Went from Folding to Calling to Raising All-in
Cash Game, blinds 2/4, 8 handed approaching last hour of play. This hand in particular was my turning point in my comeback to being even money (was down 2 bills already at this point).
I am in MP. UTG opens with a raise to $10, action folded around to me and I call with pocket 88s. DB goes all-in for $18. Both blinds folds and UTG re-opens the raise for an additional $25 more (making it $33 to me). Pot is now sitting around $70.
My first instinct is to fold the hand and let them battle. However, further analysis of UTG betting pattern throughout that night leads me to believe I might even be ahead here. If I call, I will have $28 back. I took a few moments going thru my reads to try and put him on a hand I can beat.
Note: Both DB and UTG are very LAG. I put DB on any two high card 10 thru A but not pocket pairs. UTG tends to bet the absolute min when representing something big PP (1010-AA) but has the tendancy to overbet opponents out of the pot when holding two high cards (10 thru A) or mid to low PP (77 and below).
With the above in mind, I settled on UTG having two high cards or low PP. If he's holding A-K or A-Q, I am technically still a coin flip here and will need to dodge bullets to win the hand but there's a good chance that both DB and UTG are sharing the same cards. If he's representing low PP, I will have him dominated in the hand where the side pot is more lucrative than the main pot.
I then decided to go all-in for an additional $28. UTG gives that awkward look and shows A-Ko. DB shows K-Jo. Flop is Q high, blank, blank, turn blank, river is an 8 giving me trips and a huge pot.
If only those AAs on the last hand worked like they were suppose to!
Comments welcome! Any flaws, improvements?!?!?
I am in MP. UTG opens with a raise to $10, action folded around to me and I call with pocket 88s. DB goes all-in for $18. Both blinds folds and UTG re-opens the raise for an additional $25 more (making it $33 to me). Pot is now sitting around $70.
My first instinct is to fold the hand and let them battle. However, further analysis of UTG betting pattern throughout that night leads me to believe I might even be ahead here. If I call, I will have $28 back. I took a few moments going thru my reads to try and put him on a hand I can beat.
Note: Both DB and UTG are very LAG. I put DB on any two high card 10 thru A but not pocket pairs. UTG tends to bet the absolute min when representing something big PP (1010-AA) but has the tendancy to overbet opponents out of the pot when holding two high cards (10 thru A) or mid to low PP (77 and below).
With the above in mind, I settled on UTG having two high cards or low PP. If he's holding A-K or A-Q, I am technically still a coin flip here and will need to dodge bullets to win the hand but there's a good chance that both DB and UTG are sharing the same cards. If he's representing low PP, I will have him dominated in the hand where the side pot is more lucrative than the main pot.
I then decided to go all-in for an additional $28. UTG gives that awkward look and shows A-Ko. DB shows K-Jo. Flop is Q high, blank, blank, turn blank, river is an 8 giving me trips and a huge pot.
If only those AAs on the last hand worked like they were suppose to!
Comments welcome! Any flaws, improvements?!?!?
Comments
still, stack way too short for the game. when you call with 88 are you hoping to set mine or do you think you have the best hand? if best hand, why aren't you raising to get heads up?
No this is some bizarre version of a cash game with escalating blinds.
Fo real.
Guess what? it's all going in regardless anyway.
Wetts is dead on.... cash game with escalating blinds... starts at $0.25/$0.50 and moves up every hour...., min buy-in at $20 with no apparent max but you can "re-load" when you hit the $5 threshold.
Initially, wasn't sure if I did have the best hand so I was more set mining when I called the original opening raise. It was relatively standard so I really didn't know if I was ahead or behind.
At 2/4 blinds, approx $60-$70 back, 8 handed with 3 chip leaders - rest being relatively equally short stacked is still manageable IMO so if I miss the flop, it's relatively easy fold (plus I knoe the players well enough and in this type of structure, it's doable).
However, when he re-popped it additional $25 after the all-in bet by the one individual, I had to really think whether I have the best hand to go all the way. If I didn't believe that was the case, I would've mucked the 88s there at that spot. But like I said, the poooooshh didn't add up right and his earlier betting patterns really gave me info on what range of hands he might be holding. I just guessed right! It could've easily been the other way!
In the end, I went from folding straight to going all-in. I got lucky them sharing atleast one card, dodged some bullets and hitting my set on the river was an extra bonus.
not sure what kind of bankroll you need to play in this structure of a cash game?
with that re-raise, I'm not chasing my set with the chips you have behind.