Big Hands Big Pots

January 24, 2008

You are going to need big hands for big pots or else you are going to be left holding the bag.

Recently I was playing in a $4,000 No Limit Hold ‘em event in which we all started with $6,000 and then I had $30,000. At my table was a player I’ve gone up against many times in the past.

A hand came in which I raised before the flop from the middle position with K-J offsuit and the player I knew called me from the big blind. The flop came out 9-6-4 with two of the cards being of the same suit.

The other player hesitates for a second before checking, and I put in a bet that was about the size of the pot. When the other guy thinks for awhile before calling, I really don’t like my hand that much anymore.

Then a non-diamond Jack comes on the turn. I am now on the upswing emotionally because I have the top pair and a pretty good kicker. Then the other player comes out of the gates firing and I’m back to feeling queasy.

Normally if someone hesitates before checking that is a huge tell, but I know this other player and he is the king of delayed action. Because I knew the opponent I ignored the tell and bet the flop anyway and normally his bet on the turn would just be screaming for me to raise him.

So I sit back and go through my though process, and at first I think he flopped a set, which would explain the smooth way of playing the flop. He was trying to get me to stay in and keep betting myself. Then again, if he had the set then you probably would have checked the turn and waited for the river to make his move, hoping that I caught something along the way.

I do know that the Jack had to help him. Since my Jack isn’t a diamond, his might be. If that’s the cash then he called the flop with a Jack-high flush draw and then paired up. I do like my kicker and hand if this is the case. He might then be betting now hoping to buy the pot right here and if not then hoping for the flush or straight to hit.

After running through this through process I can’t come to a conclusion I’m comfortable with and while normally I would call in this situation, both of us have a lot of chips and I don’t want to go all in holding only top pair. Then I remember a recent hand I played with this guy earlier in the month.

He had been running bad and was complaining about catching all the bad beats. He checked and called with the top full house because he was afraid someone had quadrupled up on him. If a guy is afraid of monster hands like that then he isn’t going to check-call a top set on the flop when there is a flush draw out there.

So I decided to go all in. Now this pot is now looking pretty huge and top pair isn’t even close to the big hand you need for big pots.

The other player couldn’t wait to call immediately and then I was drawing dead to a perfectly played set of 9’s.

Sometimes you have to play conservatively if you don’t have a big hand, because you can’t always go for the quick kill. The other player here had a big hand and the patience to play it right and take advantage of my mistake. Hope this helps you learn a little more and improve your game for future sessions.

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