stud 8 - prof backwards

[howzit]

tried something new and was kamikaze for sure.

3-handed late night after main game broke. we are playing HE mix and both these guys are hold'em players. needless to say, they find themselves in marginal spots in the other games and play marginal holdings.

me: (97)9
seat 1: xx 5d
seat 2: xx 4d

seat two brings in/complete. i call, seat 1 calls.

4th st:
me: (97)9c Jd
seat 1: xx 5d Tc
seat 2: xx 4d 5s

check, check, bet, call, call.

5th street:

me: (97)9c Jd Kh
seat 1: xx 5d Tc 8d
seat 2: xx 4d 5s 8h

check, check, seat 2 bets, and then i c/r (?), seat 1 folds. i get 3 bet and i call.

sixth. he cathces high, i brick. i check/call.

seventh. i brick. he bets, i call.




ok, on third i felt confident my split nines were the best high hand. I would toss this ring game but it's 3 handed and these guys don't play stud 8 at all.

fourth: this street suprised me. I thought my call would force out seat 1 when his low busted out. But when he called with a 5 and a J against a better low draw and a better high board, i put him on a pair.

Fifth, I get creative with a my high-only board. seat 1 is sharing eights with seat 2. so it's unlikely that the eight gave him two pair. I have seat 1's board beat readily for high but in order for me to knock him out, i'll have to put in at least two bets.

so i did. as a consolation price, my two pair card are live.

sixth and seventh are trivial and i'll call down here 100% of the time unimproved once i've made that move on fifth.


short-handed brings out a lot of marginal spots and places to get creative. i think fifth street is counterintuitive in some ways (definitely not ABC) but was wondering if winning players would agree with my play here.

[Andy B]

I'm not quite comfortable enough with shorthanded play to say whether or not you should be playing (97)9 for a full bet, but I'd probably fold it. I would definitely fold fifth, however. A good chunk of the time, he's going to have Nines beaten. Another good chunk of the time he's going to be free-rolling on you. I don't think that the pot's big enough to justify calling three bets basically hoping for a split.

[Micturition Man]

First of all you should definitely reraise on 3rd to try to get it heads up.

For some reason the received wisdom on twoplustwo.com (not sure if this is true of the actual 2+2 books) is heavily biased against overpairs in stud 8. Having an overpair in stud 8 is generally good spot.

To suggest folding is just weak, sorry Andy.

Fourth is a little interesting with the pot unusually small. If you had reraised on 3rd and still gotten 3 way action you would lead out on 4th and jam if the guy in the middle insists on calling.

As played I think just calling on 4th is really not bad, because as you note the one guy really should not be overcalling much of the time anyway, and also given the pot size and the somewhat dangerous board for the 54 guy, you may be getting away from your hand on 5th.

However as a standard play you should just lead out on 4th and the middle guy will fold a lot of hands outright and almost all of them to a jam, if he has a clue.

5th street is confusing as played up to this point. I think I would lead out and call a raise rather than c-rz. The guy in the middle should definitely be folding any high that doesn't beat 99 when you lead out.

[howzit]

[ QUOTE ]
5th street is confusing as played up to this point. I think I would lead out and call a raise rather than c-rz. The guy in the middle should definitely be folding any high that doesn't beat 99 when you lead out.

[/ QUOTE ]

this would save me a bet.

[PokrLikeItsProse]

[ QUOTE ]

For some reason the received wisdom on twoplustwo.com (not sure if this is true of the actual 2+2 books) is heavily biased against overpairs in stud 8. Having an overpair in stud 8 is generally good spot.


[/ QUOTE ]

I've never gotten that impression. The "received wisdom" is that pairs play badly in multiway spots. I think that the 2+2 book POV is that pairs play well in heads up pots against any low, especially if you can disguise your hand. You ought to fold split nines UTG at a full table, but short-handed, you can probably raise and perhaps should if it will get you a heads-up pot, especially against a player who will complete and three-bet with a razzy low.

