Medium pair with an open-ended straight draw...what would you do?

gordan_gecco

Just curious to see if anyone would have played this differently.  FYI, my opponent had just sat down, and therefore I had no read on him. 

POKERSTARS GAME #1971249754:  HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2)
Table 'Minkar II' Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: POKERFANMIKE ($83 in chips)
Seat 2: garyxskillz ($105.85 in chips)
Seat 3: Zbabe ($391.75 in chips)
Seat 4: Tsloth ($175.75 in chips)
Seat 5: jazz211 ($72.85 in chips)
Seat 6: flaggstanga ($103.75 in chips)
Seat 7: gordan_gecco ($227.35 in chips)
Seat 8: murph91 ($216.85 in chips)
Seat 9: Tomur34 ($195.35 in chips)
flaggstanga: posts small blind $1
gordan_gecco: posts big blind $2

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gordan_gecco [7c 7s]
murph91: folds
Tomur34: folds
POKERFANMIKE: raises $6 to $8
garyxskillz: folds
Zbabe: folds
Tsloth: folds
jazz211: folds
flaggstanga: folds
gordan_gecco: calls $6

I called here based on my implied odds, hoping to make a set (I'm getting 12.5 to 1 implied odds)

*** FLOP *** [8c 6c 9h]
gordan_gecco: checks
POKERFANMIKE: bets $28
gordan_gecco: raises $28 to $56

I raised here for a couple reasons: 1) My pair might be good (and he might fold), if he's overbetting overcards; 2) It's a good semi-bluff, as I have 10 outs - 8 for the OESD and two sevens

POKERFANMIKE: raises $19 to $75 and is all-in
gordan_gecco: calls $19

This call is a no-brainer based on my immediate pot odds

*** TURN *** [8c 6c 9h] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [8c 6c 9h 5s] [6d]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
gordan_gecco: shows [7c 7s] (a straight, Five to Nine)
POKERFANMIKE: mucks hand (he had Jacks)
gordan_gecco collected $164 from pot

I'm interested in hearing your opinions on how you would have played this.  Here are my thoughts:

- Good call preflop based on implied odds
- His bet on the flop was either (a) to protect an overpair against a draw, or (b) an attempt to buy the pot after missing with overcards.
- If (a), I have a good semi-bluff raising situation here, with ten outs
- If (b), I will probably take the pot right there with my raise
- After his re-raise, I have a no-brainer call based on my immediate pot odds

What would you have done differently?  Fold preflop?  Fold on the flop?  Push all-in instead of min-raising the flop?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Derek

pkrfce9

So many questions.

1/ I likely fold pre-flop. You have no read on the guy. He makes a 4xBB raise in early position. He *should* have a strong hand. So you are either a slight favourite or a huge dog. And you *are* a huge dog. Plus you are out of position. Only thing in favour is you are last to act on this round so you can close the action.

I'm not sure how you come up with 12.5 to 1 implied odds. Is that because the most you can get out of this guy is another 77 bucks assuming you have a better hand and get all his money in? That's a pretty big assumption. In fact you *did* get all his money in and end up with a better hand. Since his stack isn't that large, I'd actually be more in favour of folding now. You can just barely get paid off enough if you outdraw him.

2/ His bet on the flop was to protect his overpair. He didn't miss the flop - this was a perfect flop for him as long as you didn't hit a set. It is highly unlikely you would have hit a straight. So he's protecting against any possible draw you might have. He could reasonably expect that you'd fold at this point. I'd say he overbet a bit - 28 bucks into a 17 dollar pot. It almost looks like a bet that doesn't want a call and very nearly commits him to the pot. If you were sitting back with QQ or hit a set, he is gonna lose all his chips. You made a bad decision to stay in the hand at this point. But we have to add in the pokerstars factor.

3/ Your raise is a strange amount. With 10 outs you are an underdog yet you only min raise. Calling is not an option for him now as this won't leave him enough chips to do anything with anyway.

If he's bluffing he should fold and if he has a decent hand (he *does*) he's going to get the rest of his chips in. Your raise basically says 'go all in if you think you have a decent hand'. And of course, he has so few chips to re-raise you won't lay down your hand anyway. So you are risking $75 for a chance to make $45. Myself, I would have probably folded on the flop rather than raising. Since I'm the underdog and it is unlikely he'll laydown here, I might just call and see what happens. He'll go all in on the turn in most cases anyway. So one way or the other, it is going to be very expensive to try to draw out.

If you wanted him to laydown on the flop, you had to push all your chips in instead of min raise. Unfortunately in this situation, he would have called anyway.

Congrats on getting lucky. Enjoy pokerstars, the home of the underdog.

BBC Z

I like the way you played it postflop (Make loose raises, not loose calls), but I dont like your preflop reasoning..

Just because there were 13.5 to 1 implied odds on your call doesn't mean that he'll push his stack in everytime you make your hand.. Now if your opponent is so tight that you know his raise means JJ+, AK+ then calling with 77 is a great play.

Good example of Tight-Aggressive poker

pkrfce9

BBC Z wrote:

Now if your opponent is so tight that you know his raise means JJ+, AK+ then calling with 77 is a great play.

I'm not sure that I understand this statement. Why is getting into a hand as a 4-1 underdog a great play? Maybe I'm missing something.

From the OP, I don't believe he had any read on his opponent, anyway.

BBC Z

pkrfce9 wrote:

BBC Z wrote:

Now if your opponent is so tight that you know his raise means JJ+, AK+ then calling with 77 is a great play.

I'm not sure that I understand this statement. Why is getting into a hand as a 4-1 underdog a great play? Maybe I'm missing something.

Because it's no limit and implied odds rule. When Hero makes his hand with a 7 on the flop, it's also a flop that villian likes (overpair). Villian continue to call bets. Thus, Hero makes up for the preflop disadvantage and more.

Also, hero folds his hand when he misses the flop. So Villian wins a small pot.

Thus, calling preflop with most pocket pairs in a big stack NL game is practically always correct unless someone overbets preflop, in which case, you fold.

gordan_gecco

Thanks for the replies, pkrfce9 and BBC Z. I appreciate your input. Can anyone else comment on this one as well? I'm interested to see what some other people think about this.

Thanks again.