How to play when you hit a straight

Question

I was playing following hand recently:

iPoker - €0.04 NL - Holdem - 4 players

• BTN: 78 BB (VPIP: 63.33, PFR: 6.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 30)
• SB: 42.25 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 9.09, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 34)
• Hero (BB): 83.25 BB
• CO: 98 BB (VPIP: 48.89, PFR: 8.89, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 46)

Pre Flop:

• SB posts SB 0.5 BB
• Hero posts BB 1 BB
• (pot: 1.5 BB)
• Hero has Q⋄ 9♠
• fold
• BTN calls 1 BB
• fold
• Hero checks

Flop:

• (2.5 BB, 2 players)
• J♠ 7♥ 8♣
• Hero bets 1.25 BB
• BTN calls 1.25 BB

Turn:

• (5 BB, 2 players)
• T♠
• Hero checks
• BTN checks

River:

• (5 BB, 2 players)
• J⋄
• Hero bets 3.75 BB
• BTN raises to 26 BB
• Hero raises to 81 BB and is all-in
• BTN calls 49.75 BB

Showdown Spoiler:

- BTN shows J[clubs] 8[spades] (Full House, Jacks full of Eights) (Pre 36%, Flop 80%, Turn 9%)
- Hero shows Q[diamond] 9[spades] (Straight, Queen High) (Pre 64%, Flop 20%, Turn 91%)
- BTN wins 146.25 BB
- Hero wins 5.25 BB

What are the errors hero made here? Or was the hand played correctly?

Answer 1

I would agree with some of the previous answers on this one, although it is easy to be influenced by seeing the outcome.

Preflop: no problem with your check here, but let's start to think ranges right away. Villian is just calling in position. His range is wide but eliminates strong premium hands. Button is going to raise frequently with A10-AK and any pockets 10 and up here. They will also be folding junk here most of the time. A safe range here is any face card with medium kicker any two suited connectors or suited gap cards as well as low pockets that are looking to make a cheap set.

Flop: You picked up a draw and are leading out. The bet here is okay if you are trying to take down the pot and exemplify any pair. A check here would also be an okay play in my opinion, but if you are going to call with an overcard and a draw anyway better to be the aggressor. Villian calls so again let's consider and try to narrow his hand range. A J with any kicker 5-10 is definitely in play here as are Q7-Q8 K7-K8 10/9 Q9 also, 22-99 are live here as well. Your bet is small enough to try and trap with 3 of a kind or play for the miricale set. It is unlikely that he his calling u with air and only one over card/no draw, but not impossible.

Turn: great card and you made your strait. Unfortunately u checked here and tried to trap. This was in my opinon the mistake of the hand. You gained no information on your opponent and made no attempt to push out strait draws or the now active flush draw that is definately in your opponents range. I think the correct play is to bet here. In my opinion at least 50% of the pot. Better to take down the pot now if the Villian is on a flush draw or strait draw. If he made the smaller strait u have him for what will likely be all of his chips. If he has 2 pair or 3 of a kind he will be inclined to consider a fold as a 9 is well within your range. Really there was no downside to betting this turn, by not betting and trying to lay a trap u open your hand to him making a better strait, a flush, or quite possibly a full house. If he were to raise u on a turn bet you would obviously push him for all his chips or make the call if he went ultra agressive and moved all in. If that happened you would have the same result but it would be simply a bad beat.

River: yikes our fears have possibly come true. We never ruled out 77s 88s or 99s let alone J7-J9. I would be very worried about this river but a value sized bet is not a bad play here. Well shoot he doesn't believe your value bet now what do we do? He reraises you about 7 times your original bet. Let's consider his range. He may have just made 3 jacks and doesn't think u have a 9 based on your turn check. He also may have made his full house and is hoping u have the 9 and played you over aggressively to draw the all in. Or maybe he has air and that really is a bluff. Unlike the other answers I don't think its out of the relm of possibility that he tried to trap on the flop and then was scarred on the turn, but now his hand has improved and he is no longer frightened of your possible strait. Admittedly this is a hard one to lay down. If u figured he doesn't have u on a strait 1pair - 3 of a kind is well within his range, and I think a call is okay to make here. However, the raise was a bad move. You are only going to get called down by a full house or Q9 on your all in. Anything weaker is out of here in a flash and you simply win the same you would have with a call at substantially more risk.

