Poker Hand

[Garet Jax]

Dealt KK as dealer.

Everyone folds to me so I call hoping to trap one of the blinds.

SB folds, BB checks.

Flop: 3s, 8h, 8c

BB checks and I check.

Turn: Kh

He checks, I bet pot. He calls.

River: 10d

He checks, I bet pot. He raises.

Calling would have almost put me all in, so I go all in. He calls.

He flips over 88.

I have 2nd to nuts and never figured him for a pocket pair let alone 4 of a kind. I thought at best he had an 8. How do I get away from that hand and not lose all my chips?

 

[Garet Jax]

.

 

[new2AMD]

You had the only hand he could make money off of. His check on the river gave you an out by checking and showing down but you wanted it all.

 

[akshatp]

There was no way to know he had 4 oak... I dont see any way that you can get away from that hand after you turned the K... In your mind, you have to be thinking he is holding an 8, so even if he paired his other hole card, you have the higher boat. Unfortunately, thats just bad luck, but thats poker... Was this in a tourney, or cash game?

Better luck next time...

 

[Electric Amish]

How are you still playing if everyone folded?

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: new2AMD
You had the only hand he could make money off of. His check on the river gave you an out by checking and showing down but you wanted it all.

That's true, but the expected value of checking is far less than the expected value of betting.

In this case, I am sure that my bet on the river was the correct play since there was only one hand that beat me and he showed absolutely no strength up to that point.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
How are you still playing if everyone folded?

Blinds act after the dealer in the first round of betting so everyone between the BB and the dealer folded leaving 3 players (D + two blinds).

 

[chorb]

You don't, he had a good read on you and knew he had the better hand, and played you.

Suck up the loss and play again.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: akshatp
There was no way to know he had 4 oak... I dont see any way that you can get away from that hand after you turned the K... In your mind, you have to be thinking he is holding an 8, so even if he paired his other hole card, you have the higher boat. Unfortunately, thats just bad luck, but thats poker... Was this in a tourney, or cash game?

Better luck next time...

Tourney and we were close to the money .

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: chorb
You don't, he had a good read on you and knew he had the better hand, and played you.

Suck up the loss and play again.

He had no read on me - he had no idea what I had. He didn't need to have any read since he had the nuts.

 

[anxi80]

perhaps you could've kicked out a value bet to see where your hand stood after the flop. if he raises, gotta put him on the 8's and muck em'. worst comes to worst and he ends up folding on your bet (assuming he didnt have the snowmen), you steal his blinds and if you were that close to the money then stealing the blinds with kk isnt a complete bust.

 

[Cutterhead]

I would have played the hand same as you. No way I would have folded that full house on the off chance he had 4 of a kind. One of those hands that just sucks for you; no point thinking too hard about it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

it's hard to lay down a 2nd nuts hand like that whent he odds of a 4 of a kind are so low, but by throwing out a value bet, you could easily misread him as having trips or 8s full of kings...

 

[GagHalfrunt]

You misplayed pre-flop. 8-8 isn't all that great a hand, K-K is. If forced to make a big call against somebody showing strength a good played would probably kick in 8-8. By limping in you let him see a free flop. NEVER let anyone see a free flop, thats how rags can turn into great hands. If you're strong enough to call you're strong enough to raise. At least if he calls the raise rather than checking in you'd get a better read on his strength. That might not have helped you in that hand as it's hard to lay down a full house, but it WILL help you in the future.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: anxi80
perhaps you could've kicked out a value bet to see where your hand stood after the flop. if he raises, gotta put him on the 8's and muck em'. worst comes to worst and he ends up folding on your bet (assuming he didnt have the snowmen), you steal his blinds and if you were that close to the money then stealing the blinds with kk isnt a complete bust.

A value bet pre-turn may have been a good idea, but a raise would still have only told me he had one 8 not two and depending on the size of it, I may have had to call it.

I chose not to value bet because I would have been subject to a check raise which I didn't want to deal with especially since a crappy hand pre-flop (which is likely what he had) would have beaten my KK with a pair on the board.

Either way, chances are that he would only have called and still would have left me with the 2nd to nuts hand post turn.

 

[Cuda1447]

You think thats bad? Get this. The other night I was playing a tourney. I get dealt AA. I raise, short-stack goes all in I call. he flips over 5 5. Hits four of a kind on the flop. WTF. Next hand, I get AA AGAIN! Im in late position and someone raises in early position. Hoping someone would think Im on tilt I push all in (at this point Im somewhat short stacked) and get a call. He flips over KK, HITS QUAD KINGS ON THE FLOP.

