Playing With My Trips

Hi,

I played no limit tournament just at home the other day. A very intriguing hand came up at some point.

In the big blind then with Q3 I checked to see the flop against a not so aggressive player. Flop came and brought QJ2. Then he placed a bet and so I called considering I had top-pair and weak kicker. Turn followed and was another Q. He went all in, quite disturbed as he had larger stack.

Eventually, I called. I then discovered he only had a J and was just having fun all along. Later, I was so glad as I was able to double up and then had him out after few hands.

Any thoughts regarding how I played?

Thank you in advance.

Fraser
Fraser,

Considering your kicker, you played that about as well as you could hope for. I would have called his all in there too. He could have had A-Q or a hand such as was shown.

You were big blind, flopped well, turned a set, and then took his stack. Not bad for a big blind special.

Problem on Heads Up

Hi,

I believe I’m doing good in home tournaments that me and my friends have every week. In fact, I usually belong to the final 3 players. However, I feel that I’m into trouble when with regards to dealing with heads up.

Well, most of the time my opponent raises and I don’t have the top pair, I just can’t call. I hate when this happens as I’m not working on the right track.

On the good side, I’m doing relatively good when it comes to trapping. I can earn a lot of chips because of successfully trapping down a player.

My question now is, how do you play heads up? Is there any strategy I need to know and eventually master?

Thank you so much!

Sigmund Karlsen
Sigmund,

You need to play a little looser heads up. Try and see a lot of cheap flops with various hands and punish them when you connect. Don’t just call down with top pair. Sometimes middle and even bottom pair are just as good. Don’t be afraid to draw a little more.

Not Sure On How They’ve Played the Game

Monday night, I played in a multi-tourney. I believe I played a really bad hand back then. At the start, well, I was playing just right. Maybe I got a little carried away that’s why the ending was not so great for me. Just an information, the tourney started with 791 total players and I was on 149th place when it ended.

To start off, player A had 54004, player B had 35460, and player C 18562. Player E had 29195, player F 16515, and player G had 9210. Player H had 35430 and player I had 40893. The numbers are all in chips by the way.

At some point, player B was dealt Td Jh and player C folded. Players E, F, G followed and also folded. Player H then raised 1000 to 2000. Player I called 2000. Later, player A folded and player B called for 1000. Flop came and was 7h Th 3c. Player B then placed 1000 as his bet. Player H raised 5999 to 6999 while player I folded. Player B then called. Turn came and was 7h Th 3c Tc.

Eventually, player B placed 12000 as his bet. Player H then called. River came and was 7h Th 3c Tc 4d. With 4000, player B opted to bet. Player H then raised 10331 to 14331 and was actually all-in. Player B then called.

When showdown came, player H had Ts 7s, a full house, Tens full of Sevens while player B had Td Jh, three of a kind, Tens. Later, player H started collecting the winnings.

Any thoughts about how players have played the game?

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks!

Regards,
Nick
Nick,

Player H did a great job of extracting maximum value for his fortunate flop and turn. Player B flopped top pair and was being aggressive. Player H had flopped two pair. He raised, but when player B hit a set on the turn, all the money was going to go in. I think that if the board would not have paired the 10 on the turn, player B would have probably been bet out of the pot on the turn or river by player H. As it turned out, B bet out on the turn and H smooth called. On the river, H’s trap was sprung, and B couldn’t get away.

My Hand Never Touched the Muck

Hi,

Last night, I believe I played the dumbest game of my life. At mid part I guess, I called a bet and I was actually all in on the turn with top pair and an outside straight draw. I was also heads up against someone and suddenly he turned over the nuts. If I can remember it right, somebody at the table said that he had folded an ace beforehand. I don’t know why but it was too late for me to realize my cards face down, I believe the dealer then was already turning the final card. River then came and was one of the two remaining Aces in the deck. I then tried to get back my hand from the dealer after realizing what a fool I am. Honestly, my hand was on a face down but it has not touched the muck anyway. However, a certain player believed that I mucked. Later, the house man sided on him and so gave to him the winnings. The dealer who was the one holding the hand silently disagreed as for him the hand never touched the muck.

Any thoughts regarding the incident. Was the house man right for giving the winnings to the other player? Please, I need to hear your opinion on this.

In advance, thank you.

Gallagher
Gallagher,

If you were all in against one player, your hand should have been turned face up. When a player is all in, their hand cannot be mucked by the dealer.

You should have pointed out that you were all in and had not mucked. You should have been allowed to show your hand.