Suited flop

think

I get 57s (spades) — I think I 3x’ed on a blind steal — anyway, I get two callers. It may have gone the other way around (I may have called the other two). Both players open a lot and don’t mind the action. I have been the Rock of Gibraltar, mainly because I had the card drought of all time and didn’t feel I could play iso ball with two napkins (or yet another J3o)— a lot of raised pots were going 4+ callers.

Blinds are 2-3, spread limit (any round or bet (which is it?) can’t go over $100), so it plays like no limit. Stack sizes aren’t terribly big, but villain’s and mine are $200-250? Flop hits K48 all spades, giving me a flush and a gutshot to the straight flush. Villain 1 ($150 left?) bets pot+ (maybe $30), and villain #2 ($200+ behind) maxes out the raise — for some reason, I think it was $120, so...how does spread limit work? Anyway, I call — I didn’t think raising was an option, but I didn’t ask either (I mean, really...). #1 folds, fourth card is a low spade (bummer), so we put in most of the rest of our stack. Last card is 6s, giving me the straight flush (love it), so I get him all in for his last $20 or so.

Showdown he had JTs, which was pretty much expected. Of course, the one outer pulled me out of a jam.

This guy was pretty bluffy. I definitely could have seen that first bet if he hit a set or something. After the second bet I know he has some kind of flush. But I am trying to figure out what range I was up against. I don’t remember who was PFR, but I was closer to the button, so it may have gone me (call) SB (raise) #2 (call raise), and then I’m in on pot odds, especially since the table was pretty loose — people would push top pair and two pair hands pretty hard.

So let’s say the flop call was 1.5:1 pot odds, but pot commitment is definitely a factor. Obviously, he wasn’t playing AK (king is on flop), but what is his range? I think he makes the first bet with a lot of stuff or even with air. In no limit, do you get it all in here? Don’t forget the dead money and the 1-outer (5% or so).

What about the turn call? I pretty much feel like I’m beat here. Pot odds were 3.5:1 or 4:1. Calling was a mistake — I mean, no one’s going to run a multi-street bluff on that board to fold out sets, top pair/combo draws (not many left), two pair looking for a full, and weak flushes, right? If the turn card was higher, it would have bought me some outs. Now what I was maybe playing against was a one-card flush draw flop bluff that spiked the turn — like 6d6s. This guy was opening pretty wide, and I could have seen a 76o type opener, too. I don’t know. All I need to call here is around 20% equity. I still don’t think I had it. I mean, this goes beyond “run it through Flopzilla.” And the table was pretty splashy, with kind of a hobbyist vibe (people watching the game, checking their phones — one guy grading school papers while still managing to be the splashiest of the bunch. He was gone pretty quickly...).

Let’s just say I was glad to see that 6s.

krista

wow that hard to follow

first question is what you doing in that pot with 5 7s?

even you hit a flush with all those spades... chances are you have second best flush?

think

I actually think I limped and then it went raise/call/call (me) to two reds, which would mean I am at $7:$23 (~3:1) to see a flop with a hand that plays well multiway and can hit a flop hard and somewhat disguised, at a table where I have been card-dead but played the hands I did get aggressively and got folds (so I have a little fear equity), on a streak of a lot of pots where people only had to limp to get a look at a multiway flop (which is why I would have figured it was worth a limp at the outset). There is a chance I was BB, too. I don't really remember (and I should). Come to think of it, I didn't 3x open because the only way I would have done that would have been on a blind steal, and villain #2 was too far to the left.

I had felted villain #1 ten minutes prior with an all-in (his, not mine) against my AKo (A on flop) and had a feeling he was steaming just a little, too. So I wanted to get the action again -- 75s an OK bluffing hand (if cheap), and it's a hand you can get away from easily. I wasn't exactly playing AJo or anything.

But these people were stacking each other here and there (there were a lot of short buy-ins). The table was a little spewy -- PokerStars it ain't. So I had to go to a little bit of an exploitative strategy rather than the by-the-book thing that I'd use on KGB's Dungeon or whatever. I'd already missed trying to get in some flops with the teacher who was grading tests at the table in between hands -- I mean, if the table wasn't liable to just call a $10 raise and go multiway, I might've tried to play iso ball with him. His range was crazy -- he showed down some weird hands. It wasn't the best time to be card-dead.

So online or on KGB or whatever, I'm probably dumping it on the flop. But remember, this guy bluffed a lot and was in a ton of hands, so I could easily see him holding Kx (with "x" being a spade, any spade). This would give him TP and a strong combo draw -- possibly FD plus a BDSD, if he had 6s for instance. Ax offsuit with ace of spades was also possible -- draw to nut flush. He could have AKo with AsKx for TPTK combo draw, although I didn't put him on AK/KK/AA/QQ due to the lack of reraising. As8x could play that way, though, for sure. And I definitely feel any pair with one spade could have played that way through the flop.

But like I said, this is not online poker. And he's the type to put his stack out and try to win it right there -- kind of a little bit of an "aggro fish" thing, but not super-terrible like the teacher was. I didn't like floating that big flop bet, but I wasn't sure I was ready to check out either.

And I also said that I feel like the turn call was a mistake, but I would need maybe 20% equity to make it, so it might be closer than you think. But let's turn the tables a bit -- if the four-flush is on board on the turn and you (as the villain) are up against someone who's been playing like a rock for two hours who actually called your maxed-out flop bet, are you excited about getting it in at ~2:1 with Js as your high spade, or are you at least considering downshifting? That's what I was up against.

No I'm not telling you where this place is.

We were playing ~60-70 BB effective, so it wasn't deep stack poker on that hand. A couple of us were 150-200 BB by then. I don't think it would play out the same way in no limit with 150 BB.

think

Sorry about the hand not being clear. I do remember he checked the river (with ~$20 behind) and I put him all-in there, so I was probably somewhere in LP but not button. I think the other villain was in SB, and was most likely the PFR.

So...

2-3 spread limit ($100 max)
$230 effective stacks

Hero: 57s
Villain (EP) calls, hero (LP) calls, SB raises to $10, villain and hero both call

Pot $30
Flop K84 (all s)
SB bets $30
Villain max raise to $100
Hero calls
SB folds

Note that villain could have made this move with many hands, including a single spade or 88/44, or even two pair with any K/8/4.
A set would give 2:1 odds (against) of hitting a full house by the river, and two pair is more like 5:1. The fold equity of getting four-flushes out would be a good move for villain. Villain could even do this as a bluff, especially if he thinks he has a decent read on the SB (who did fold, after all). I am really unlikely to cold-call here.

Pot $260
Turn 3s (K843, all s)
Villain bets $100 (max)
Hero calls

I could have dumped the hand here (see previous posts).

Pot $460
River 6s (K8436, all s)
Villain check
Hero all-in
Villain calls (~$20)

Villain shows JsTs
Hero shows 5s7s for straight flush