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Hand Analysis: I Have Trips, Therefore I Bet

Party Poker, No Limit Holdem $100 buyin / $1-$2 blinds
Names of players involved have been changed to protect the innocent and / or stupid

Commentary in bold

***** Hand History for Game 913644565 *****
0/0 TexasHTGameTable (NL) – Sat Sep 04 18:38:59 EDT 2004
Table Table 14733 (6 max) (Real Money) — Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: oroclick ( $0)
Seat 2: PLAYER A ( $471.50)
Seat 3: Krypton_Boy ( $96)
Seat 4: Thinkin ( $125.50)
Seat 5: kcedel ( $168)
Seat 6: ME ( $214.10)
PLAYER A posts small blind (1)
Krypton_Boy posts big blind (2)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ME [ Jd, Ks ]
Thinkin folds.
kcedel folds.
ME calls (2)
PLAYER A calls (1)
Krypton_Boy checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 9c, Js, Jc ]
PLAYER A checks.
Krypton_Boy bets (5)
ME raises (15) to 15
PLAYER A calls (15)
Krypton_Boy calls (10)

A few important concepts emerge at this point. The first is that, having flopped trips on the button, I choose to raise instead of just call. There are two reasons for this play – first, it gives me a good idea of where everyone else in the hand is at. It’s more than likely that at the $100 tables, someone would be willing to call a $5 bet with A9 in this situation, but unlikely that they would see the turn after a raise. So when I get two callers, I know that either a) both are on a spade flush draw, which is unlikely or b) one has the case jack and the other has a flush daw. This information is crucial for me to know how to act on the turn. Second, my raise builds the pot to the point where it’s going to be hard for a player to get away from the hand on the turn even in a situation where they should – especially relevant since I’m up against a player I can double through.

** Dealing Turn ** : [ 3h ]
PLAYER A checks.
Krypton_Boy checks.
ME bets (80)
PLAYER A raises (454.50) to 454.50
PLAYER A is all-In.
Krypton_Boy folds.
ME calls (117.10)
ME is all-In.

Everyone checks the turn to me. At this point I’m positive someone else is holding the case J. Right now I lose to 99, AJ, J9 and J3, but since both my opponents were on the blinds in an unraised pot, I don’t feel as if I have to give them credit for a good kicker [or reasonable second card] with their J. Even if they hadn’t been on the blinds, I’m still feeling pretty good about KJ; AJ is a raising hand for a lot of people at this level of NL, so with no preflop raise, I would only be worried about J9 or 99; QJ, J10 and J8 [or KJ for a split] all seem like fairly reasonable holdings for my opponent in a 6 handed $100 NL game. In my opinion, I am pretty set on playing KJ as the best hand here. Note how the play on the flop influences my oversized turn bet here; if I hadn’t raised on the flop and gotten two callers, it would be much harder for me to overbet pot, since I would be unsure of whether or not I was up against another J. But since I did raise, and did get callers, I am almost positive I’m going to get a call on my $80 bet into a $51 pot.

The overbet also has two other impacts – first, if I had bet under or near the pot, the case jack might have simply called, looking to raise on the river. At that point, anyone calling on the flush would be getting darn close to proper odds to call. The second impact, at least as it worked in this hand, is that my large bet gave the go-ahead to Player A, holding the case J, to chuck out a massive check raise in hopes [I assume] of getting the 3rd player out of the hand. Regardless of why Player A went all in, it allowed me a crucial advantage – I got to put all my money in when I was pretty darn sure I had the best hand. Any time you can make that happen in NL, you’re in good shape.

** Dealing River ** : [ 2h ]
Creating Main Pot with $443.20 with ME
Creating Side Pot 1 with $257.40 with PLAYER A
** Summary **
Main Pot: $443.20 | Side Pot 1: $257.40 | Rake: $2
Board: [ 9c Js Jc 3h 2h ]
nightmayor balance $100, sits out
PLAYER A balance $257.40, bet $471.50, collected $257.40, lost -$214.10 [ Jh 6c ] [ three of a kind, jacks -- Jh,Js,Jc,9c,6c ]
Krypton_Boy balance $79, lost $17 (folded)
Thinkin balance $125.50, didn’t bet (folded)
kcedel balance $168, didn’t bet (folded)
ME balance $443.20, bet $214.10, collected $443.20, net +$229.10 [ Jd Ks ] [ three of a kind, jacks with king kicker -- Ks,Jd,Js,Jc,9c ]

And so I end up with a nice double-through – I contend that this pot might have ended up being a lot smaller if I hadn’t taken the lead right on the flop. Think of how many times you see players who both have strong hands slowplay each other and the pot never grows – by getting to the business of building a pot for my trips right off the bat, I generated action in the hand the ultimately led to the biggest pot I could win. Sure, if I had slowplayed I still might’ve gotten all in, but by moving quickly I ensured the best chance of getting the most money in the pot when I was still pretty sure I had the best hand, and that’s never a bad way to play no limit.

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