Over the years , some of the answers to that hand
nlcatter says:
2015/05/03 at 12:13
“77 not likely” uh, today in 2015 very likely pairs will set mine turn.
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Anonymous says:
2013/03/31 at 07:57
2 to 1 odds are not good enough pot odds to call and your implied odds drop because the man (to me) is representing a king unless 6-1 odds are laid out for you I would have dumped the draw
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Mike Caro says:
2013/03/31 at 21:54
You might be right about the odds — it’s clearly very close in this case. But the chance that the opponent has a king can actually make the call more profitable, not less.
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T. C. Herb (@thutcoolence) says:
2013/03/29 at 19:50
AQ suited is a good range for a 3 bet preflop, especially considering it was a loose game and the pre-flop raiser might not have much of a hand. That makes it easier to survive (that is imortant in tournaments, right?), but might scare away an opponent that you can extract more value from later on. Such a 3-bet might have scared the pair of 6’es away. It is tempting to bet all in after you connect with your flush, and what are the chances that someone has a full house? Still, I think one point that Matthew made is very valid. Why bet so big? Would you really expect to be called by a worse hand? E.g. a K high flush or just trip K’s? Would a good player make such a call?
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Matthew Bullet Oberst says:
2013/03/29 at 15:48
The way this hand was played over a decade ago vs. they way it is played (by a good player) now is going to be a big difference. Simply this hand should have been 3-bet pre, and isolating the initial bettor. This should cause the player behind with 66 to fold, and the player to your right to defend. Now a board of K K 6 is not nearly as dangerous in a heads up pot, and you will find yourself extracting MAX value from the player defending with hands such as KJ K10 & KQ (you can rule out AK, seeing that norm is a 4-bet). By 3-betting pre, this will also give you the info in a normal situation whether the initial bettor has hands like AA AK KK QQ, hands that should be 4-bet. This makes your decision easier as you can just toss the AQ away if you are 4-bet by a player who is playing an ABC type game.
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Ray says:
2012/07/16 at 23:03
Draws are Death.With a pair on board YOU ARE PISSING INTO THE WIND.You are better than that.
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Mike Caro says:
2012/07/17 at 00:44
Hi, Ray —
Thanks for making your first comment and joining our Poker1 family.
Actually, in situations such as these, the draw on the board weighs in favor of an all-in bet. The question is whether other factors outweigh those that favor that decision. One negative factor is that an opponent might already have a made full house — which is what happened. If that weren’t the case, then moving all-in taxes the maximum for the opportunity to make one.
Note that I suggested in the entry above that a decision to not move all-in would have been easy if the non-king cards on the board were higher ranking. The way it was, a full-house was unlikely. Or, in any case, that was the reason I decided as I did.
The fact that there’s a draw on the board isn’t always a deciding factor. The kind of draw and the likelihood of opponents holding the key elements makes a big difference.
Straight Flushes,
Mike Caro
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Alasdair says:
2012/07/14 at 10:52
Re-raise pre flop for me, but I’ve busted out of plenty tournaments by over playing AQ.
I’d be fascinated to know if you ever took a straw poll on people’s opinions when that hand was first posted, and compare it to now – I’d bet on a pre flop re-raise being more popular now than 14 years ago?
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Anonymous says:
2012/07/13 at 12:59
I don’t see any argument for making a large bet on the turn. Make a med sized bet 1/2 the pot and hope for a call and a check from your opponent on the river. Fold to check raise unless you have a great read on your opponent. The all in was just a bad play all around. Thanks for the honest post Mike. Shows ever “the best player in the world” makes some big mistakes.
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Mike Caro says:
2012/07/13 at 13:09
Thanks for your comment.
I’ve analyzed the hand in depth in the past 14 years, even using computer simulation. Whether going all-in was right depends on how you define the traits of the opponents and the likelihood of their actions. It isn’t clearly right or clearly wrong. That’s the point I was addressing. Don’t forget, chasing players out who might connect on the river also has value — as does getting calls from inferior hands.
Straight Flushes,
Mike Caro
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Makwa says:
2011/06/24 at 12:51
Drawing to nut flush with pr on board is -EV and nuts in this situation, when your stack and tourney life are at stake… the shove was also pure folly, as only a better hand will call…
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Zac T. says:
2011/06/23 at 10:58
Given the strength of our hand and better position over the original raiser, this hand is quite playable. Investing some chips with a re-raise will get more information about the raiser’s hole cards. That said, less experienced players can fold or even flat-call here since they will unlikely learn anything new after the re-raise anyway.
Unfortunately the pair of kings on the flop forces another tough decision. We have the nut flush draw against a potential full house. Since staying in the hand means it is likely that all of our chips will end up in the pot by the river, we should probably dump the hand right now because we may already be drawing dead. In a tournament, when you get all your chips in, you better have the nuts not a (dead) draw.
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ShadyJ says:
2011/06/23 at 09:41
You played it well until the turn. Thats not a board anyone will bluff raise, so its a bet fold. You say everyone knows you wrote a book so what worse hand will call your shove? By shoving you fold out all hands your ahead of and get called by all hands that beat you.
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stan jett says:
2010/11/12 at 16:38
Fold that crap.(after flop) NEVER chase a flush when the board pairs on the flop.
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nlcatter says:
2015/05/03 at 12:10
agree in T, in cash game , go for it. but also 3bet pre. I 3 bet pre once w AQdd and got called by 54offsuit, of course flop was Q54
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Listening says:
2010/11/12 at 15:17
I’m pretty much a novice at NLHE but – I think reraising the preflop raise would be a good idea. It’s a nice hand you had and maybe he’s just stealing, but I’d like to get a bit of info here and taking it down right now wouldn’t be terrible and being Heads-up would be a good result, also. So with a raise, if he comes over me, I can lay down to what would seem to be a big pair. I’m kind of assuming you had a tight-ish image here, so a decent-sized raise would be my only suggestion.
Once you have the flush, I don’t think in Holdem you can just put amateurs on FHs instead of a trip Ks. In PLO, you can. It’s like these hands play themselves when this happens, seems to me.
Lis~
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Jeff S. says:
2010/11/11 at 12:20
Hi Mike,
Well, this hand was obviously a long time ago, and I’m sure you’ve recovered from it by now. In hindsight, you could have re-raised to try and knock out the button and other players as to isolate the initial bettor. The button would have likely folded to a raise and re-raise in front of him (or maybe not due to his position). Like you say, though – poker is played mostly on a whim.
I recently discovered your site and wanted to say Thanks. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and insight, and I’ve barely scratched the surface. Keep up the good work!
Jeff
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Ralph Velez says:
2010/07/08 at 18:04
Well Mike, in retrospect (no pun intended) You cannot really put the sixth seat on 6-6 at that time. Three times the big blind usually means a pretty strong hand. With odds at 4-1 that his card doesn’t hit, I would play the hand just the way you did. 90 times out of a hundred, you are a winner. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us