Examination Paper 36: Instructions to candidates
Once again the Dean has produced a challenging skills test for students who are aiming to achieve an Academy Level qualification. This is a multiple choice paper.
In this month’s exam I will be taking a look at a full-ring NL200 game ($1-$2) on Cake Poker, where I play.
With ten players on the table instead of the usual six or less the table dynamics change somewhat. As usual, work your way through the exam taking care to conceal the answers and then compare your score at the end with our chart to see how well you did. Away you go!
QUESTION 1
You are situated on the button with a stack of $240 and it is folded around to the player in the hijack seat (two seats to your right) who open raises to $6. This player has a stack of $210 prior to the hand and has been stealing frequently from position and has been relatively aggressive in general for a full-ring game of this nature. Your hand is the 10c-9c and now the action is on you. What is your play?
A) FOLD
B) CALL
C) RE-RAISE
Analysis:
In this situation, all three possible plays have merit. A suited connector isn’t a bad hand but calling with it isn’t ideal if you are calling merely to try and hit a big flop. No limit hold’em is a game based on implied odds but the standard of play in NL200 games is pretty decent these days and you are unlikely to be paid off even if you make a big hand.
If you are calling with the intention of trying to make a play after the flop even if you miss then I admire your courage. Even with position I am not sure that a play like this will be profitable. Your main problem with this line of play is that your aggressive opponent will almost certainly utilise his option to bet first and raising on the flop or calling and then looking to raise the turn is very expensive when it goes wrong.
Most of the time you will end up calling the pre-flop raise and then releasing on the flop thus costing you $6. This expense does get compensated for by the pots when you flop big or the pots in which you can move your opponent off the hand.
Folding is a strong option as your hand isn’t particularly good against a raise and you will almost certainly be able to pick better spots than this. However there is one other possibility that cannot be ignored and that is to re-raise. A re-raise to something like $18 is only around 8% of your total stack so it isn’t a committal move and your opponents stack is over 100BB as well.
Here your hand is not only deceptive but you have position on your opponent and the ability to not only move them from the hand immediately but to also be able to do so on the flop if you miss. Also because you have position and the betting lead then you will have far more flexibility after the flop as you can exercise your option to take a free card if you so wish and to be able to represent hands as well.
If you get raised again before the flop then you can simply release your hand having lost only 8% of your original stack. As an add on, I would not have made this play against a short stack for the simple reason that I want to try and install fear into an opponent who has almost as much money in their stack as me and to be able to create a situation where they could potentially make a very expensive deep stacked error after the flop.
If your reasoning went along similar lines to mine then reward yourself with a nice big fat 10 BONUS POINTS!!
QUESTION 2
You re-raise to $18 and both blinds fold but the original raiser calls making the pot $39 in total. The flop is Qc-7d-2s missing you completely apart from some weak backdoor draws. Your opponent checks to you. What is your play?
A) Bet
B) Check
Analysis:
Whenever you re-raise before the flop with a hand of this type in this situation then you are in effect giving yourself several ways to take the pot. You can make your opponent fold immediately thus winning the pot pre-flop. You can also follow up with a continuation bet and take it on the flop or you can make the best hand and win the pot that way.
Winning the pot immediately pre-flop is a desirable goal but this plan has now been closed due to your opponent calling. But now you have to be careful as your re-raise has signalled a very powerful holding to your opponent yet they have still called you so you need to show some respect to that line of play.
Betting is correct here as you can easily see the river this way should your opponent not take any aggressive action from the flop onwards. If you bet and get called then this is a serious indication that your opponent has some kind of hand and if you don’t improve then the only way that you are going to win this pot is getting away with a big bluff.
QUESTION 3
You select a slightly more than half-pot bet and make it $22 to go on the flop. Your opponent calls you, making $83 in the pot. The turn card is the 3c giving you a flush draw and your opponent checks to you again. What is your play?
A) Check
B) Bet
Analysis:
There are times in poker when it is correct to fire a second barrel and times to back off; here it is time to back off. Your opponent raised pre-flop and then called a re-raise. They then subsequently check-called your bet on the flop in what is now an escalating pot. There were no potential draws on the flop so it is highly likely that they have a made hand of some description.
If they have a hand like a medium pocket pair like eights or nines and are merely calling to see if you back off on the turn then you may get them off the hand by firing another barrel. The problem is that you simply cannot pin them down to these specific hands. They could simply be going into pot control mode with a hand like A-A, K-K or A-Q and be willing to let you bluff your money off.
When you bet the flop you did so with the intention of checking the turn if you got called. The flush draw has given you a chance to win this pot by making the best hand but you are still a strong underdog to make it on the river.
Suppose that you fire again on the turn, your opponent calls again and you fail to make your hand. Your opponent checks the river. Now what do you do? Are you going to totally decimate your stack on some silly continued bluff that got out of hand? Give yourself a chance to make your hand on the cheap and to save some money should you not make it.
QUESTION 4
You check it back and the river card is the 6c, completing your flush and making a final board of Qc-7d-2s-3c-6c. Your opponent has $170 left and the pot is still at $83. This time they come out betting to the tune of $35 and now the action is on you, what is your play?
A) Raise all-in
B) Raise smaller
C) Call
Analysis:
Calling only has merit because you have deduced that your opponent cannot possibly call a raise. Many players miss this subtlety when deciding to automatically raise! But in this instance your opponent obviously has a hand. Their bet on the river is either a stopper bet designed to prevent you from making a sizable bet that they would have trouble calling or is one made for value.
In my opinion, based on the betting actions of both players, it is more likely to be a stopper bet than a value bet. However, I would tend to put my opponent to the test here by moving all-in. They have seen you re-raise pre-flop and then continuation bet the flop only to then shut down on the turn. This indicates to them that you potentially have either no hand or a ‘weakfish’ hand that you are not sure is the best. In their mind then a big all-in move here could be a desperate play against a player who has not shown tremendous strength themselves as of yet.
Your opponent has bet $35 on the river so they only have $135 in their stack. An all-in move here would effectively put $290 in the pot (discounting what you get back as you have your opponent covered) which would give your opponent more than 2-1 on his call. An all-in shove here could indicate a bet that does not want a call rather than a smaller raise which looks like it does. It’s a close call but I prefer the shove. You in fact decide to move all-in and your opponent almost times out before calling. You win the pot and then check the hand history to see that they in fact held pocket kings.
HERE ARE THE SCORES
Now let us take a look at how well you did:
Q1: A) 9; B) 5; C) 10 (plus a possible 10 bonus points)
Q2: A) 10; B) 4
Q3: A) 10; B) 3
Q4: A) 10; B) 8; C) 2
WHAT DID YOU GET?
50 points - Stay well clear of my table, if you please.
40+ points - Still a pretty good score - be proud of that.
30+ points - Be careful - drop down to $50 games until you get more experience.
20+ points - You need to do some serious work on your no limit game.
< 20 - Is that even possible? Try giving up poker. |
