If you want to increase your poker skills and learn how to crush games, visit Jonathan Little’s elite training site at PokerCoaching.com/CardPlayer.
I was recently told about a hand from a live poker tournament with a $70 buy-in, which illustrates a huge mistake many recreational players make with premium, but perhaps second-best, hands.
With blinds ranging from 1,000-2,000 with 200 ante (what poker room doesn’t use a big blind yet?), an unknown player in second place raised his bet to 4,500 of his effective pool of 80,000. Hijack seats and cut seats, as our hero did on the button with number 8
7.
Excellent hero call. 8 7 He flops well and should be able to handle tough flops reasonably well given his position. The prime time a champion should fold the right connectors is when it’s clear that someone didn’t execute on the plans for the triple bet, which was not the case this time.
Also called little blind. The confusion came 10
9
5
, giving the champion the worst open draw. Everyone checked out Hero, who also checked out.
I would at least consider betting around 9,000 in a pot of 26,500. Most early potters will continue to bet with strong hands, which means the first potter will likely have a marginal or insignificant hand. After the initial betting checks, the remaining players usually bet with their strong hands, which means that a steal and cut is also likely to have marginal or junk hands. This means that the only player the champion has to worry about getting an advantageous hand is the small blind.
From the position, it is usually profitable to bet a wide range of draws and distinct hands in one completely unknown range. If one of the other players calls, the champion must usually bet again on the turn or river, looking to make the opponents fold almost their entire marginal range.
It was turn 3. The small blind is 6,900 in a pot of 26,500. Both the initial lever and the cutter were called. He called the hero as well.
Although there may be a little advantage in raising since the initial raiser and cut have marginal ranges, the hero call is the best due to getting excellent betting odds to close the action in the position. The champion will complete his straight about 17% of the time, and based on the pot odds, he only needs to come up with 13% of the equity to justify continuing (6,900/54,000 = 13%). When the odds of improving to an effective hand are greater than the bankroll you need to continue based on the pot odds, you should continue.
The river was J-Complete the hero line. The small blind was checked, the initial raiser bet 13,200 into a pot of 54,000, and the maximum was raised to 30,000. Hero decided to go all-in with a total of 70,000.
Giving everything is a disaster for the hero. Even though he improved to what is likely his best hand, it is very easy for him to face one of the best straights after facing the bet and raise. While the hero shouldn’t fold (because a tile can contain a combo or two), he shouldn’t raise because all he has will usually only be summoned by a straight line.
Going all-in may result in a chip win if opponents can pull off a big score with a set, but in a tournament, there’s great value in not going bust. By just calling, the champion will have 40,000 chips remaining in his deck when he loses, and when he wins, he will still have a lot of chips. The risk of bankruptcy is not worth the gains of extracting a little more value.
Sure enough, the cut had KQ straight to the nut, knocking the champion out of the tournament. Hero wanted to complain about his bad luck, but in reality he made a huge mistake that cost many recreational poker players a lot of money.
This hand illustrates just one mistake that many amateur players make on a regular basis. If you want more resources to help you improve your game, I’ve put together a course called “The 25 Biggest Leaks and How to Fix Them.” This course is completely free inside Card player poker school!
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Jonathan Little is twice WPT Champion with over $7 million in live tournament winnings, best-selling author of 15 poker instructional books, and 2019 GBI Poker Personality of the Year. If you want to increase your poker skills and learn how to crush games, visit his training site at PokerCoaching.com/cardplayer.
