Situational Hand Reading 101: Example

Landlord79 · #1 11-23-2007, 12:40 AM

This is a spot where no one ahead of me or behind me could logically represent a K except me due to my relative position to the pfr'r. Any player w/ position on the pfr'r would have bet the flop w/ a King and any player OOP would have led the turn.

I repped the failed slowplay on the flop and led the turn into the pfr who was obv scared by the overcard to his pair.

Bodog No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

saw flop|saw showdown

BB ($179.50)
UTG ($94.75)
UTG+1 ($110.25)
MP1 ($97.00)
Landlord79 ($124.25)
MP3 ($172.50)
CO ($88.75)
Button ($103.25)
SB ($80.50)

Preflop: Landlord79 is MP2 with 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $1, MP1 calls $1, Landlord79 calls $1, 2 folds, Button raises to $6.5, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $5.50, MP1 calls $5.50, Landlord79 calls $5.50.

Flop: ($27.50) 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (4 players)
UTG+1 checks, MP1 checks, Landlord79 checks, Button checks.

Turn: ($27.50) K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (4 players)
UTG+1 checks, MP1 checks, Landlord79 bets $15, Button folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds.

Final Pot: $42.50

Results below:
No showdown. Landlord79 wins $42.50.

CalledDownLight · #2 11-23-2007, 12:49 AM

I don't know what the point of this thread is, but you definitely don't look like you have a king. Also, I don't see why UTG+1 or MP1 would have bet the flop with a king.

Chargers In 07 · #3 11-23-2007, 12:51 AM

They would have bet the turn with a King and Landlord is repping 44/66, not a King. I think it's well played and def. something I don't think too much about when I'm playing.

Landlord79 · #4 11-23-2007, 01:05 AM

It's a situational play CDL, since the 2 OOP players didn't bet the flop or turn and the button didn't bet the flop, logically, no one here has a King. If they UTG+1 and MP1 players had slowplayed the flop w/ a King, then they would have fired the turn when it paired the Top card. We've seen the OOP players check twice, it doesn't matter what our hand is anymore, we should bet here in the absence of a calling station.

If button has KK (very small % of his range) then he'll let us know. He fires AK here on the flop 99%.

I think that I'm repping a hand like K-10 in this spot.

I didn't intend for this to be a brag thread, but maybe we can get people to start posting hands where they can explain the situation, the play and the reason for that play.

novel20 · #5 11-23-2007, 02:00 AM

What is this? LOL

"Any player w/ position on the pfr'r would have bet the flop w/ a King and any player OOP would have led the turn."

Who would have position on the flop against the pre-flop raiser? He is the button!

Why would an OOP lead the turn if they have K, when they know someone like you would bet?

You may not believe it, but there is a good chance your hand is the best, depend on the stats of the button raiser.

QTip · #6 11-23-2007, 09:48 AM

I would say normally your hand is pretty weak there; however, the PFRer is in a terrible spot to try to do anything about it.

Landlord79 · #7 11-23-2007, 09:50 AM

[ QUOTE ]
What is this? LOL

"Any player w/ position on the pfr'r would have bet the flop w/ a King and any player OOP would have led the turn."

Who would have position on the flop against the pre-flop raiser? He is the button!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I was running low on sleep yesterday.

They've had 2 opportunities to bet, they're probably on MPP that missed or something that missed the flop. It's very doubtful that 3s are best here if everyone were to turn over their hands and I'm not going to make a bet based on the fact that my hand is best here.

My bet was based on the information gathered at the table that allowed me to take a pot based on what my opponents didn't have. Take it for what it's worth, because it is exactly what I am describing it as. This situation won't come up often, but it will come up.

ActionStan · #8 11-23-2007, 10:33 AM

Like the others have said, you aren't really repping a K as much as you are protecting your hand. A lot of the time you simply had the best hand here but no card in the deck other than the 2 3's are good for you. No one is going to put you on a K particularly and you might fold out some weak hands that are beating you. Really the range of things that you'd bet here is very wide given the two rounds of checking. Mostly the only thing you have to worry about is the original raiser having a middle pair that he didn't want to bet into 4 people, but would call 1 bet with.

holdem2000 · #9 11-23-2007, 11:17 AM

So the point here is that everyone else has taken a line which at low to medium stakes just announces that they don't have that great a hand, except for Landlord, whose strong hands are still part of his range, and at nl100 nobody is going to take the initiative to take him off his hand with air... occasionally a MPP will call the turn but probably fold the river anyway.

The language he used like "Any player w/position on the pfr'r would have bet the flop w/ a King" is true in this more general situation rather than this specific hand, say that there were 6 players to the flop: UTG, UTG+1, Landlord, MP3 (PFR), CO, BU. Then CO/BU are either pretty nitty or can't beat top pair a large majority of the time since they checked behind, while UTG and UTG+1 are probably weak since they checked the turn. Landlord is the last player who may have a strong hand (unless someone turned something). Good boards for this are anything resembling:
A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
etc.

Really any board whatsoever with this action, a turn bet may be +EV, but the worst ones are rag flops followed by a A/K/Q turn.