Since I've been playing mostly NLHE lately I've seen myself make some real donkey plays thanks to not fully thinking through the action in the hand. Yesterday, very early in the Bodog tourney, I was in late position with KcJc and called behind several limpers. The flop came King-x-x, and the player immediately to my right bet out about the size of the pot. I called, the turn was another little card, he bet out roughly the pot again, and I called again. Right away, bells should be going off in my head telling me I'm beat. He's repesenting a King, and the only hands with Kings in them that I have beat at this point are King-ten and lower. I could see betting King-ten (or less) on the flop, but it seems less likely on the turn after I had called. The river came an 8, which paired the board, and my opponent made a BRILLIANT bet - he only bet 75 chips into what was now a 600+ chip pot. Since the river bet was so weak, I felt there was a possibility that my hand was good, but rather than just call the weak bet with my mediocre holding, I raised another 100 chips. He of course called with KQ and his kicker played and he scooped the pot. My failure here was twofold - I did not raise nearly enough to make him even think about folding, and I raised with virtually no possibility that my hand was good. The size of his river bet was key: since he had bet so little, it was hard for me to pick a raise-size that would get him off his hand - a small raise had to be called and a big raise would look like a bluff, because after all, if I DID have that big a hand wouldn't I WANT to be called ? A great play by my opponent and a lesson learned.
In a NLHE cash game the other day I had tripled up my starting stack and had started raising with lesser hands than is my usual wont when this hand came up. I raised 3x the blind with A2 off and got flat called by one player. The flop came J-10-x and I correctly checked, figuring that my opponent had some kind of hand and would bet and I'd get away with a minimal loss. To my surprise, he also checked. The turn was an ace, and I again checked. My opponent proceed to bet out about the size of the pot. Again, the bells should be ringing, but like a donkey I reraised him with my feeble ace, and he called. The river paired the 10, and I bet out $4, about 1/4 of the pot, and he reraised me to $8. I called, like a dummy, and he of course had Ace-ten for a full house. I made multiple mistakes on this hand:
- When he checked the flop behind, I should have put him on Ace-big (he would have bet any decent pair) and just resigned myself to folding the hand if he bet.
- When the ace came and he bet, I should have put him on Ace-big, because after all he did call my preflop raise and then bet the ace. My turn check-raise was totally without merit, and when he called I should have known I was way behind.
- When the board paired and he raised my river bet, I couldn't beat anything, and could only tie Ace-9 or less, which is a doubtful holding again since he had called the preflop raise and my turn check-raise.
Remember that when you come in stealing with raggy aces most of the time you DON'T want to see an ace flop and you certainly don't want to call any bets with the ace on the board.
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