Poker blog

Seated to my right is a middle-aged man who plays a tight-aggressive style, typically involved in only one or two hands per orbit.

In this hand, he limps from early position. I glance at my cards — KdQd — a great hand that I'll always raise in this situation. I make it 6bb, and the action folds around to the cutoff, who has a loose, sticky style and tends to call much too frequently once he's put money in the pot, he flats.

Then, to my surprise, the original limper raises to 22bb. My gut tells me to fold right now, but my mind recognizes that the player in the cutoff is the type that to never raise here. I've heard him complain many times in the past that he can't raise in these situations because it would make him look too strong. I figured that I'm guaranteed to see the flop. I call, cutoff calls as well.

Pot: 68bb

Flop: Ah 6c 4h

The action checks through.

Turn: 7s

The original limper leads out with a 22bb bet. I fold, and the cutoff folds.

I played the hand poorly. I knew I played it poorly. Calling the re-raise preflop was a mistake. My hand is easily dominated by stronger holdings like AA, KK, AK, or even AQ — hands that the limper is likely to limp-raise with. Moreover, I'm out of position against the loose-sticky player to my left, which reduces my ability to win the pot with a bluff. I would have to flop incredibly well to be confident enough to raise the flop, such as a pair with a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. I could perhaps opt for a range check, but that approach seems far too passive.