The Hand
The hand this week is from an online game I was in on a recent snowy night in Ohio. This was a combination game, which included eight different games, one of them being a round of No Limit Hold’em.

The general limit was $1/2. I had just done well in the Razz and Stud H/L, sat out on the Stud High (which I can’t stand), and was into the NL Hold’em. This was a very active table and most of us had about $50 to $120 in front of us. Granted, this was low compared to the cash games I play in, but I treat on-line differently.

I was on the button with pocket tens, 10h/10c. Not great, but not bad either. The blinds were 25c/50c. The UTG came in with a raise to $3. The next two players called, I called as did both the SB and BB. Now this was a family pot…six-way, with $18 in the pot.

The flop was 7s/8c/9c, which was pretty nice. The SB and BB checked, UTG bet out $12 and I was pretty sure I was looking at something between pocket Queens on up, but I had a lot of outs. The next two folded and I just called. Both SB and BB folded. Now it was me and the UTG, heads up.

The turn was the 10/s. My opponent immediately pushed all-in for $68 and had me covered (I had about $50 left). Did I read his play wrong? I had some thinking to do now… What would you do?

Winner: Tanya S., New Bedford, Massachusetts
She is right to put this player on a big pair but the pair this player has are Jacks and the player now has a straight. You do have outs but is it worth all your chips to see these outs? I say no. I say fold the hand because you need to catch a Jack or have the board pair to win by a FULL HOUSE. Trip Tens looks real good. But a straight on the board, and this player knows this too. Do you really think they would go all in with having pocket queens knowing you could have hit the straight on the turn, and be on a draw? I think not and you should fold.

Robin’s Response:
At this point I did put him on pocket Jacks and I did fold thinking I would never know. BUT, he showed the hand and to my surprise had raised the J/Qos UTG and he also typed in the chat he overbet the hand because he was afraid of me hitting the possible flush!

Oh well, I felt good for folding and all in all had a pretty decent session.

The Hand
This week is a little different. This hand was played by a friend down at Mountaineer. I ran into him at a charity event recently and he presented the hand to me and asked me “What Would I Do?” and now I’m going to present it to you.

This was a $2/5 NL game. My friend had about $550 and the rest of the table had roughly $200 to $1200. It was an average table with a decent mix. There was one player at the table that came in with a $35 raise almost every hand he played and he was to the right of my friend.

My friend was in mid-position with pocket Kings, Kd/Kh. Our $35 guy is UTG and made it… you guessed it, $35 to go. My friend just smooth called to conceal the strength of his hand and two others called. The SB and BB folded.

The flop was Qh/Qd/Jd. The $35 guy bet out $65, my friend called and the other two folded. The turn was Q/s. Now, the $35 guy checked. My friend bet out $100 and got called. The river was another Jack and the $35 guy checked again… What would you do?

Winner: Frances Hitnton, Rocky Mountain, North Carolina
I would check. At this point he may actually have a hand. AA, AQ. If I check here it may seem weak, but no need to give him the chance to check-raise. The pot has enough money in it and you could still be holding the best hand.

If he would have bet into me, I may have re-raised to get a taste of his hand strength. I noticed a player the other day raising out of position every hand he entered he would raise. Finally I got KK and guess what he had? Pocket aces!

Robin’s Response:
Okay, I would have played it as Frances would have, but my friend did not. He put out a $100 bet and our $35 guy re-raised all in. My friend called the rest of his chips and was shown pocket Aces. I would have never opened that door on the river for my opponent.

The Hand
This week’s hand goes back to this summer when I was out in Las Vegas for the WSOP. I decided to take one last shot at winning a seat in the main event and entered into a $1,000 satellite. There were about 325 players which amounted to 32 seats in the main event. The 33rd place received the remaining odd cash.

I was DEEP in the event. We were down to 37 players and you could feel the tension in the air. I was becoming very short chipped and didn’t believe I could coast in. I was going to have to find a hand I liked and go. I had approximately 30,000 in chips, the blinds were 2000/4000 and I believe the antes were 500. The last two rounds the big stack to my right raised all-in and took the blinds and antes.

Anyway, it was my BB again and this time I picked up A/Kh. All folded to a mid-position player who made a min-raise to 8000. All folded to the button (big stack) who again went all-in. It was up to me. It is now or never. What would you do?

