The Answer

Filed Under: Poker

I know it's been almost a week since I posed the question. If you don't remember, go check it out and come back.

Ready?

Good.

Here is the final result:

RIVER [board cards 7D,3C,5S,4H,9S ]
lifesagrind bets $3,000, Fifth Sin calls $2,385 and is all-in.

SHOWDOWN
lifesagrind shows [ 4C,5C ]
Fifth Sin shows [ 6H,7C ]
lifesagrind wins $615, Fifth Sin wins $11,070.

I lose. The reason I chose this hand is it illustrates what has been a flaw in my game lately. My post flop play has been off and I need to fix it.

The turn card which made my hand also was obviously my demise. Could I have seen this coming? I've made it part of my game to not "look for monsters under the bed." In other words just because it's possible for my opponent to have me beat, don't automatically assume that they do. Osinsh pointed out that based on my read my opponent may have held A6. This would have been a devestating hand for me as well and it did cross my mind. I also decided that if he was lucky enough to have that hand in this situation then I was going to pay him off.

The truth of the matter is that when I made my two pair, I was playing this hand for all of my chips. That was close minded and cost me my tournament life. Let's look at the turn shall we?

TURN [board cards 7D,3C,5S,4H ]
lifesagrind checks, Fifth Sin bets $900, lifesagrind bets $2,000, Fifth Sin calls $1,100.

My mouse trap captured the wrong prey. Since I made the summary decision that I had the best hand I ignored what my opponent was telling me. His bet was so weak, that he was telegraphing that he wanted my call. I was willing to call his weak bet on the flop (granted he was just taking a stab at it and my read was still valid on the flop), so why not try to get me to come along. I surmised that my raise at this juncture was designed to allow him to call and since he did I wasn't alerted to his holdings. The fact that he bet should have been enough to shut me down. I would not give up the hand but I needed to take into account the stack sizes here. Against a small stack I can certainly play for all of their chips with this hand. With us so close though and him betting the turn such a small amount I should have gone into call mode. I can't see me getting away from this hand entirely. But I certainly shouldn't have gone about broke with it either. I was playing this "trapping" hand to hit my straight or flush. The fact that I hit two pair on a very draw heavy board was only going to get me in trouble.

Hindsight being what it is I know the proper play. What I need to work on though is seeing these situations on the fly and acting accordingly.