First & foremost, apologies for the delay since my last post. All my other posts have been made after something happened in one of my sessions that had inspired me to write about it. Although i have been playing a lot & still doing well, nothing major has happened that has spurred me to come back on here & inform you all about! However, i will try to post at least once a week from now on, even if its just some interesting hands that have happened etc etc
Sooooo, onto this post.... and the title says it all really. I played a pot the other night that i felt was one of the best (and most difficult) calls i have made since i started playing full time. Hand was as follows :-
Ok, so I'm in the BigBlind for £1, there's a straddle next to me for £2. The game i was playing was very "limpy"/passive preflop, with potential for BIG pots still postflop. I have Ks9s. There are 5 callers for the £2, I see no point in raising as I will be OOP (out of position) vs everyone except the SmallBlind so I call the £1. Flop comes TJQrainbow, I have flopped the 2nd nuts, which essentially becomes the nuts as I don't see anyone limping with AK (although I can't completely rule it out I'm like 95% sure). SB checks, I check, straddler checks. There's a bet of £15 and a caller, so I flat call as its the least dangerous board ever for my hand. Turn brings the 7 of clubs which does mean a 2nd club on board, I check, the original better makes it £25, other guy folds, I think & then raise it £65 more. At this point i'm thinking he probably has 2 pair here so I'm raising for value so that I can comfortably ship the river and the bet will just look like a standard river all-in. He thinks & calls. Before the river comes I am thinking "just put the 3 of hearts out there, or another brick", but ohhhh noooo, the river card is a friggin Jack which does not bring the flush, although if he's playing 2 pair then he could have just boated up quite easily. I check & he almost instantly puts in more than enough to cover the £115 I have left.
I think against virtually anybody else at the table I fold cos they don't have bluffs in their range & would just check back with anything but a Full House. But this guy is capable of bluffing after i have shown weakness on river & I'm getting great odds to make the call. I still go "in the tank" for a good while, i re-think the hand, what else could he be taking this line with?? If he had 2 pair on the turn then would he not just put me all-in there & then, not just call my raise because its a scary looking board for him. KJ is definitely the other most likely hand, he would have a pair & the straight draw, it could also possibly be KJ of clubs which would give him the up&down straight draw AND the flush draw (although surely he would get this all-in on the turn too). So KJ off suit then... seems more likely than 2 pair. I decide that he probably has KJ approx 60-70% of the time, and a full house the rest of the time. Its costing me £115 to win about £340 so i'm getting 3to1 odds to make the call, so basically i have to make the call. I push my chips over the line and say to him "if you haven't got a full house then i win with the straight", he nods his head to insinuate that i win and then he mucks his hand
Following the hand, everybody at the table discussed it for about the next half an hour.... i dont like to give too much away about how i think & play hands to my opponents so i try to keep quiet & just let them talk. But in my own mind i'm having a little conversation with myself too. I know upto about 4 or 5 months ago there is no way i would have made that call on the river. I would have just been pissed off, assuming he's just hit his full house & folded pretty quickly. But now, my level of thinking through hands has improved a lot & so has my thinking around pot odds etc etc. Well, either that or i somehow managed to convince myself that i was ahead & made a hero call that worked out for me on this occasion..... what do you think ?!! How many times would you have made the call, percentage-wise?? I am interested to hear your views....
