Weatherford (January 17): Night Of The A-J

After finishing 2014 in the black, which I will hopefully do a review of my play from last year, I started this year off well after winning $350 in Weatherford on Saturday.  There were two hands of consequence, only one of which I was included but both involved A-J.

 

 

We will begin with the hand that I was not playing.  One of the players in the hand defends his action, but in my humble opinion the call was completely wrong and there is no defense for it.  A player in middle position, who we will call Player B, raised pre-flop to $8 and two players, players A and C, called.  Player C was behind the raiser and Player A was in early position.  The pot has $26 in it at this point (the extra two dollars were from the big blind).

 

The flop came J-7-4 rainbow.  Player A checked and the original raiser, Player B, bet $17.  Player C called, bringing the action back to Player A, who then raised an additional $60.  After the flop came out, Player B’s bet put the pot at $43, Player C’s call brought it to $60, and Player A’s $17 from the initial bet made a pot of $77.  Then if you include the $60 from Player A’s raise, the pot is at $137.

 

So to recap what has happened, there is a pre-flop raise with two calls, a bet on the flop from the original raiser, a call, and a raise from a player who initially checked.  So far everything looks on the up-and-up.  Player A could be trying to steal a pot with nothing as he believes Player B is making a continuation bet and Player C is weak or Player A could have a strong hand and is wanting to take the pot down right here and now.  But this is where it gets interesting.

 

Player B then goes all-in for an additional $18 above the $60, for $78 total.  That raise makes a pot total of $215.  Player B obviously has something pretty good because he knows he is getting called by at least Player A since the raise is so small.

 

Player C then goes all-in, which now that I look back I don’t think was legal since Player B’s all-in raise was for less than the minimum.  After $78 goes into the pot from Player C to cover Player B’s all-in, it is an additional $249.  So for Player A to call both all-ins, which he can cover and would leave him with approximately $60, it is going to cost $267.  Prior to anything Player A does, the pot now has $482.

 

Player A has now seen a pre-flop raise from Player B, a call from Player C, a continuation bet from Player B, a call from Player C, an all-in re-raise from Player B after Player A’s check-raise, and an all-in re-re-raise from Player C.  The only way I make this call is with a set, and even with a set of fours or sevens I am not thrilled.  Player A decided to call with A-J, which is top pair-top kicker.  I don’t know how you can justify making that call, but Player A attempted to do so all night long.

 

It turns out, Player A had the same hand as Player B and Player C had a set of sevens.  Nothing came that changed the outcome and Player C raked in a pot of $749.

 

I have gone through every possible scenario in my head and in no situation do Player B and C have hands worse than A-J.  I could maybe get behind the idea that had Player B with the smaller stack of money been the second one to go all-in after Player C, it might be worth calling with A-J because you would probably lose to Player B, but the large side-pot with Player C would be worth chasing, however, that is not the way the hand progressed, so that argument is moot.

 

The second hand, which I was involved in, is one in which the final decision is certainly worth debating.  The player to my immediate right straddled the blinds for $5.  This basically means there are three blind hands now and the player who is the third blind for $5 has final action pre-flop, no matter what happens with the betting.  I look down and see A-J of spades.  I raise it to $15, which is now a 3x raise because of the straddle.  The player on my immediate left calls the bet.  The small and big blinds both fold.  The player who straddled re-raises and makes it $30 to go.  It is another $15 to call, which I and the player behind me do.  The pot now has $93 in it.

 

The flop comes out A-A-3 rainbow.  The first player, who re-raised my initial raise pre-flop, bets $45.  I instantly call and the player behind me folds.  The pot now has $183.  The turn is a ten.  I don’t recall whether it now made a possible flush draw or not, but that really wasn’t much of a concern for me.  My opponent bet all of his chips, which totaled $65.  It was now my decision to call or fold $65 to win a pot of $248.

 

A-J is a very good hand at this point.  I am getting almost 4-1 odds on my money to call.  The only hands that beat me are A-K, A-Q, A-10, A-3, 10-10, or 3-3.  I either beat or tie everything else and there is another card to come.

 

Discussing this hand with my friend yesterday, he believes there was so much money to win I should have called, even if I think I am beat.  I disagreed and believe that if you think you are beat, despite what is at stake, you lay the hand down.  Obviously there are exceptions to this as there are times when the bet is such a miniscule amount compared to what you can win that it is worth calling with a weak hand.

 

Going through the possible hand scenarios, I couldn’t see where someone would be willing to put all their money in the pot without a good ace when they have to know I am holding one of them.  My friend said he might have been making that play with a high pocket pair, but after you get called on the flop, it takes a lot of guts, that most players at the level I play at, don’t have to go all-in with a pocket pair lower than aces when two are on the board.  That leaves A-x lower than my jack.  With the way the hand played out, it just didn’t seem like he was making a move with something lower than a jack as his kicker.

 

I ended up folding my hand, showing the A-J.  The player also showed A-J, meaning I would have split the pot.  While I can look back and know what would have happened, I still think folding was the correct play in that position.  It just didn’t make sense that he would push all-in with a hand worse than mine, no matter how loose of a player he may be.  Pushing all-in without an ace in that position is insane and pushing with A-9 or worse is very aggressive, especially after seeing your opponent make a pre-flop raise, call your re-raise, and instantly call your flop bet.  I’m not saying it isn’t done, but it takes a lot of guts to do so.

 

Being a good poker player means playing the odds and knowing when to call and fold.  Being a great poker player means making calls and folds other players won’t make.  I am not a great poker player by any means, but I am striving to become one.  Laying a great hand down like my A-J is not easy and sometimes it isn’t correct, like in this case, but no matter the odds, no matter the money at stake, occasionally folding a big hand is the correct play.