Sunday, October 17, 2010

This is no-limit poker, folks!

No-limit single draw has at times felt like a limit game, with relatively few four-bets or big all-ins. For some reason people seem very cautious, not wanting to bet big unless they have a truly massive hand. But then yesterday morning, as a reminder that the game is indeed no-limit, this hand came up.

PokerStars Game #51148256211: Single Draw 2-7 Lowball No Limit ($0.25/$0.50 USD) - 2010/10/15 15:53:17 ET
Table 'Renzia V' 7-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Antoniomaqui ($16.45 in chips)
Seat 2: ka$teIIa ($6.75 in chips)
Seat 3: popaionut ($57.65 in chips)
Seat 4: vitalikvital ($57.45 in chips)
Seat 5: Ic3-T ($49.50 in chips)
Seat 6: sngonta ($55.55 in chips)
Seat 7: plutoman20 ($30.60 in chips)
Ic3-T: posts small blind $0.25
sngonta: posts big blind $0.50
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to plutoman20 [6s 4d 8c 3c 5d] This is a truly massive hand. On the list of the 100 greatest hands of all time, it's right up there at number nine. It's a 282:1 shot, rarer than aces in hold 'em.
plutoman20: raises $1 to $1.50 My standard raise.
Antoniomaqui: folds
ka$teIIa: raises $5.25 to $6.75 and is all-in Yes!
popaionut: calls $6.75
vitalikvital: folds
Ic3-T: calls $6.50 Wow. What the hell have they got? Hopefully pat nines or tens, or draws to 8-7s. Interestingly my hand is the best possible hand without a deuce; this increases the chance that my opponents have the vital deuce they'll need to beat my hand. So what do I do here? I go all-in, right? Well actually my hand is good enough that I want to get called, don't I?
sngonta: folds
plutoman20: raises $10.25 to $17 Seventeen is the first number that comes into my head. I guess one of those two will call the extra $10.
popaionut: calls $10.25
Ic3-T: calls $10.25 OK, so they both call. Not sure I wanted that.
Ic3-T: discards 1 card
plutoman20: stands pat on [6s 4d 8c 3c 5d]
ka$teIIa: discards 1 card
popaionut: discards 1 card Everyone's drawing. Bugger. I'm still a biggish favourite here though.
Ic3-T: bets $17.50 I'm probably toast now. But the pot's so damn big I've got no real choice but to put the rest of my stack in.
plutoman20: calls $13.60 and is all-in
popaionut: calls $17.50 Oh you're calling too?! The pot has now reached three figures, though I doubt I'll be getting my dirty mitts on any of it.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Ic3-T: shows [2c 6d 3d 7d 4c] (Lo: 7,6,4,3,2)
popaionut: mucks hand
Ic3-T collected $7.80 from side pot-2
plutoman20: mucks hand
Ic3-T collected $69.90 from side pot-1
ka$teIIa: mucks hand
Ic3-T collected $26.15 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $106.85 Main pot $26.15. Side pot-1 $69.90. Side pot-2 $7.80. Rake $3
Seat 1: Antoniomaqui folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: ka$teIIa mucked [4s 9c 7s 8h 5c]
Seat 3: popaionut mucked [5s 6h 4h 2h 8s]
Seat 4: vitalikvital (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Ic3-T (small blind) showed [2c 6d 3d 7d 4c] and won ($103.85) with Lo: 7,6,4,3,2
Seat 6: sngonta (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: plutoman20 mucked [6s 4d 8c 3c 5d]

So I was beaten by both players (the ultra-short stack was drawing dead). If it's any consolation Popaionut lost even more on that hand than me. I should have shoved pre-draw and taken all the initiative; my stack was going in anyway. Just because I can sometimes go hundreds of hands without making an eight doesn't make my hand invincible. The short-stack, although he/she was well out of the running, played a big part in the hand. With a full stack he might have raised to $4, the pot would have been smaller, and I might have got away from my hand after the draw.

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