Winner: Robert F., Niles, Ohio
If I felt that I could not just coast to victory in this spot and if I felt like if I had a great chance of winning the seat by doubling up, then I would definitely take my chances with such a strong hand here. You did have the mid-position player to worry about but if the mid-position player saw you standing up to the table bully, then he may get out of the way and hope you bust out.

The big stack of course can have any two cards. He’s just using his big stack to put max pressure on every other player and either collect the blinds and antes to build his stack ,or get lucky and bust enough people to win a seat. With that in mind, I would just go for it and hope he has something like a weak Ace or complete junk.

If AK holds then you’d be in a much better position to win. You would have to go all in, as you said you couldn’t coast the rest of the way and the big stack was being the bully. This also should knock out the mid position player as he wont call 2 all ins near the bubble.

Robin’s Response:
Okay Robert, I do push all-in, mid-position folds immediately and “big stack” calls immediately and flips over A/Q and I couldn’t ask for a better scenario.

The flop is 3/6/8, mixed suits. The turn is a 10 and the river is where I drown…it’s the QUEEN!!!! Its 4am and it was one long, sick walk back to my room.

The Hand
You’ve heard us talk about ClubWPT on the show and this week’s hand is from a ClubWPT Television Qualifier that I played in this past week.

Everyone started with 1000 in chips and the play was fast. The starting field was generally 800-1200 and you had to be first in order to get the T.V. seat.

In the early rounds, there were three or four players in every hand going all-in trying to amass chips quickly. If you sat back, you could usually catch a hand to go with. Anyway, we were in level 4 with 20/40 blinds. I had approximately 3,500 and I was in late position with pocket sevens. I was at the low end of the chips at this table. There were players with over 20,000 in chips already!

This time play was unusual. There were three limpers, the next player put in a small raise and made it 100 to go. A couple folded and I decided to call and see a cheap flop. The button folded and both SB, BB and the three limpers called. There were seven in for the flop and the pot was $700.

The flop was Ah/5s/7d. Bingo, I just flopped a set. The BB bet out $200.The three limpers folded and the original raiser made it $1200 to go. It was up to me. What would you do?

Winner: Dale D., North Canton, Ohio
ALL IN BABY! As a well know player might say “no other action you can take” more than likely the raiser has an A – with a good kicker or maybe 2 pr – I wouldn’t put him on a set yet, but I play this site also and they could have anything. But its all in and take the over 2,000 chips in the pot and don’t let them catch on you and suck out, if they call more than likely you still have them and should still walk away with the pot. But; it’s ALL IN, BABY!

Robin’s Response:
I did come over the top and push “all in baby”. I knew they’d probably both call and I wanted them to. One had a little less than me and the other had me covered. The cards turned face up. The BB had A/6 and the original raiser had pocket fives and also had flopped a set. Both the turn and the river were blank and I tripled up and ended up getting down to 51st – not far enough, but getting closer!

The Hand
The hand I selected this week is from a $2/5 NL game I was in at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Michigan, while there for the Heartland Poker Tour.

This was an average game. I had been in the game for about an hour, had bought in for $300 and had about $400 when I picked up A/Jh in early position. I put out a fairly standard raise and made it $20 to go. All folded to the button who re-raised to $50 straight.

SB, BB and UTG folded and it was up to me. (I also need to mention that this guy had done this several times and after everyone folded, he got great pleasure out of showing a 2/3 or 4/6 and so on.)

Anyway, I was not sure that I wanted to get involved, but would really like to see the flop. It was time to act. What would you do?

Winner: Mike, Galena Ohio
I would call his raise to see the flop, AJ is not all that strong a hand (i.e. AA, AK, AQ, or a small pair will dominate it) but you only have to think about one other player in the pot. The button might be bluffing again but they may be trying to mix things up by previously showing a bluff an then coming back strong. It will only cost you another $30 to see the flop.

Robin’s Response:
I did decide to just call and see the flop, which was not bad, Jd/6h/10h. I bet out $70 into a $101 pot and he called. Turn was a 9h and I was lovin’ it. I bet out $150 and he immediately pushed all-in which would cost me the rest of my chips.

I could not get away from this hand, I had the nut flush… almost. Could he possibly have the straight flush?? Nah. I called and he turned over the 7h/8h. He was clowning around again with a pre-flop raise and got REAL lucky. He pulled off a straight flush… oh well!