who I may well have beaten. I elect to call, and flop a pair of aces. Only problem is all those hearts.

My hand, although improved, is still mediocre, so I check to see what my opponent is saying. He minbets, which looks pretty weak to me. If he had hit an Ace, he probably would bet more to protect his hand against the flush draw. I figure I’ve probably got the best hand, but there are so many bad cards that could hit. Checkraising seems too strong for this hand, so I elect to call, but with a specific plan in mind.

That plan is to bet a safe card, and the 2 of diamonds looks pretty safe to me. I reckon I’ve probably got the best hand, and now my opponent only has one card remaining to fill his flush if he’s drawing. If I bet, I can safely lay the hand down if raised, but I avoid a free card and extract value from a flush draw. Just less than half the pot is sufficient to give my opponent an incorrect price to call with a flush draw, so that’s what I bet.

Another blank on the river, and I now need to consider my opponent’s range. When he calls the turn, he probably has an Ace (in which case I’m probably behind), a flush draw (maybe with a pair) or possibly some kind of WTF hand. Value betting doesn’t make much sense, as there are few worse hands in this range that will call. But there are myriad missed draws for an aggressive villain to bluff with. I check to induce a bluff and snap it off, and WTF indeed: K8o.

PezRez

2 comments:

  1. Please rank your top 5 6 max sng players, thank you

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  2. It's a tough one to pick 5, because there are a lot of good players with not a lot to pick between them. Of the players I play (so excluding anyone who exclusively plays high-stakes), CSKA Sofia I think is one of the best, with a really good solid game that's very difficult to exploit. Other players I rate highly would be andyafc#1, edvin08, pokerpro333/6maxgr1nder and weisy8. I'm not going to rank them, because there's not a lot between them. For the most part they are also players I respect for their good conduct at the table (not insulting people/whining - with the exception of weisy8..).
    No offense intended to anyone left off the list - and there are definitely several more excellent players on the same level that just have not immediately sprung to mind.

    PezRez

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