Thursday, February 17, 2011

Wow, do you still play poker?

Yes, I do! But I haven't played at the casino in a very long time. Truth be told, I haven't played seriously for 5ish years... I entered graduate school in Aug 2009 and haven't seen the inside of a poker room since. Sad, I know. I am reduced to a hodgepodge of low-stakes homegames. For me right now, though, its fine.

Anyway, so I just finished a homegame, and was part of a very interesting hand. It's a $0.25/$0.50 NLH ring game with a $40 table limit. I had ~$80-90 in my stack, and came up as UTG against the Button (villain), who had a comparable stack. The game allowed for straddles UTG.

CO ($80.26)

Villain (Button) ($85.87)

SB ($15.62)

BB ($11.20)

Hero (UTG) ($89.15)

UTG+1 ($40.09)

MP1 ($25.47)

MP2 ($130.38)

MP3 ($34.68)



Preflop: Hero is UTG with 10, 10

Hero straddles $1, 2 folds, MP2 raises to $3, 2 folds, Villain calls $3, 2 folds, Hero raises to $6, MP2 calls $3, Villain calls $3



Flop: ($18.75) 6, 3, 7 (3 players)

Hero bets $15, 1 fold, Villain calls $15



Turn: ($48.75) 7 (2 players)

Hero bets $15, Villain raises to $34.75

Pot odds were a favorable 4.99 to 1, but I just couldn't put the villain on a hand.

So I thought: What could beat me? AA-JJ, 7X, 66, and 33. AA and KK seemed unreasonable because I would expect a player on the button to re-raise. Due to the tightish nature of the villain, 7X seems unlikely, unless it is 77 or A7 suited diamonds. However, I don't think those hands can call my re-raise. 66 seems less likely (because of the re-raise) and 33 seems impossible. So really, I'm expecting QQ or JJ, as they both fit into the betting profile. If that is the case, then I'm only 5% to win.

What could I beat? Lots of things, right? I beat 99,88, 55, 44, 22, AX (save 7s), etc. These hands are still drawing and didn't seem it could stick around amidst all the action. I couldn't see any of these hands playing to the flop, then pushing the turn.

I fold, and Villain shows 99.

Now, I can't help but wonder if I missed something.