Cash Catastrophes: Out of Position and Out of Ideas

My name is Carlos Welch. You can also not know me, but I'M the most efficient poker player within the world.

Actually, that’s not true. IT'S NOT THAT I AM even the most productive player within the live $1/$2 no-limit hold’em games I play. I'M a former math teacher and current math tutor who's seeking to learn to play poker to supplement my income since I DETERMINED to work part-time.

Fortunately, I'M friends with the very best poker coaches around and so they frequently guide me in my journey. Unfortunately, I'M hard-headed and make huge mistakes on the tables while seeking to apply the talents they’ve taught me.

Occasionally, I make catastrophic mistakes on the cash game tables. I’ve created this series to publicly shame myself into learning the teachings I pay for with my stacks. Maybe you haven’t had the pleasure of creating these boneheaded moves yet. If not, I invite you to be informed from my pain.

The Hand

It’s my regular $1/$2 no-limit hold’em game.

The effective stacks are about $450. Five players limp in, then the action involves me within the big blind where I’ve been dealt . I check. There’s $10 within the pot.

The flop comes .

I choose to check because I don’t need to bloat the pot with this hand from out of position (OOP). (Remember this.) I’m happy to play my hand as a bluff-catcher.

It checks around to the player at the button, probably the most productive player within the game. He bets $10 and gets calls from the small blind, me, and the player within the hijack seat. Now there's $50 within the middle.

The turn is the , giving me two pair.

I choose to check. Again, I'M OOP and never sure what I’m speculated to do if I bet and get raised. (Remember this, too.) It another time folds around to the button, and this time he bets $40. The small blind calls, and that i go into the tank to think about my options.

Wow, really? (I think.)

The small blind has an excessively wide range, I decide. He will have a variety of draws or worse made hands here. I expect that he would have raised with anything that beats me.

The button also has a large range, but since he's betting he can have draws or monsters. The one hands I WILL BE ABLE TO exclude from his range that might make this bet are those with which he would raise preflop like , , , and . His bet looks as if he has a collection or better, or a robust draw. And there are far more draws in his range than there are made hands.

If I call, I FEEL the hijack seat could also be going to name because he’ll feel priced in with as low as a couple plus a gutshot. I decide I WILL NOT let these kinds of draws see another card cheaply.

I raise to $130, leaving myself $308 behind. The hijack folds, then the button thinks for some time before raising to $305. He has me covered, I note. The small blind then thinks for some time before folding. The action back on me, again I tank.

You can't be serious!

Okay, let’s see. I DO KNOW there are more draws in his range than hands that beat me, but would he really play a draw this fashion? I’d expect him either to shove for optimum fold equity or simply call with those hands. This looks like a hand that desires a call, like maybe a straight or a suite of nines or something, I ASSUME. And top two pair isn’t the highest of my range on this spot, so I WILL BE ABLE TO fold here.

I fold.

The Problem

Remember those moments where I told myself I didn’t need to bloat the pot OOP because I wasn’t sure what I MIGHT do if I bet and got raised? Notice how I then talked myself into doing it, anyway... like a md. Idiot!

Even though there have been a number of bad cards that would come at the river to finish a variety of draws, I knew exactly what they were. The board was and my hand was . The river cards I USED TO BE worried about included any club, a , a , a , an and a . Most other cards were either not bad for me or they improved hands that had me beat anyway (e.g., a really only improves ). There have been more good cards for me than bad, so I ACTUALLY didn’t want to raise for cover and risk getting reraised.

In fact, this hand wasn’t even worth protecting. It was a glorified bluff-catcher. When the board is that this coordinated and there are four people within the pot, top two pair loses a large number of its value. That’s like check-raising for value with on a flop.

The Lesson

Next time I'M OOP in a multi-way pot with a coordinated board, I WILL make certain I'VE a hand strong enough to get my whole stack in before I start raising and act and not using a plan. If it’s not worth my stack, then it’s a bluff-catcher and that i will check-call with it accordingly.

Photo Images Money, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

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