I Keep Dreaming of This WSOP Hand...

Not to steal LFT's thunder, but after he started up his "Imaginary WSOP Hand" threads, I found myself dreaming of hypothetical hands at night. There is one, in particular, that really bothers me. I think this one bothers me because I) I am not entirely comfortable playing deep-stacked, II) My biggest fear is going broke on the first hand, and III) I never know what's the best way to play against unknowns.

So, would love to hear how you guys play this hand.

First damn hand of the Main Event. You're obviously excited to be at your first WSOP. You recognize no one at your table. Villain in this hand is wearing a Party Poker tee-shirt. Blinds are 25/50.

You look down at red Kings in the CO. Folded to UTG+1 who raises to 150, UTG+2 calls, and it's folded to you. You reraise to 850. UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls. 1925 in the pot.

Flop: 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. UTG+2 checks, you bet 1350. UTG+2 now raises to 4500. Besides puking, what's your move?

Note: You are not Phil Hellmuth.

[rockin]

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Note: You are not Phil Hellmuth.

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Whew!?!

Glad to see your not dreaming about Phil Hellmuth.

[Black Aces 518]

I've been thinking about all these type of situations too. I think I would actually check behind the flop to exercise pot control. I'm not trying to go broke on the first hand with 200 BB and one pair. Obv. an ace or club on the turn sucks, but I hate the situation the bet puts you in worse. As played, I fold the flop.

I would bet the flop with 2 opponents, because it's more likely that the turn would turn my winner into a loser. The only hand where villain trails us on the flop and has more than a 25% chance of catching us on the turn is ace-suited of clubs, so I'm OK giving a card for free to greatly increase my chances of getting to showdown.

My plan for the turn is to bet 1200 if checked to, and to call a bet unless the A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] falls.

[JuntMonkey]

Yea, same thoughts for me too the past couple days. I'd almost definitely fold that one.

This one's a slight variation on everybody's ole' favorite - "first hand of WSOP with AA": First hand of the main event, you're in the BB. Folded around to the SB who is wearing a Pokerchamps hat and t-shirt and goes all-in. You look down at red kings.

[Pat Southern]

Reraise less preflop, to like 600. Fold to the flop raise, he's an internet qualifier just like you and probably is not looking to put in half his stack with a worse overpair. Best case scenario you're looking at some big combo draw that you're flipping against, worst case scenario you're drawing to two outs.

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Reraise less preflop, to like 600.

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Let's talk about this...

Doesn't doing this make it even harder for me to figure out his range? Also, don't we lose more pots because of the smaller raise simply because Villain can now correctly call with almost anything that he raised with?

I have a feeling your response will be "Yeah, but we control the pot size, which is more important in deep stack poker," but consider this. Raising to 600 gives UTG+1 over 2:1 odds to call. 3:1 if he assumes that UTG+2 is calling. Chances are, he will call this given the nearly infinite implied odds. Same goes for UTG+2.

So our attempt to control pot size now has us in roughly the same sized pot, against two opponents, with less clarity about their hand ranges.

I understand where you're coming from, and the thought of your line definitely crossed my mind. I'm just not sure it actually accomplishes what it is intended to accomplish.

Anyway, curious to hear a response.

edit: Agree with the flop fold, though. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Pat Southern]

Didn't see the coldcaller. Ok, preflop is fine. I'd go with 750, but whatever.

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I think I would actually check behind the flop to exercise pot control.

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Anyone have thoughts on this?

My immediate reaction is that, aside from getting sucked out on occasionally, I think a decent amount of turn cards are either I) tough to play correctly or II) action killers against hands like 99-QQ, 89s, A8s, etc.

[mlagoo]

i think checking the flop is bad/dream results oriented. you get called by a lot of hands you're dominating (99-QQ), and reraised by very few of them (those dudes aren't trying to get broke with JJ on this flop either).

my pf rr would be to like 700 or so, btw. dump the flop to the raise.

[NoahSD]

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dream results oriented

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Nice!

I agree with what Pat/mlagoo said.