Here’s a great example of a very poorly played hand by a hero. On the button with 77 our hero flats – and this is just horrible. First, we likely have the best hand and can
steal the blinds. If our opponent 3bets us (re-raises) we’re still getting the implied odds needed to set mine (the practice of seeing flops with pocket pairs to achieve a set), so a bet
of $0.75 or $1 is mandatory here, and the limp is woeful. With the 7Q5 board with two spades, our hero hit his set of 7s. Now with these bets there is $1.75 in the pot and he bets that
amount. I like this bet or even going to the full $2 since we have a bettor and a caller and chances are one of these guys isn’t going away (with a Q or most likely a draw). The
turn is a 2 of spades which fills the flush draw and gives more straight draw possibilities for hands like 34. Our sneak villain who bet out before checks the spade and our hero bets $1.75
which is a big mistake. Although this bet might be seen as a “feeler bet” so he knows where he stands in the hand, his actions are not consistent with his upcoming
practice. If our hero felt he was ahead in the hand, the bet here is $2.50 minimum and ideally something like $3.50 (again 66% of the pot for turn bets). Our hero gets the clue
from this bet that our villain DOES have a hand when he raises the turn bet to $5. Let’s look at what’s happened with this villain. Preflop – call. Flop – bet,
called raise. Turn (fills flush) – check raise.
This looks like a made turn hand every time, and if our hero was putting out a feeler bet, then this is all the information he needs to know to get out now. A call here isn’t
recommended, but our hero blunderingly re-raises to $9.75 and of course our villain shoves. At this point for $19 more our hero has to know he’s beat. But what
happens? He’s got a set, figures he has 10 outs to the river if he’s behind (a 7 gives quads, or a Q, 5, or 2 gives a full house) so he makes a woeful call. Again, you have to see
the pattern of the hand and see if it adds up to a believable story. Would a QJo hand with no spades have played this way? Never. Our hero simply looked at his cards, looked at the
board, and didn’t pay attention to what the villain was telling him in the hand.
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Check Sean's blog for updates on his poker journey at: http://www.icemonkey9.com
If you are familiar with a HUD or have already read through the article, what we are going to do in this article is run a quiz for you by providing a hand up until a certain point and then
offer you the stats of the villain.
