Blind battle 3/6 Ed Miller article

[Beastmaster]

Opinions on this? Not defending with Q10 against this type of player on 3/6. Does the rake really justify not calling?
I'm working on my blind play , going from 60%defend to 50% and I wouldn't think twice about calling the raise.

From the article....
I find myself in the following situation frequently, and am not sure about the proper way to handle it. I play mostly at Absolute, and most players at 3/6 are pretty solid. I only have about 100 hands on this guy, but he’s around 25/15/2.3.

Dealt to HERO [Qs 10c]
DONK #1 - Folds
VILLAIN- Raises $6 to $6
DONK #2 - Folds
DONK #3 - Folds
DONK #4 - Folds
HERO - Calls $3
*** FLOP *** [10h 4h 8c]
HERO - Checks
VILLAIN - Bets $3
HERO - Raises $6 to $6
VILLAIN - Calls $3
*** TURN *** [10h 4h 8c] [Ah]

Now what? Anybody who is reading our hand knows we have a pair of tens and thats it. Thus bet/folding seems like a poor option, as the turn provides an easy bluff opportunity. Bet/calling seems a little spewy, because we will likely call the river getting 9:1. However if he bets the river, or if the river puts another heart or a K on the board, we are in a very poor position.

Given this is a four big bet pot, is it worth the fight against an aggressive opponent? Also, what if the raise had instead come from the button. If we open up our opponents range, does this become a check/call to SD?

ED MILLER
To me there seems to be a disconnect in your thinking. The disconnect is between your preflop play and your thinking on the turn.

Your opponent raises from two off the button, and you have queen-ten off in the big blind. Against a tight raise, it’s a fold, and against a very loose raise, it’s a call. You say most Absolute players are “pretty solid,” and this guy is 25/15/2.3 which would suggest (lightly since it’s only 100 hands) that your opponent is typical for the game.

My first thought is that the raiser’s range needs to be fairly broad to justify calling. It’s $3-$6 short-handed, so the rake is going to be significant. And most $3-$6 games have a paltry $1 small blind (not sure if that’s the structure in this game). Against a competent player with a solidish two off the button range, I think you’re on swampy ground. Against a button raise, it’s an easy call.

Ok, so let’s assume that your opponent’s raising range is sufficiently broad to make the call right. What are we looking at? Pocket pairs, most aces, the Broadway hands, and some wackier stuff thrown in too. Lots of stuff.
The flop action says relatively little new, except it’s weakly limiting. Overpairs, top pair, flush draws all maybe 3-bet. Maybe not, but your opponent’s bet/call action has to skew a little toward the weaker hands. In particular, it’s pretty tempting to a lot of players to throw in that 3-bet with position and a nice drawing hand.

The worst card in the deck came off on the turn, but I think the range is still broad enough that you should tend to grit your teeth and bet/call. I hate bet/fold against all but the timid. The A makes a lot of hands, but a ton of hands like 9 9 or K J might raise also. At that point the pot will be too big to bail.
Something I didn’t like in your analysis was how you said that the flop checkraise tips that you have exactly a ten. I hope that’s not the case! If you call a raise in the big blind, you should find a lot of hands worth a checkraise on a medium-low two-tone/straightish flop like T 8 4 . For instance, would you checkraise with a heart draw? Why can’t you have a made flush on fourth street?

Basically, I think you either didn’t give your opponent enough credit for a hand preflop (by calling the raise with queen-ten), or you’re giving him too much credit for a hand on the turn. You flopped top pair against a presumably wide raising range, that’s good. The flop action was nothing to worry about. I don’t think a scare card (granted a pretty scary one) should slow you down.

Only time I might check is if I were against a weird player… someone who raises light and bluffs a ton. If he might have, say, 7 6 (or whatever other trash), and if he’ll just fold to a bet, but might get bold after a check, maybe check.

But basically, this is why being out of position sucks, especially against good players. You get forced to play marginal hands, they turn into dicey situations, and sometimes you end up in too deep and paying off. If the preflop call is a good one, then if you’re beat on the turn, I think you’re going down with the ship.

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