[HughHefner]

College is starting so there are tons of punk kids throwing around money in poker. I bought into a cash game 25/50 blinds, $20 buy in. Played for a while, real bad cards folded blind after blind and saw no action. Finally got QQ...tons of preflop action puts me all in heads up against a player who I knew was loose. Unfortunatly for me he did have KA. Flop comes down KKA turn A river A. I guess god wanted me to lose that one real bad.

I rebuy for $20 more

Anyway, thats not the hand I want you to analize. Hours later the action is out of control its so loose someone is going all in every hand (only 4 players). They call 'last hand' and im delt AK spades from the big blind. First action calls, second calls, small raises to 1, I reraise to 5. First and second guy call, small folds. Pot is $16, flop comes down . The guy next to me (who is has been a total maniac all game) goes all in for $15 (putting me all in). The other guy, who has been one of the tighter, better players, calls.

It seemed to me pot odds were telling me to call (although you can correct me if I'm wrong). I was lookin down at my remaining $15 thinking of all the pizza I could buy with it. Then I realized the money shouldn't be on the table if I wasnt willing to call with it. I say "I am not folding here, or calling, just flipping my cards. I flip them over and immidiatly my reads are confirmed. The guy next to me is clearly destroyed, and the other guy definitly has the best hand but and of my outs will kill him.

I call. I was right about the first guy, he was playing Ace high. The other guy I was a little off on. He had JA, so my Ace was no good. No king or spade came and I went out 40 bucks down on the night.

Analize that second hand for me. Thanks.

ason

[Texas72]

If I had the pot odds, I would have likely called. You're drawing to the nut flush, and you also have straight outs as well. (Not really a lot to count, but still).

It's a tough decision, for sure. You have to figure the tight player has something - either an over pair, set, or a decent ace (maybe even AK himself). Maniac you likely put on any two - he could have flopped two pair, or could just be making a play for the pot. He could be drawing himself too, with something like AhQs.

You can't think of your chips in terms of what they can do for you (i.e., pizza). Once you buy in to a game, have the mindset that you've already spent X amount, and if it's gone, it's gone. The important thing is to play well - sometimes the luck just isn't with us.

I'd probably make the call, and be glad that at least the good player, not the maniac, won the hand.

[HughHefner]

actually the good player was being a jerk the entire time...so id have prefered he was burned lol

[Texas72]

LOL. I usually prefer to see the good player win - much like a puppy, you don't want the bad ones to be rewarded for their bad habits. (Although it's not sooo bad for them to think they're just the best ever).

I hate playing with maniacs personally - I know you can make a killing, but you can also take a beating - too much variance for me. I'd rather play in a game with good, serious players - then you're playing real poker, ya know?

[Arjonius]

Do you actually have pot odds to call? If you hit the flush, it seems like it will win, so you have the spades as outs. However, hitting just an ace or king may or may not be good, and the runner runner straight possibility isn't really worth counting since you'll catch it so infrequently. This might add up to enough to call 15 on the chance of winning 46, but I'd guess it's a marginal call at best, not a clear one. Have to admit I don't know the math though.

[HughHefner]

say hypothetically my only draw is the flush, im still about 1/3 to win the hand...with 16 in the pot, plus the 30 they just bet and 15 more from me, its a $61 dollar pot.


If someone said...im going to roll a three sided die (how they got one is a different story)...

you bet $15 to roll it. if a 1 comes up, you get $61...if a 2 or a 3 comes up you lose your $15. I'd roll that die all night long!

Using that example from above you see how any pot over $45 is tasty and worth the gamble when you have the nut flush draw after the flop.

feel free to correct me if im wrong.

ason

[JasonKirk]

Just read this thread. Here's what PokerStove says about the hand:

32,508 games 0.005 secs 6,501,600 games/sec

Board: 3s Js 9h
Dead:

equity (%) win (%) / tie (%)

Hand 1: 47.2499 % [ 00.47 00.00 ] { }
Hand 2: 52.5655 % [ 00.53 00.00 ] { AJo }
Hand 3: 00.1846 % [ 00.00 00.00 ] { A6o }

So, top pair top kicker is a 52% favorite. Your three kings, flush outs, and runner-runner straight outs put you at 47%. The guy with ace-high (I used A6o here but it should be the same for any Ace-small combo) will only win this pot when hell freezes over. I think that's more of a chance than you need to justify the call, so you made the right play. Win some, lose some.