Alright I plan to do nine hand breakdowns every week, three Monday, three Wednesday and three Friday. So without further a due, hand one is from an online ring game I played on poker-stars for play money.
Blinds are 50-100, I had roughly 10k in chips.
Started on the button with 55, seat 3 raises to 500 it was folded to me. I call and the small blind calls, putting 1600 in the pot. Flop came 5s6c7d, it was checked to me and I bet 800, small blind called and seat 3 folded. Pot is now 3200. Small blind Turn was the 10d, small blind checked to me. I bet out 1100 small blind called, pot is now 5400. River came the 10c it was checked to me, I bet 3100, small blind folded.
Start pre-flop. I have 55 on the button and it was raised 5x from seat 3 and I have three options.
Fold:
Folding is a very tight play here, I am on the button with a pocket pair, although there are many flops that I could not like, it is worth taking the flop considering I have position.
Call:
Calling in my opinion is the best option, although I have the position my hand is the kind I am probably not going to love post flop so no need to deliberately bloat the pot.
Raise:
Raising here occasionally is not the worst idea, however in order to push out both blinds and original raiser I would need to bet probably 2500+, and if I did get called the best position I could hope for would be a coin flip, and could be crushed if someone has a higher pair then I do.
Flop came 5s6c7d. Great I flopped trip fives!, but there is that nasty looking straight out there. Original raiser probably does not have a piece of that flop. There is a chance he raised with 8-9, but 4-3 and 8-4 are hands he probably would not raise with, if he was going to play those hands he would be more likely to limp, but considering position, would be more likely to fold those hands. Small blind could have a piece of it however considering he checked, not overly worried about that. Once again I have 3 options here
Fold:
Folding is never an option here, you flop three of a kind and it gets checked to you there is never an acceptable time to fold this hand.
Check:
Checking could be an option. Checking here would be a way to try and induce a bluff on a later street. The only danger would be if an opponent has a hand like 8-10, you give them a free card to hit a nine and make a straight, but that is not going to happen to much.
Bet:
I chose to bet for value here, bet half the pot, and got one caller.
Turn came 10d and once again it was checked to me, and I have 3 options.
Fold:
Once again folding is not an option here. Board is not to wet, and three of a kind is a very strong hand, plus it has been checked to you in position.
Check:
Once again a check on the turn would be to try and induce a bluff here, but depending on your opponents hand it may or may not work.
Bet:
I chose to bet for value once again and bet out about one third of the pot, opponent calls.
Now when my opponent calls here I figure he has a ten. If he made the straight he would be far more likely to raise, over-cards by this point probably fold, so either he has a hand like j-10 to a-10 or he has an over-pair, although I do not think he has an over pair here as I figure he would have raised earlier with that. So the river came a 10c, once again it was checked to me and I have three options.
Fold:
Never going to happen. River a full house in position and checked to you, never fold.
Check:
Checking here again would be a bad play. The only way to check here is if you honestly think your opponent has a hand like 10-7 but I think that is unlikely here.
Bet:
Betting in my opinion is hands down the best decision. Considering I think my opponent has a 10, I figure he would call a bet size a little higher with a top set. He did fold, meaning he either figured I was on a straight or a set before the river (Possible considering how I played the hand) or he did not have a ten. I am leaning towards thinking he did not have a ten, as if you called all the way down to the river, went runner runner to catch top set, not exactly a hand you are going to fold very often. He may have had over cards to the board on the flop and turned a flush draw, and when it did not come gave up on the hand, but if that was the case, there is no bet size he was going to call anyways.
Hop you guys enjoyed this hand breakdown, once again I hope to hear your thoughts, feedback and questions!
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