Paris and Nickie

Click on picture to enlarge. (a pair of queens is called the Hilton sisters, after Paris Hilton and her sister Nickie, I'm getting alot of hits from people googling Paris Hilton Naked but hey, hits are hits!)
(I'm obviously RedMileKid)


Here's a breakdown of this hand, this might get a little technical but I think it will help illustrate that poker is much more than catching good cards and watching for facial ticks (hard to do when playing online!). The first thing that should be noticed is the position that I am in, in the small blind next to the button. Position is very important in No Limit Hold'em, being in the small blind is generally a bad position. For each subsequent round of betting I will be the first to act which is never a good thing. I will have no idea as to the strength of my opponents hands and they will be able to react to my bet in a way that protects their holdings. If I recall correctly (this hand was played 2 days ago) the big blind was called by 2 of the players and raised by HandLikeFoot. I believe he raised about 1.75, a little over 3 times the big blind. This resulted in the rest of the field folding to me, I called the bet and the players after me folded. This was a good result as it narrowed the field to 2 players and a pair of queens is an excellent hand heads up. Another play would have been to re-raise here, something I definitely considered. With a hand like 10-10 or even 9-9 I might have re-raised hoping to take down the pot right there, however given that I was the short stack at the table and was feeling rather jumpy I decided to slow-play the queens in an attempt to win more money.

The flop of Js-Ah-7h was not a very good flop for me. With a high pocket pair, the last card you want to see on the flop is an ace, especially online. Players are much looser online and HandlikeFoot could have easily made a raise of 3x BB with a hand like A-5 suited or A-10o, if he had a hand like A-J, or A-K I think he would have bet more. If the player is a little looser he could have raised with J-K or Q-K in this case he is drawing to the nut straight., regardless my pocket ladies are looking a lot less appealing. I decide to check at this point. Checking allows me to see what HandlikeFoot will do, if he bets big I'm going to have to lay down this hand. I can call a smallish bet but I will be doing so in hopes of another queen or a heart falling on the turn. By checking however I am giving him the opportunity to see another card for free which can be very dangerous. Handlikefoot checks back at me.

The turn is the 10 of spades. This is also not a great card for me as it might have filled out his straight. I could check again but I decide to make a probe bet, a small bet (usually less than half the pot) to see where I stand. Probe bets are meant to extract information from a player, that information can be manipulated but it is still information. If Handlikefoot throws in a big raise I will have to fold. It is also possible that I will win the pot right here with this probe bet although that is rather unlikely. Handlikefoot calls my bet.

The river is a 3 of diamonds. This is a good card for me because it is highly unlikely to help my opponent. There is no possibility for a flush and it seems unlikely that he is holding King-Queen and has a straight as he would probably have reraised. At this point I actually make a pretty big mistake. I check. Checking here is the wrong move because besides the initial raise made pre-flop my opponent has shown no sign of aggression and will probably check back at me. I should have made what is known as a value bet, a bet that will be just small enough so that he will call, if the bet is too big and he folds you lost an opportunity to extract more money.
I get very lucky when Handlikefoot makes a small bet, about a dollar. My checking is seen as a sign of weakness and he hopes to take the pot down.
His bet is much too small to be anything but a steal attempt so I man up and push all in, which is a raise of about 5 dollars. This is where Handlikefoot should have folded. A check raise bluff is highly unlikely in this situation and with the board the way it was there are so many hands that beat him that calling a 5 dollar raise (10x the BB) is a huge mistake. He must have seen my all-in move as a steal attempt or perhaps he simply made the rookie mistake of giving a pocket pair a much higher rating than it warranted.
I take down the pot and the next hand is dealt.


Ed. Note. Big ups to Dan Harrington and Harrington on Hold'em Vol. I