This hand was taken from my archive of hands that I have at limit hold’em. Although it wasn’t played by me personally but by someone who I was helping at the time! It was folded around to our hero who was on the button with the A-J and he raised. He was using Poker Office on my recommendation and the small blind folded and the big blind called.
Now it is interesting to point out here that our hero had some highly relevant data on the big blind and they were 44/17/1.9 which made them a very aggressive poker player in six max games. The flop is good and comes Jh-9c-3d and the big blind checks and our hero makes the obvious $20 bet and gets called.
The turn card is the 4d and the big blind checks again and our hero bets only to get check-raised. Now here I think we are looking at two distinct lines of play. Folding is clearly not an option in limit play and especially against a highly aggressive opponent at $20-$40 limit poker. So we are certainly calling here at the very least but in this instance then a three bet is probably required.
Having top pair and top kicker is still a strong holding in this situation but your opponent does not know that our hero is this strong. So the turn check-raise sort of becomes part of a standard line and cannot be considered to be ahead at this point.
Now our hero has to decide how to proceed as calling and then possibly calling the river or raising the river or re-raising the turn are both viable alternatives. The problem with three betting the turn is in if you get four bet and this now puts you into a tough spot. Much of how you play this hand from this point onwards comes down to having specific reads.
Against aggressive opponents like this then three betting is a highly attractive alternative as your hand is likely ahead of their range given what type of player that they are and what statistics they have. There are many draws that the aggressive big blind could be trying to semi-bluff with like Q-10, 10-8 or even a diamond draw. They could even have a hand like A-9 or A-4.
The good side to three betting the turn with hands like top pair and top kicker is that not only will you often be ahead but your aggressive play will often lead your opponent into backing down with hands that are superior to you like with weak two pair hands for instance.
One of the keys to successful limit play is to play without fear. In fact this can be said of any online poker game. Powerful aggressive players will often force you into making plays that can force you into passivity and $20-$40 is certainly a level where the average player will try to make you do that.
Carl “The Dean” Sampson
Play Texas Hold’em poker at one of the best sites around
22. April 2010 at 10:22 pm
Your blog was interesting when I found last Thursday by accident while searching for pokeroffice online. It’s funny what you could find on the internet sometimes. I’d have to agree on what you have to say, although it may seem like a wrong choice, but nontheless an interesting subject. Enough said, keep up the good work my friend!