Limit Hold'em Quiz #33, Question Five

[Matt]

You are on the button with Q:diamonds:J:diamonds:. Four players limp in front of you. What do you do?

You raise. The big blind and the limpers call. The pot contains 12.5 small bets. The flop comes 7:clubs: 6:hearts: J:hearts:. The big blind and the first limper check. The second limper, a semi-loose aggressive player, bets. The third limper, a weak predictable player, calls. The fourth limper folds and the action is on you. What do you do?

You raise. Only the limpers call. The pot contains 9 big bets. The turn is the 9:diamonds:. Both players check to you. What do you do?

You bet and both opponents call. The pot contains 12 big bets. The river is the 2:hearts:. The aggressive player checks and the weak player bets. What do you do?

You call, the aggressive player raises, and the weak player calls. You call. The aggressive player show 5:hearts:4:hearts: for a flush. The weak player shows 9:hearts:7:diamonds: for two pair. How would you rate the aggressive player's play?

[Nima]

I would definitely fold now...

[Nima]

He called all the way with open ended straight and flush draw...

He check raised the river, which is a good move too..


Matt, Why do you say his play was poor... He had a strong hand and if anything he should have played it more strongly.... But at any point if he wanted to three bet or re-raise it, it would have knocked other players out probably...

[Matt]

Your opponent made several mistakes. Calling with 54s from early position is terrible unless you are in a very loose-passive game.

He also failed to play his draw strongly on the flop. He was over a 50% favorite with two cards to come. The pot is so large that forcing out the bettor is not a big deal. Three-betting or check-raising is better than calling. In addition, the bettor is so loose that he might even call two bets cold.

Check-raising the river is also bad. The third heart is an obvious scare card and he runs the risk of having it checked around. It would be better to get at least one more big bet out of the loose player.