My first hand at this table, playing $1/2 NL online.
I am the big blind, with 6c 2s. Total shit, if I may be blunt. The player two spots to my left makes a minimum raise to $4 and the button and small blind both call.
What the heck, now there is $14 in the pot and it will only cost me $2 more to call. I’m getting 7-to-1. At a live tournament a couple nights ago, my friend Robert was in a memorable situation, where one player limped in, another player shoved all-in for 1.25 BB’s, I called from the SB and he held 6-2 off-suit in the BB. Might as well call. Then he flopped 2 pair, which held up to win a rather decent pot.
So I call.
Flop ($16): 9s 6s 3h. SB checks, I check and the original raiser checks. Looks like everybody missed. Then the button (VPIP=39, PFR=7 over 28 hands) bets $6. Obviously he’s trying to steal it. A strong check-raise can win this… right???
The small blind folds and I re-pop it to $20. The original raiser also folds. And THAT’S WHEN I NOTICE that he only has $23.50 behind after his initial bet. If he shoves all-in over my check-raise bluff, I’ll be getting 6.9-to-1 odds, and my hand – while embarrassingly bad – does have a piece of this flop. I cannot fold it.
If I’m going to bluff (or re-steal) in this manner, I should have check-raised enough to put him all-in straight away. That maximizes the pressure on him. If I do get caught with my pants down, it is on my bluff rather than on my call of his shove which is much more laughable. And check-raising that large would be overkill. Any play at this pot is a terrible move; his small stack size makes it even worse; my failure to notice this is inexcusable.
He shoves. Ugh. I call, hoping all of the other players have gone to the bathroom or are engrossed in some other distraction.
He turns over Ts 8s, for a multi-way draw plus two overcards. Any spade, any 7, any 8 or any 10 helps him. I have one spade blocker, so that leaves him with 17 outs and two cards remaining. Although I’m ahead at this point in the hand, he is a59% favorite to win the pot. This is probably the best I could have hoped for when he went all-in.
The turn is 7d, completing his straight, and the river is Js, rubbing a little salt in the wound by making his flush.
What a spew!
Year-to-date online results: (- $308)
Month-to-date online results + $200
