Pokeroom – Case Study 3
Category: Poker
www.pokeroom.com – Having seen some playable hands in quick succession on a three handed table last week, I picked up (A,5) and decided to make another raise. This isn’t a particularly strong hand in most circumstances, but with only three players left at the table, I felt it was worth making a raise. I was called by one player, and the flop came down (3,6,J). I checked at this point, and my opponent checked too.
The turn card brought a Queen, and I decided I should see if I could pick up the pot. The raise was not a particularly large one, but I was surprised when my opponent reraised. The first thought that went through my mind was that he was raising purely because I had been making raises with such high frequency in the past ten hands or so. He was right of course to read me as being on a bluff this time, but I was reading him as being weak too. I reached for my chips and began to count out a reraise, but something made me stop and reconsider.
If I was wrong and he assumed my raise meant a pair, then he could feasibly reraise me on the turn happily, if he had caught the Queen. After some deliberation, I decided to do the sensible thing and fold. Of course my opponent then showed a hand of (7,9) meaning my initial read of the situation was perfect and he could never have called a reraise.
The problem is, that to make a raise, then be reraised, then come over the top with another big reraise when you have absolutely nothing, seems like insanity if you sit and think about it for too long. The fact is though, that if you read a situation a certain way, often you have to just be brave and go with it, as this are how some of the truly great poker plays are made. www.pokeroom.com