I nearly sh!t myself. WTF are the odds of that? Can't be good.

 

[Lash444]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax

Originally posted by: chorb
You don't, he had a good read on you and knew he had the better hand, and played you.

Suck up the loss and play again.

He had no read on me - he had no idea what I had. He didn't need to have any read since he had the nuts.

I wouldnt come on to a geek forum and expect understanding from anybody. Too many people on here are pissed off because their mom has larger "pair" (pun intended) than they do.

With a really high pair, you want to narrow the amount of players remaining on the table in order to decrease the odds of the flop hurting you. Im sure you know that, and in this situation thats how it played out. The only thing that some people will question, is whether you should have put even more money into the pot pre-flop in order to steal the blinds outright. 90% of the time though, in your situation with folds before your turn, its going to be more lucrative to show a weak starter hand, and trap the guy.

You played the hand fine. Flopping the nuts happens. Look at Farha and Hudson at last years main event. (Think it was the main event.) Farha - A10 Hudson 1010. Flop comes up A A 10. 1st hand of the event for those guys, and how many people you think could have gotten away from that hand? Only a professional would, because they know they can walk away from hands like that and still play to win. 99% of the time they call there though, and are out the door just like you were. Beats like that happen, and like my buddy says "There is a reason they call it gambling."

 

[Baked]

It's about luck and you don't have it. Skill my ass.

 

[Viper GTS]

Unless your pre-flop raise was huge you're probably not going to fold a pair of 8's in the blinds to what is an obvious steal attempt. Nor do you really WANT to fold them since you have a massive equity edge.

Ugly situation for sure, not like you had a lot of choice but to lose your stack.

Viper GTS

 

[Al Neri]

Poker does NOT take skill.

Thank you. that is all.

 

[purbeast0]

you played that hand pretty well. I would have bet pre-flop though as well as after the flop. If you had bet stronger pre-flop you may have had everyone fold, only raking in the blinds. if you had bet on the flop though, now knowing he had 2 8's, i doubt that would have changed anything, except maybe he would have check/raised you and you would at that point realize he has atleast an 8 in his hand, which in turn would be your queue to fold at that point, saving you from going all in.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
You misplayed pre-flop. 8-8 isn't all that great a hand, K-K is. If forced to make a big call against somebody showing strength a good played would probably kick in 8-8. By limping in you let him see a free flop. NEVER let anyone see a free flop, thats how rags can turn into great hands. If you're strong enough to call you're strong enough to raise. At least if he calls the raise rather than checking in you'd get a better read on his strength. That might not have helped you in that hand as it's hard to lay down a full house, but it WILL help you in the future.

I disagree for a couple of reasons:

First and foremost, by changing the way I play the same hand, it makes it much more difficult to get a read on me. My opponent had no idea what I had right up to after the river. He told me he figured me for a K maybe K10.

If you always raise with only good hands, then you will hardly ever get callers. By limping with good hands and raising with crap, it keeps your opponents off balance.

Second, it was a perfect place to slow play them. Not only was I dealer, but I was also guaranteed that there would be at most two other players in the hand. If even one other player had called, then I would have raised. The only flops that would have concerned me had an A or a pair. When the pair hit, I played tight until the K came giving me the best full house out there.

 

[z0mb13]

Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
Poker does NOT take skill.

Thank you. that is all.

let me smack you around for a bit

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Unless your pre-flop raise was huge you're probably not going to fold a pair of 8's in the blinds to what is an obvious steal attempt. Nor do you really WANT to fold them since you have a massive equity edge.

Ugly situation for sure, not like you had a lot of choice but to lose your stack.

Viper GTS

i agree.

does anyone else think that the BB might have made a (lucky) blunder by not raising pre-flop? with no one showing strength, i would have raised and tried to take the pot there, instead of playing a medium pair out of position.

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
Dealt KK as dealer.

Everyone folds to me so I call hoping to trap one of the blinds.

SB folds, BB checks.

Flop: 3s, 8h, 8c

BB checks and I check.

Turn: Kh

He checks, I bet pot. He calls.

River: 10d

He checks, I bet pot. He raises.

Calling would have almost put me all in, so I go all in. He calls.

He flips over 88.

I have 2nd to nuts and never figured him for a pocket pair let alone 4 of a kind. I thought at best he had an 8. How do I get away from that hand and not lose all my chips?

You can't, you played it perfectly. Preflop raise would've been better, but 88 would call a blind steal attempt anyway.