Limit Texas Holdem Hand Quiz #3

[Matt]

You are in middle position with a pair of Jacks. An early player raises. Everyone folds to you. You reraise. Everyone folds to the original raiser who makes it four bets. You call. The flop comes 9 :hearts: 2 :spades: 7 :clubs:. The early player bets. What do you do?

[Nima]

Call.

He three bet you preflop. He has one of the following: AA, KK, QQ or AKs. Maybe AQs but i seriously doubt that. So its safer to just check/call it down - to the river.


Cheers,
Nima


Ps. I posted this on 2+2 forum too. Here is the link: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=7151666&page=0&vc=#Post7151666

[Matt]

Yep. These are the hands I will cap with before the flop: AA, KK, QQ, and AKs. I might also cap with AQs, JJ, TT, and 99 if my opponents are overly aggressive. If I'm against good, observant players, I will occasionally cap with a strong drawing hand like J-10s just to vary my play; I don't do this often though.

Some players will only cap with AA or KK. Others will cap with a much wider range of hands, including A-K offsuit (a bad play in my opinion).

This is a hypothetical situation. Let's say this opponent is most likely to cap with AA, KK, QQ, and AKs. There are 18 possible combinations of the first three hands but only four combinations of A-Ks. You are most likely beaten. Folding is wrong except against the tightest and most predictable players. Calling is better because your opponent may be bluffing all the way with A-Ks or perhaps some other hand. By just calling, you allow your opponent to bluff away his money. If he has you beaten, you lose as little money as possible. The correct play is to call your opponent down all the way unless an overcard comes on the turn or river; if an overcard comes, your decision will be more difficult.

This is an important concept which comes directly from David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth's Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players , which in my opinion is the Bible of Limit Hold'em; Ed Miller's Small Stakes Hold'em is a close second. For more about this concept, see the chapter "Playing a Good Hand When It Is Three Bets Before The Flop."