3 Streets Poker
Weekly Poker Hand #314: In this hand from a live $25/$50 cash game, I get 3 streets of value with AK! Even in multi-way pots, you should still bet thinly for value! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to sign up for a free 7-day trial membership at PokerCoaching.com for an interactive learning experience from. Explanation of Street Poker As a Round of Betting. Any of the betting rounds in any poker variant can be referred to as “streets”. The names of the streets will depend on the variant. Community card games → Preflop, flop, turn, river. Stud/Razz → 3rd/4th/5th/6th/7th street. (7th street also called “the river”).
In no-limit knowing which situations you can get three streets of value from is a huge edge. Too many players pass up this value by overly thinking in terms of pot control or by being excessively fearful of being beat. Missing a bet in no-limit can be a costly “opportunity loss cost,” particularly a river bet. Not exploiting +EV (expected value) opportunities lowers your yearly expectation the same way making a bad call does.
5th Street Poker
In a passive $2-$5, I’d been playing pretty aggressively. The cutoff had posted a make-up blind and an ABC-passive opponent whom I’d previously pushed out of a couple of pots, open-raised for $20. In every earlier instance he had open-raised for $15. Whenever an opponent does something differently, I always ask myself, “Why?” In this case, I thought he either raised larger because of the make-up blind, or he had a hand that was vulnerable and wanted to protect it, maybe a combination of both.
I peered down to the 10 10. Generally, it’s a situationally-dependent borderline hand to value three-bet or flat. Seeing as I reasoned my opponent was likely to have a vulnerable hand, I chose to three-bet, the field folded, and Mr. ABC called, $134 in the pot, I rasied to $60. When he called I read his preflop range as being a good, but not great holding.
The flop came clean, the 8 5 2, Mr. ABC checked to me, and I bet $65. I thought his calling range would be any medium pair, sixes through queens, possibly A-K. I discounted the sixes and queens thinking he may have played them differently both pre- and post-flop. I wagered a smallish bet-size to increase the propensity for the medium pairs, which I dominated, to remain in his calling range. He called.
The 8 turned, and I bet $95 into a $260 pot, once again on the smallish side, but a sizing I thought he would call with his medium pairs. He hesitantly flatted me one more time, $450 in the pot.
The river came the J. He checked to me. I knuckled behind him and he showed me two nines, I took the pot. As I always do, I reflected on my play of the hand. In hindsight, I thought my check on the river was poor. My opponent’s range was capped, and a river value bet was in order.
His genuine hesitancy on calling the turn further discounted Q-Q. J-J became more unlikely when the jack rivered and he checked to me, and there was only one combination of 8-8. I hadn’t seen a check-raise from him yet, and he didn’t strike me as the sort to check-raise often. My previous aggression in the game, particularly the fact he’d folded a couple of holdings to me increased the odds of Mr. ABC calling a river bet with a pair smaller than tens.
With limited holdings that beat me, the decision on whether to bet came down to if he would call with more hands I beat than hands that beat me, or check-raise since I wasn’t calling a check-raise. There were six possible combinations each of 6-6, 7-7, 9-9, 18 total. I heavily discounted his Q-Q, J-J and 8-8 holdings because of the manner in which he played. He may have A-5 suited, A-8 suited, 8-7 suited or 8-9 suited but would they be in his preflop calling range and would he have played them in this manner? I doubted it! All that said, there was way more hands this particular player in this particular situation would call with that I beat than that beat me. And I’m including any check raise on his part.
A thin smallish river value-bet was in order, maybe in the one-third pot range. He wasn’t prone to check-raise and was likely to view me suspiciously and call with a marginal hand. Even if he only called one-half the time with a pair, my bet would still have +EV value.
I whiffed the bet, but I learned from my mistake. It was a focus error. In most situations, against most opponents, I would check this hand on the river, and my instincts made that decision. My mistake was that I didn’t take the time to think things through. If I had, I would have recognized that this specific situation with this particular opponent was different from most standard situations and adjusted my strategy.
Next time, I’m going to think things through! ♠
Roy Cooke played poker professionally for 16 years prior to becoming a successful Las Vegas Real Estate Broker/Salesman. Should you wish any information about Real Estate matters-including purchase, sale or mortgage his office number is 702-376-1515 or Roy’s e-mail is RealtyAce@aol.com. His website is www.RoyCooke.com. Roy’s blogs and poker tips are at www.RoyCookePokerlv.com. You can also find him on Facebook or Twitter @RealRoyCooke. Please see ad below!
Weekly Poker Hand #314: In this hand from a live $25/$50 cash game, I get 3 streets of value with AK! Even in multi-way pots, you should still bet thinly for value!
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4th Street Poker
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3 Streets Poker Card Game
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