Jamming on fifth seems like lunacy. I don't think there is any reasonable hand your opponent has where you are the favorite. You probably gain more value by keeping the third player in rather than jamming it. Or possibly, you just lose less value. So, I think your only reasonable options are checking and calling or checking and folding. If checking and folding is wrong, it probably isn't very wrong.

[Micturition Man]

I wrote a longer response but accidentally lost it.

On the point about received wisdom, I could give many examples of what I mean from certain regular posters here (that 75-150 hand where hero had buried JJ comes to mind), but it's really not important.

As for the hand, clearly you are right that we are not a favorite against any realistic hand on 5th, and yes, jamming would be terrible.

I originally thought the pot was large enough that we would want to call down unless the 854 guy catches another low on 6th, but now I see you are right and check-folding is very reasonable.

I'm still a little uncomfortable check-folding when the 3rd guy appears to be in much worse shape than we are though. As long as we do in fact have the best current high hand we would be very correct to call down. On the other hand we could be drawing dead so maybe we should just get out.

If the hand had played out what should be the standard fashion (i.e. we reraised on 3rd) and we still got 3-way action, the pot would now be big enough on 5th that we are definitely interested in calling down and we do want the middle guy out in case the apparent made low has actually paired. I think in that case a bet-call would be warranted.

[PokrLikeItsProse]

[ QUOTE ]


I'm still a little uncomfortable check-folding when the 3rd guy appears to be in much worse shape than we are though. As long as we do in fact have the best current high hand we would be very correct to call down. On the other hand we could be drawing dead so maybe we should just get out.

If the hand had played out what should be the standard fashion (i.e. we reraised on 3rd) and we still got 3-way action, the pot would now be big enough on 5th that we are definitely interested in calling down and we do want the middle guy out in case the apparent made low has actually paired. I think in that case a bet-call would be warranted.

[/ QUOTE ]

I see two problems.

One, you can't discount the possibility that the apparent low hand actually has a high hand and has you beat for high (or even the third player has you beat). It's a bit read-dependent (I've known a few players who are more likely to complete the bring-in with a big pair in the hole), but you do need to account for that possibility. If this is a close decision, then figuring out how the Seat 2 would play a big pair in the hole or how Seat 1 might play a three-flush that paired his ten on fourth street might tip the balance. Those may not be the likely hands, but they have to factor into your analysis.

Second, the bet-call on fifth scenario seems to rely on the third player folding sufficiently often. If he's really is loose, I can see him chasing a low here if he decides that there is a chance that his low draw is good. On the other hand, if he has a small pair here, he might fold for one bet if you check and call. I would be more willing to consider playing it bet-call the way you want on fifth if you had two pair as some protection from a small two pair hand.

One important thing to consider here is that you are very likely to face a bet on sixth and seventh, so continuing on fifth street should be understood as a likely investment of three big bets to go after what is already in the pot, and sometimes to go after only half of what is in the pot.

[SweetLuckyMe]

Good fifth st. I'd have done it one sooner, on 4th. Then again on 5th too, if 3rd guy still hung around. I also would have bet when he caught high on 6th. I'd check/call the river unimproved, but bet right out if I improved to 2 pr.

You've got to punish the holdem type and use your position (like you did on 5th) to thin the field. The holdem type will raise junk hands like AQ4 all day long and you've got to begin taking value via marginal value bets (like betting on 6th here when he catches high). And hands like 9's up are a solid value bet on the river against their type.

[SweetLuckyMe]

Anyone suggesting folding this hand at any point will eventually get killed in an aggressive 3-handed game. You've got to accept that the variance will be sickening, but not playing these type hands out, in this type of 3-handed situation, is expensive. You've simply got to play poker well.

[SweetLuckyMe]

[ QUOTE ]
this would save me a bet.

[/ QUOTE ] You're not looking to save a bet - in this instance you're looking to fully maximize your expectation. You're not going to win every hand in this spot, but getting as much into the middle as possible is proper.