Conclusion: bet the turn to zero in his range and scare out the draws that will wreck your hand. Just call the river reasise since u didn't bet the turn and walk away with some stack left.

Hope I helped gl -Chris

Answer 2

A preliminary remark. This situation (full over straight) is very common in PLO. Thus playing PLO might be a good way to get used to it.

At low limits, players tend to play according to their cards, with some wild decisions from time to time.

Preflop. The button could have tried to steal the blinds, but checking in the BB with Q9 seems to be reasonable.

Flop. The semi-bluff 1.5BB bet is also probably correct. You may well win the pot immediately and you have some outs. Villain's flat call with two pairs is more surprising in my opinion. The dangerous hands in your range are 9T and draws (AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 88 and 77 are unlikely, since you may have raised preflop to get rid of the SB). So if you are on a draw, the button should let you pay for your draw. (If you reraise, you will pretend to have 9T and Villain will know where he stands).

Turn. Now you have to think about the range of your opponent. He called your bet either with a draw, a pair or just air if he is thinking of a bluff (sets are relatively unlikely for the reason given above). The T gives you the nuts but I think you should elect a bet, between a third and a half of the pot. He might still call you with a 9, top pair or two spades (and certainly with two pairs!). You may also try to bet much more as an attempt to turn your hand into a steal. Finally, you both check.

River. The river is a J, a very bad card for you. If Villain had top pair, he now has trips and possibly a full. You bet 3.75 BB, but Villain raises to 26 BB! This is a huge raise and you have to think about his range and what he thinks of your hand. Given your bets, a 9 is certainly in your range and if he just had trips, he would probably just call. There is a very small possibility that he has the same hand as you (Q9), but his bet would be far to big. Another possibility (say 10%) is that he is trying to steal the pot with air, but this is a lot of risk for winning relatively little. Conclusion: it is more likely that he has a full. Thus for me folding is by far the best option, but calling is certainly better than raising. If you raise, you will just be called by better hands, like J8...

Answer 3

First of all, it seems you were in a very trappy table. The lads had lots of VPIP and some traces of PFR, which mean you were in a calling, weak table rather than a value bet table.

When i'm in such a table, and especially when the action ended in a limp, my first thought is that my opponent can have literally anything, except premium hands. You would expect someone with A♥K♠ or T♥T⋄ to raise even with a nitty PFR of 5-7 so you aren't against any premium stuff.

The danger with the limping action preflop is that it frequently ends with opponent(s) holding a 2-pair that couldn't stand as a raise but was perfectly OK to limp in a 4max table. So, i would exercise caution in a limping action preflop on the flop.

Your 1/2 bet on the flop would certainly chase him off the board if he had some A-x or something like 44,55 but if he hit any flop piece he would call, so you have to assume he has something at this point, although you can expect a guy with 63/7 to hold anything at this point. Your bet was OK to know where you stand and to give yourself a chance of win this right now since your chances are not good anyway with a gutshot, so i think the play was OK. If he re-raises, then you're done with the hand. If he calls, he may be afraid to bet after your check on Turn, fearing a check-raise, so more often than not you won a cheap ride to River.

Your check on Turn was problematic and it's a serious mistake to not bet here. If you were against a LAGgy player that tries to win pots using a Back Alley Mugging play, this would be a perfect play to go for a check-raise. But against weak-tight, passive guys like the one you're against this play is no good. These players are trappy in heart and would only understand your check as a play they do frequently themselves, a trap.

Personally, i would bet the pot instantly, not only because all of the above but also because

• a flush draw appeared
• a KQ hand staight draw appeared
• a 9 hit it
• you have to build the pot now, not on River where all hope dies for Villain.

The J on River was unfortunate and a WTF moment but since your opponent was a trappy one, these kinds of results are shown frequently. Just bet your strong made hands with tight/passive stations and check against loose/aggro ones. I would shove as well.