Posted Tue Jul 25, 2006 12:07 am GMT by xDiamond_CutteRx
Tell me what you think of my play and my follow up on the turn.
PokerStars Game #5672806966: Tournament #28702115, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level III
(25/50) - 2006/07/24 - 23:50:37 (ET)
Table '28702115 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: CodyJackson (1855 in chips)
Seat 4: nvrenuf (1950 in chips)
Seat 5: ej1622 (3875 in chips)
Seat 6: room826 (2715 in chips)
Seat 7: Turn_Prophet (1800 in chips)
Seat 9: zeejay27 (1305 in chips)
ej1622: posts small blind 25
room826: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Turn_Prophet  
Turn_Prophet: calls 50
zeejay27: folds
CodyJackson: folds
CodyJackson is sitting out
nvrenuf: calls 50
ej1622: raises 50 to 100
room826: calls 50
Turn_Prophet: calls 50
nvrenuf: calls 50
*** FLOP ***   
ej1622: bets 250
room826: folds
Turn_Prophet: raises 250 to 500
nvrenuf: folds
ej1622: calls 250
Ok, my thought here is I want to find out where ej1622 is in this hand, and I want to discourage nvrenuf from drawing at a flush, if she has a FD. With a bet of that size, I'm not worried about ej1622 having a draw, but I have noticed many players min raise with flush draws at these stakes before, so I thought I would try and represent a draw or a weak queen looking for information. The raise shouldn't be big enough to scare him off unless he has literally nothing, in which case I probably didn't stand to win more than 250 of his chips anyway.
*** TURN *** 
ej1622: checks
Turn_Prophet: bets 600
This bet represents exactly half my stack. With that 6, I'm fairly secure that I have the best hand and probably will not get outdrawn, unless I misread the situation and he is drawing at a flush, in which case I've poisoned two spades anyway--my guess is that his call most likely indicates a Q, probably not AQ (agree?). My bet here is designed to lure him into calling for all my chips, but 1200 is too much, so I figure by getting the chips in in 2 stages will garner better results.
This is probably one of only 2 or 3 times in my whole NL career that I have actually raised the minimum amount, but I think it was warranted here, because I want to goad him into doubling me up. Thoughts?
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Posted Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:02 am GMT by Jefecaminador
Min raise is an under utilized tool in my opinion. Just because its given a bad rap doesnt mean it lacks any use at all.
As for your play... It looks fine to me. I probably would of played it approximately the same way. Maybe just flat call the flop and then raise the turn. Chances are the guy to act behind you doesnt have a flush draw, so I wouldnt really worry about it unless he calls the flop. Other than that.... not much to say. NH
Posted Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:03 am GMT by Phil14312
I like the turn min-raise, if he has AK, he is shutting down if you call the turn anyways. Anything else he is probably committing himself to. Looks fine to me.
Posted Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:28 am GMT by shorn7
I think you have thought out and played the hand perfectly to this point. The min. raise can be a very effective tool to use where appropriate. In this case, the size of the pot allowed you to make a small raise and commit less of your stack in the third player did indeed decide to call with a FD. And, they still would have been making a mistake calling based on the pot odds (assuming you would have chec/folded to a big turn bet b them if a spade came and you weren't getting the 4-1 to continue). I would say that villain could have AQ with no spades and wanted to see a safe turn card before commiting any more $$ in case you were on a FD. So, I wouldn't rule out AQ for villain here.
I like the bet for half your stack on the turn too. I might have bet slightly less ala Harrington to make it look like I wanted an escape route for more than half my stack if I was raised. But, 1/2 on the nose is still solid.
All in all, looks like a very well played hand.
Posted Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:54 am GMT by Dat_Dude
There are a few times when I think a min-raise is the correct play. This is one of those cases.
Most players would just flat call that continuation bet on the flop to "disguise" their hand. Well, in my opinion, min-raising here does the same thing as flat calling, but builds a bigger pot. Villain will not fold to a min-raise if he has JJ, TT, 99, etc. and if he has an even better hand like AA, KK, AQ he will likely come over the top since a min-raise can be seen as weakness sometimes.
Your turn bet explaination sounds just like Slansky's Pot Size philosophy that I just read in his new book last night. You flop a monster and need to find the best way to get all the chips in the pot. If you think Villain will call large bets, get it in on the flop and turn. If he might fold to large bets, bet small on the flop and get the rest in on the turn and river.
Nice play.
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