Lacking hand history. They're both from a $50NL game on PokerRoom.

1. A4o in the SB. The BB and I are even in chips at $50. I throw the quarter in and it's four-handed to the flop. AQ5r. I check, BB bets $2, I'm the only caller. Turn is an A. I check, he bets $3, I call. River is the case A. What's the optimal play here?

2. TT in the cutoff. 1 limper, MP raises to $2, I call and am shocked as everyone else folds. Me and MP each have $50. Flop comes 9d7h5d. MP bets $3, I raised to $10, he goes all in after a little thought. What's your line off the flop, and if it is different from mine, what do you do when he goes all in after you raise to $10?

1. A4o in the SB. The BB and I are even in chips at $50. I throw the quarter in and it's four-handed to the flop. AQ5r. I check, BB bets $2, I'm the only caller. Turn is an A. I check, he bets $3, I call. River is the case A. What's the optimal play here?


Folding preflop.



2. TT in the cutoff. 1 limper, MP raises to $2, I call and am shocked as everyone else folds. Me and MP each have $50. Flop comes 9d7h5d. MP bets $3, I raised to $10, he goes all in after a little thought. What's your line off the flop, and if it is different from mine, what do you do when he goes all in after you raise to $10?


Um fold? Are you functionally retarded or something?

I folded, but what do you do against the $3 bet? It's obvious he has an overpair, and even against something like AdKd I'm in a race... it's not even close.

what do you do against the $3 bet?


Meh. At this limit? I fold.

This isn't a great flop for TT.

Any flop without a T isn't a great flop for TT at this limit.

Good luck.

Your raise is fine, btw if you can fold to a big re-raise.

If I were worried about my preflop play in NL, I wouldn't have posted the action after I completed with A4. One rarely encounters a situation like the one in the first hand.

I guess since no one wants to discuss it, I will!

On the flop, I was about 60-40 between the BB having a Q or an A. The turn made it pretty clear that he didn't have an ace. On the river, my move was to go all in. He folded, pretty much confirming that he was just taking a shot at the pot on the flop and turn.

I did it for a few reasons:
1) People rarely have the balls to fire three bluffs out at $50NL. I don't think there's any value at all in checking to try to induce a bluff, because they KNOW that you have a full house now, and that you probably won't fold for any reasonable bet.

2) It doesn't have to work very often for it to be hugely profitable.

3) I'm pretty sure a queen calls an all-in here. It looks like I'm trying to steal half the pot. If I were him, I would give it some serious thought before calling. I can be wrong, what, once in 40+ tries and still be losing money on the call, right?

1) I agree, checking OOP would be the dumbest play ever. I mean, aside from that guy folding a set of 10's in that WSOP circuit event.

2+3) I really don't think a Queen is calling as often as you would thi nk. At best he's getting a split pot. I wouldn't call with a queen there, that would be foolish to put in all your chips on a small pot, possibily to only get it back, and the other times lose it all.

You and I have this reasoning drilled into us from having read poker materials and playing. It's stone-cold obvious to us, but someone who only thinks in terms of, "Can I catch him bluffing?" or "I have a full house here, and you never fold a full house" will not think about how often the call has to be correct.

I have forgotten the way to calculate the break-even odds on a play. If I push all in on the river, how often would he have to call it to make more money than value-betting for $5?

Now that's a damn good question.

When you find it, or some other poster knows it, please let me know.