Hand Quiz #3 Continued

[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. You call. The turn is the 3 :diamonds:. Your opponent bets. The pot now contains 6.5 big bets. What do you do?

Note: I'm not suggesting that calling the flop is the right move. That may or may not be the best option. This question is meant to test your play on the turn when the pot has been capped before the flop.

[Matt]

Call. The board is non-threatening; there is no possible flush draw and a straight draw is highly unlikely. Although the turn probably did not help your opponent, it seems as though his hand doesn't need any improvement. You will gain nothing by raising. If he has you beat, he will re-raise you. If he is bluffing, he will probably fold.

We have narrowed his hands down to the following: A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-Ks. There are 18 hands that have you beat vs. four that you can beat. Assuming these are the only hands he would bet with, and that he is equally likely to bet A-Ks as he is with AA-QQ, the chances that he has you beat are 4.5-1. However, the pot is laying you 6.5-1 odds, so calling is the right move. In addition, there are two cards that could give you the best hand.

What should you do if he checks the turn? It is best to check behind him and see the river for free. Good players will often go for a check-raise on the turn if they are not afraid of being outdrawn should their opponent take a free card. See Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players for more on this topic (specifically the chapters "Important Fourth Street Concepts" and "Other Fourth Street Concepts").

Knowing card combinations is important for both Limit and No-Limit players. Mark Blade's book Professional Poker features an easy-to-understand discussion of this topic. David Sklansky also discusses card combinations in his book Poker, Gaming, and Life (the chapter entitled "An Essential Hold'em Concept"). For a discussion of how card combinations apply to NL Hold'em, see the following thread: http://blacksburgpoker.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21.