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rezod212 · Two Pair Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 55

Ok I had been playing LAG for awhile to build my stack so decided to slow play this hand.

Poker Stars, $1 + $0.20 NL Hold'em Tournament, 25/50 Blinds, 8 Players
-

MP1: 1,425
MP2: 2,000
CO: 925
BTN: 275
Hero (SB): 2,335
BB: 3,580
UTG: 865
UTG+1: 2,095

Pre-Flop: (75) 3 Diamond

A

dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG calls 50, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls 50, 3 folds, Hero calls 25, BB checks

Flop: (200) 4 Diamond

Q

8

(4 Players)
Hero checks, BB bets 150, UTG calls 150, MP1 calls 150, Hero calls 150

Turn: (800) 6 Diamond

(4 Players)
Hero checks, BB bets 300, UTG folds, MP1 raises to 600, Hero raises to 1,200, BB folds, MP1 raises to 1,225 and is All-In, Hero calls 25

River: (3,550) 6 Club

(2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 3,550 Pot
MP1 showed 4 Spade

4

(a full house, Fours full of Sixes) and WON 3,550 (+2,125 NET)
Hero showed 3 Diamond

A

(a flush, Ace high) and LOST (-1,425 NET)

I always have trouble in deciding when to take the pot down or string it along for a bigger payoff. Usually I try to take pots down pre-flop when the blinds get up in the 200-400 range but look for cheap flops in the early rounds and take it post-flop. I don't think it mattered in this hand at all cause post-flop he would have called his trips no matter what I did unless I pushed pre-flop but I wanted to slow play this hand.

Any suggesting on when is a good time to trap, I know when you have a great hand. I thought i had it here since nothing was paired on the board and I had the flush covered, figured 2 pair or trips at the most. I chalked this up to a bad beat on the river just curious what others think.

kngspdd · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 4:18 am Post subject:

I had a similar experience not too long ago except I flopped the nut flush and slow played it. The turn put out a fourth diamond and I threw out a pot bet and got called. I was thinking he probably had a K high flush at that point and I didn't even notice that the board paired on the river when we stacked off because I was so excited about winning this big pot, which I ended up losing to his full house. Once in a while you get a beat like that, but I wouldn't stop trapping because of it. I don't think that there was anything wrong with your play since you did get your chips in with the best hand, and not only is a set hard to detect, but there is also no way to tell when someone is going to get that miracle card on the river.

As for your question about when to trap I think that you already answered it yourself, when you have a great hand, the only thing you have to keep in mind is that a good trap can occasionally go bad, such as this one. The bottom line is that you didn't play the hand badly IMO, and you got your money in with the best hand which is always what you want, and villan made a bad call, but outs can still save people in many cases and thats why they call them outs. Don't beat yourself up because of one bad beat and start questioning your play, just accept it and be happy knowing you had the best hand when the chips went in and most of the time you win in that spot.

Badlydrawnboy · Flush Joined: 28 Jan 2008 Posts: 127

I agree, the way you played the hand was fine.

Also, even if you are afraid of a possible full house, you can't fold your flush on the turn here. These beats simply happen, it's part of the game.

You can't blame your opponent for playing it this way, either. From his perspective, he caught trips and wants to avoid a fourth flush card so he pushes all-in and actually gets luckier than you.

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