Hand Review #3

SteveBlay

In this episode I take a look at a situation where we have pocket nines in the small blind, facing an open-raise from the button. Should we just call, or 3-bet?

Thanks to user "think" for submitting this hand!

texastommy

Very nicely done. Thank you.

nytider

And I for one get a lot out of the "gone on farther than I had planned" parts.

think

Thanks for the breakdown of that one!

The check/call flop, check/call turn, c/f river line is a tough one for me. I watched the video twice to really get the reasoning. It just seems like a passive play (and I suppose it is), but necessarily so.

But it's hard to just want to check it down and let all of those hands draw out. I mean, I'm ahead of so many hands at that point. Let's say we don't know what Tom-bot is holding. There are 11 more clubs, 4 aces (incl. Ac), and 4 kings (incl. Kc). That's 17 scare cards which, if he bets on them at all, would make us throw our hand away. There's a 60% chance that one of those hits, and he's got position, so we're definitely checking to him. But I get that the 99 gives us limited equity. So are we just figuring on releasing a) on the river to flop/turn/river betting, or b) to scare card plus bet? It seems like we're paying a (potentially) high price to see a showdown we might not get to or really might not win if we do get to it.

Again, I do get the logic, although the counterintuitive parts take a little discipline to internalize. But I still feel like I am putting it all together in regards to playing mid-strength hands. Are these ideas pretty much applicable to middle pairs? Are we just hedging because of the threat of the flush draw -- if it were a dry, unconnected, rainbow flop with maybe one overcard, could we play that one aggressively, or are we really just playing defensively to get to showdown regardless? Would we ever lead out, maybe if the turn was a blank (in the hypothetical "dry flop" situation)?

Now, let's say you're Tom-bot with K9 (not clubs) on the button. If a club hits (not Kc) and you are checked to, do you stab at the pot, figuring your K9 is no good and a bluff in position is the only way to take it down? Do you do this whether it hits on the turn or river? If Ad/h/s hits on the river and you're checked to, do you take a stab at the pot then? I am figuring 1/2 pot as a stab in any of these situations, but how is that sizing?

Thanks also for going over the preflop strategy in regards to nits, fish, LAG's, and regs. I didn't 3-bet the flop, but if Tom-bot were a nit or fish, 3-betting would be a recommended strategy. Would you pretty much fold to a 4-bet from Ed-bot in the BB or Tom-bot on the button? What if Ed-bot calls and then Tom-bot raises (pot odds closer to 2 to1) -- I don't think stack sizes, etc. give you a set-mining situation, but is there any scenario in which you'd call a 4-bet and then set-mine by seeing the flop and then c/folding to a reasonable bet (I don't think so, but I am curious), since you'd have at least a shot at stacking one or the other of the opponents? And 99 doesn't seem like a strong hand in a 3-way flop -- if Ed-bot was along for the ride, would that change things in regard to a three street check/call, c/c, c/f strategy?

sluggie

Echo ntyder...you can go on as long as you like Steve - these reviews are very helpful indeed.
Thanks again.