Friday, March 6, 2009

Live Fade-N-Go

I owe special thanks to the authors over at Spritpot for the concept that helped me pull down a nice pot in a live $1-$2 cash game last night.

Full ring game, 9 players, $1-$2 NLHE

My stack is around $400. UTG+2 is around $500. MP is at $137.

I'm dealt T5o in the BB. UTG+1 limps, UTG+2 limps, MP limps, Button limps, SB folds, I check.

Pot = $10, Flop: Td-9c-5d

I lead for $10, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP raises to $35 (leaving $100 behind), Button folds.

MP is an older guy (55-60?) who has been talking it up at the other end of the table. I don't really have any reads on him.

So here I'm either way ahead, facing something like AT/KT; way behind, facing TT/T9/99/55; or, very likely, facing a big draw - OESD, NFD, or both. I strongly considered re-raising here. I am content with getting it all-in with the MP, since he has a relatively short stack behind him. But, I figured I would be playing my hand face up by re-raising, broadcasting that I had turned my BB special into 2-pair or a set. Also, if I make a re-raise and a bad turn card comes, I may be committing myself against the MP, who wouldn't have a lot of chips left after calling another raise on the order of $40 or so. Getting it all-in here is probably not maximum EV either, since UTG+2 folds and MP probably folds AT/KT and a lot of his draws, including J8/78 and small flush draws. So I made a plan to just call, sweat out a turn blank, and bet enough to put the MP all-in if the turn did blank out.


I call the $35, and UTG+2 calls as well.

Pot = $115, Turn: 2h

The blankiest blank of them all, an offsuit deuce. I now execute my plan, firing $100. Now, both UTG+2 and MP have to make a big mistake by calling on a draw with only 8 or 9 outs (maybe less).

I bet $100, UTG+2 folds, MP calls.

MP called off his stack quickly, prompting me to say "That's not good." I expected to see T9, 99, or maybe something like Ad9d. But he flipped up his cards - QcJc! Open-ended with 1 card to come.


Pot = $315, River: 7c

Shippage!

Two things I really like about how I played this hand. I reduced my risk by taking a line that allows me to get away on a bad turn card. I also forced my opponent to make a really bad play and get his money is as a big underdog, whereas it wouldn't have been much of a mistake to make the call, had I pushed him in on the flop. Also, we might have made a deal to run it 2 or more times had we gotten it in on the flop, so I may have ended up chopping up the pot with him.

One thing I don't like - this play works best against one opponent. The number of scare cards goes up precipitously when there are 2 players potentially drawing. In this case, my guess is that UTG+2 was holding a weakish FD, while MP had the OESD. This means 9 diamonds are no good for me, and so are 6 straight outs. But since I don't know which straight outs to fear, I have to slow down on a large number of turn cards. And what's more, I am allowing someone with a deep stack to draw cheaply here, so I could end up facing some tough decisions if the turn were a non-diamond straight completing card, like a 6, and UTG+2 started firing out.

2 comments:

spritpot said...

wp! Fading red cards is pretty much a lock...if you had faded spades, I'd be more impressed....

On a more serious note, it's kind of ambiguous how having two players in the pot affects the profitability of the fadengo...it does multiply the number of draws out there, but on the other hand they might have some of each other's outs.... Also if your plan is to check/fold gross turns, it doesn't matter how many players you're up against, it just matters what the turn card is.

-bruechips

Stephen and Cara said...

this is basically like how i play the majority of my hands btw, except when I do it you lecture me that I shouldn't slow play it.