Don't miss one article! Subscribe to the Full Feed RSS or get NPA in your inbox.
j22jblue asks,
Love the site! I’m a big fan of your work and I am eagerly anticipating your new release, Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em. I was hoping you might peruse a hand of mine that I played from the Sunday Million event on Party Poker (back when U.S. players were still allowed to play). I think it’s a pretty tricky spot even though I do have a strong hand; however, I’m pretty sure I butchered it.
Early in the 200K event on Party Poker. It’s a $215 buy-in with 950 players. Blinds are 30/60 and I have 5,000 chips. Everyone is roughly equally deep. It’s about twenty minutes into the event with no real reads on any of the opponents yet.
After four players fold, a middle postion player raises the minimum. It gets folded to me on the button with 7 
7 
. I call and the small blind and BB call. There are four players in the pot and 480 in the middle.
The flop comes: 6 
7 
9 , giving me middle set on a three-straight, two-flush board. The small blind bets out 100, the big blind folds and the middle position player calls. There is 680 in the pot and it is 100 to me.
I decide to just call and see what the turn brings. A pretty bad card: 6 7 9 (3 ), completing the flush and the 45 straight. The small blind checks and the middle position player now bets 659 into the 780 pot. It’s up to me.
I decide to call and the small blind calls as well. The river comes: 6 7 9 3 (T ), completing the up and down one-card straight. The small blind checks as does the middle position player. There is 2,757 chips in the pot and I have 4,200 left in my stack, as do the other players roughly. I check.
The small blind shows J T for the turned flush and the middle position player shows pocket Threes for a turned set. I guess I played the preflop and river rounds well, but did I butcher the flop and the turn? How would you have played it on all streets?
It’s sometimes hard to tell whether you should “drop the hammer” immediately when you flop a big hand, or whether you should string your opponent(s) along a bit. But I feel very strongly about this hand.
The remainder of this article is insider content available to premium members only. Log in to your account or become a premium member and get instant access.
Tags:
checking-with-a-chip,
dropping-the-hammer,
flopping-a-set,
no-limit-holdem,
no-limit-holdem-tournaments,
poker,
poker-tournaments,
slowplaying
Ed,
I was going to ask about a flopped set when I got home from playing tonight, but it was almost identical to this hand ( hand and board-wise) except I was out of position and no raise preflop. ( and cash game)
I called in sb with a pair of 3′s after 2 limpers ( I have a 95 bb stack to start ). BB checks.
The flop comes 2 3 5 with two diamonds. I bet the pot ( approx. 3 bb’s / rake subtracted) . The bb raises to 8 bb’s, one caller and back to me. After matching it the pot is 27 bb’s. I raise an additional 33 bb’s.
The bb goes all in. ( caller folds) My 33 plus 60 bb’s more. I had 55 bb’s left, was gettin 2-1 on a call, ( had no read on this player, it was his 3rd hand) and I called what turned out to be his flopped straight with a 4 6.
I was not upset except worrying I messed it up. I thought calling the flop raise was terrible. Should I have reraised less? or more ? I felt this was a hand I was going all the way with considering my stack wasn’t huge. Or considering the board , the action , and no read was this attitude stupid?