The $2/$5 No-Limit cash game at Snoqualmie has one very
interesting anomaly: The maximum buy-in is limited to only $300. This has
implications for how one should play this game. For example, say you’re on the
button at a full ring game. A player in middle position raises to $15. Action
folds to you, and you look down at 97s. If effective stacks were, say, $1000,
this hand would definitely be worth playing (and might even merit a re-raise).
But with only $300 behind, this hand hits the muck. There just isn’t enough
implied odds to make such a speculative holding worthwhile.
Given that context, the following hand came up, and I’m
pretty sure I got maximum value from it.
The player under-the-gun raised to $15. By the time
action got to me in the small blind, three callers had come along for the ride.
This, by the way, is another hallmark of this game; lots of preflop limpers and
callers, which again has implications for how one should play certain hands.
I looked down at AcQc – a premium hand for this
situation, for sure. I saw that there was $67 in dead money in the
pot, and decided that was a big enough number of chips to try to take right
there. I also realized that if anyone called (and the initial caller was the
one most likely to do so), my hand had plenty of post-flop equity to continue
on with. I decided to raise to $80. The big blind folded, and action returned
to the preflop raiser.
I could tell from his reaction that he thought I was just
trying to steal the pot. As the table sheriff, he wasn’t going to let me get
away with it. He smooth called; everyone else folded, and we took the flop
heads-up.
The flop came 4c 2c 7d. So I had flopped the nut flush
draw; a backdoor draw to the idiot end of a straight; and I had two overcards.
Overall, I was likely way ahead. Even if my opponent had something like pocket
tens or Jacks, I was over 50% to win. Only a flopped set had me in trouble. If
ever a flop called out for a c-bet, this was it.
I checked.
In doing so, I tried to look as weak and as disappointed
as I could. After all, my opponent appeared convinced that I was merely on a
steal; I was hoping that by feigning weakness I could induce him to bluff. And
he did.
He pushed all-in, which (given the starting stacks) was
only around $200. I nearly beat him into the pot, and immediately flipped my
hand face-up for all to see. No slow-rolling for me!
The dealer completed the board with the 5h and the 2d. In
other words, I had completely missed everything, and ended the hand with a
measly Ace-high.
My opponent looked at the board, and slowly mucked his
hand. My Ace-high was winner. I can only assume that he had a hand like
King/Queen or King/Jack – hands far too weak to open under the gun, at least
for me.
If I’d bet the flop with a c-bet, I’m pretty sure he’d
wiggled off the hook. But my weak check gave him the green light to try to push
me off the hand. Sadly for him, I had the near nuts. I wasn’t going anywhere.
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