I almost always fold to raises like this, because even though my hand is under-repped, I feel like these low- to mid-stakes players are almost universally incapable of taking advantage of that. From time to time, I talk myself into a call, though. The Villain in this hand was new to me, but he was playing a full stack on several tables and seemed to be competent:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($600)
UTG ($773.55)
MP ($1796.75)
CO ($1313)
Button ($437.40)
SB ($1429.45)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Ah, 9d.
2 folds, CO raises to $21, 2 folds, Hero raises to $66, CO calls $45.
Flop: ($135) 5h, As, 3d (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks.
Turn: ($135) 6d (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks.
River: ($135) 7d (2 players)
Hero bets $84, CO raises to $240, Hero calls $156.
Final Pot: $615
Obviously a lot could be said about my play up to the river, but let’s set that aside. On the river, my hand is massively under-represented. It looks like a weak Ace at best, and probably more like KK or QQ. I certainly can’t beat anything that raises for value, but unless he has exactly 44 or 77, his line makes no sense. Because of how weak looking my hand is and how scary the board is, it’s a good spot to bluff raise. Checking a set on the turn would be criminal, and I can’t imagine him checking a flush draw either, after I’ve checked to him twice. Maybe 44 checks, but it probably shouldn’t. He shouldn’t be calling the reraise with those hands either, but plenty of people do, so I’m not excluding them for that reason. Anyway, he of course shows me 44, and I feel like a tool for assuming he’s capable of doing this with anything less. Too smart for my own good, I guess.
Speaking of hands that shouldn’t be calling reraises, here was my bustout from the UB $120 bounty tournament:
jabbadahutt is at seat 0 with 2400.
DEGENWLDBOY is at seat 1 with 2400.
RagnarPirate is at seat 2 with 3190.painter5 is at seat 3 with 2830.
oops2809 is at seat 4 with 5240.BeL0WaB0Ve is at seat 6 with 3145.
giboman is at seat 7 with 4100.
thebirdman84 is at seat 8 with 3445.
urbandb888 is at seat 9 with 3120.
The button is at seat 0.
DEGENWLDBOY posts the small blind of 30.
RagnarPirate posts the big blind of 60.
urbandb888: Ad Ah
Pre-flop:
painter5 folds. oops2809 folds. BeL0WaB0Ve raises to 160.
giboman folds. thebirdman84 folds. urbandb888 re-raises to 470.
jabbadahutt folds. DEGENWLDBOY folds. RagnarPirate folds. BeL0WaB0Vecalls.
Flop (board: 7s Qs 7h):
BeL0WaB0Ve checks. urbandb888 bets 650. BeL0WaB0Vegoes all-in for 2675. urbandb888 goes all-in for2650. BeL0WaB0Ve is returned 25 (uncalled).
BeL0WaB0Ve shows 9s Ts.
urbandb888 shows Ad Ah.
Turn (board: 7s Qs 7h 5h):
River (board: 7s Qs 7h 5h 2s):
Showdown:
BeL0WaB0Ve has 9s Ts 7s Qs 2s: flush, queen high.
urbandb888 has Ad Ah 7s Qs 7h: two pair, aces and sevens.
For those who don’t know, BA is ranked as one of the best online tournament players by Pocket Fives. I honestly don’t see it. I’ve seen other people post hands like this, where he just hemorrhages equity pre-flop without nearly enough stack depth to make up for it no matter how “sick” he is post-flop, I’ve watched his videos on PokerXFactor, and although he’s capable of advanced thought in plenty of situations, he also makes some really fundamental, inexcusable mistakes. You just can’t profitably play T9s for 15% of effective stacks pre-flop out of position against a re-raise.