Flush when there are 2 pairs on board

[ElDamiano]

Hello, am pretty new to this forum but my good friend ScottieBoy has got me on here!

Have a hand. I am playing at 0.10/0.20$ blinds, 6 handed no limit (is it acceptable to have hands with such low stakes lol)

JhTh in cut-off. Action folded to me. I limp, Button calls, SB folds, BB checks.

Flop 9h5h4h

I bet pot (0.70). Called by button. BB folds

Turn 9s

I bet 2/3 pot. Called by button.

River 5c. I bet 2/3 again for about 3$

He shoves. Its $8 to call.

I had a 30 second time limit to decide. All opinions welcome!!

[Scottieboy08]

Hi Damo

This is really close. I really think the only hands you may be losing to are Ah7x or Ah5x, but I think they raise the flop imo. The only other hand I can see is possibly 54 but I think a lot of 9's will fold the flop (especially without a high heart).

Like I said on msn, if I had enough time, I would call this. But in 30 secs, I might time out


edit: I would check/call the river as well mate

[Jezza]

Hi ElDamio,

Welcome to the forum mate, its always good to have new members.

Firstly of course its acceptable to have low stake hands. It really doesnt matter what stakes you play cash games at from micro stakes up to the biggest limits, they are always interesting hands. Tourney/ Sit N Go hands invariably are just preflop wars with no real "play" in them but a good cash game hand is always interesting. Anyway onto the hand in question.

Firstly I would have raised preflop in your hand. The action is folded to you so here is an ideal time to open raise. You are very likely to be in position if called preflop and you have a strong hand that flops very well and will play good if you are called. You also can win a bigger pot when you hit and pick up the pot if both you and your opponent flop nothing. All round I definately think raising here is better than limping pre but onto the hand as you played it.

The flop and the turn you played very well. Its only a slight niggle but on the turn I would probably have bet full pot instead of 2/3 pot, given his most likely hands are 9x or maybe the bare ace hearts you can see that against both those hands betting slightly harder is probably the best play. Nevertheless this is only a small niggle as you did bet pretty hard. I like the lead on both streets and definately feel this is much better than check/raising. At low stakes opponents are far more likely to call you with all sorts of crap so when you flop huge like this the best play is usually to try and get as much money in as possible without getting too tricky.

The river is pretty awful for your hand. I would definately check this river and not lead it. If you lead it it is tough to see what hands you beat will call you. If he just had the bare ace of hearts he is probably folding. If he was calling with something stupid like 67 where one of them maybe is a heart then he is folding. His range is hugely weighted to 9x or 5x hands. I think his most likely holding is probably A5 with the A maybe being a heart. If he had the 9 he would probably have raised on the turn but he might have just called. Either way I doubt he is bluffing you by raising over the top of your bet so I would just fold the river as played. The best play of all would probably be to just check/fold this river although I suppose a call might be ok as he could have just the bare A hearts and I do think he raises a 9 on the turn but meh, I would check/fold this.

[ElDamiano]

Cheers for the kind thoughts Scott and Jezza.

The result was...

It was a complete bluff. He had A7o without a heart. I thought a bit after and thought that if he hit trips on the turn, he would probably raise right? Not an awful lot of players at this level expect to see a made flush bet out so aggressively. And if he had a 5, he would have folded by turn.

Just a rush of blood to the head there but totally agree. No good betting out the river.

[ElDamiano]

I should say that I folded!! Missed that out lol!