Decisions on the river
Hand 1:
Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players
Converter
Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with K♣ K♦
2 folds, Hero raises to $21, 2 folds, BB calls.
By default we raise preflop with pocket kings. The fish at the table calls our raise. His stats are 55/13.2/1.1/48 (VPIP/PFR/AF/WTSD) at several hundred hands.
A particular eye-catcher is the increased WTSD. In the previous hands he has lived up to these stats and made very bad calldowns.
Flop: K♥ 5♣ 6♥ ($45, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $36, BB calls.
On the flop we are holding the nuts. Just as we expected he check/calls our continuation bet. To put him on a hand seems impossible because of his went to showdown (WTSD) of 48 he will call everything on the flop.
Turn: 7♥ ($117, 2 players)
BB bets $168, Hero calls.
The turn brings a bad card. As well as a flush draw, a straight is now possible. It is likely that our opponent called the flop with a gutshot and has hit it now. To make matters worse he overbets the pot as he is a big fish, but not a maniac. Meaning he is not overaggressive. We cannot assume that we are always behind in this position. The pot odds for our FH or quads are not given in this case, however, our implied odds are brilliant. There is also the possibility of not being beat yet. We call.
River: Q♠ ($453, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero ....
The river doesn’t bring any improvement to our hand, but our opponent checks which makes us hope that we are still ahead. Our opponent would have pushed his flush in all likelihood. I cannot imagine him being so passive and check/calls his flush. Yet a scared straight is possible after we have shown strength by calling the overbet on the turn when a flush was possible. This is indeed possible, mostly he will have twopair or a worse set leading to my decision that with his WTSD we have a valuebet meaning we should shove. His WTSD is simply so big that the lost value in cases where he has a flush or a straight couldn’t be compensated through winnings in the cases where he calls a mid or top pair.
Hand 2:
Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players
Converter
Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG with J♦ J♠
Hero raises to $21, 2 folds, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls.
By default we raise with JJ. BB is a fish with the following stats: 48/18/1/35. Button is unknown to us. We are relatively new at the table and there haven’t been any special hands up until now..
Flop: 5♣ 2♦ 2♥ ($66, 3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $40, Button calls, BB calls.
The flop helps us greatly. In most cases we will be ahead in this position, even though it is possible that the fish has made trips. Most of the time this won’t be the case. Both call our contibet. The call of the fish doesn’t surprise me much, because he would do this with overcards as well. A call from the unknown player on a board like this makes me suspicious.
Turn: 2♣ ($186, 3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $130, Button folds, BB calls.
The turn brings relief. The possibility that someone is holding a 2 in his hand becomes very small due to the third 2 on the turn. Solely 55 would be a reasonably and possible hand that beats us. More often our opponents here have overcards or a small overpairs, which is why we definitely continue to bet. The unknown opponent folds and the fish calls – perfect! Most probably we can valuebet the river big.
River: 6♣ ($446, 2 players)
BB bets $300, Hero ...
This is a weird scenario. Our opponent donks into us. A fold is no opportunity in this case. The only question is if we should only call or put our last $100 in as well.
We are beat by quads, 55 and 66. We beat 88, 99, TT and a bluff. If he is on a bluff he won’t call a push, but I don’t see him bluffing in this situation. He has a hand with which he thinks to be ahead. If he has a small overpair like 88, 99, TT it would surprise that he has woken up and donks the river. Our hand can only be interpreted as QQ, KK, AA and since our opponent is not very aggressive he would check/call small overpairs on the river.
Although I played the hand myself and pushed on the river, with hindsight a call would have been better in this position. Especially because he played check/call flop, check/call turn, donk river which on a board like this mostly represents a very strong hand. Your opinion on this would interest me greatly!
Hand 3:
Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players
Converter
Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG with A♦ Q♣
Hero raises to $21, 2 folds, Button calls, 2 folds.
Standard. Our opponent is an aggressive fish. At 100 hands he has stats of 44/15/3/38.
Flop: J♦ 8♠ Q♦ ($51, 2 players)
Hero bets $42, Button calls.
He calls our contibet. This suggests a mediocre hand with midpair, a weak toppair or one of the many draws.
Turn: K♠ ($135, 2 players)
Hero bets $90, Button calls.
There are definitely better cards on the turn. Due to the numerous draws we have to bet again to protect.
River: T♦ ($315, 2 players)
Hero ...
What should be done? (see poll)
