Hand Discussions

What Would You Do?

Think first. Scroll later. Every spot comes from a real Stud Hi/Lo tournament. Make your decision before you read my take on the situation.

“These pot odds... surely I can't fold?”

After losing a significant portion of my stack, I am only left with 3 BB. We are still far away from the bubble, so ICM/stack preservation considerations play no role in the hand.

Start of the hand on 3rd street: hero holds (7c 8h) Ad with a 6c bring-in and several low door cards

The 8s and As – that both duplicate my low cards – fold in front of me and I have a clear complete from BRI+3 with (7c8h)Ad. The 9d calls behind me, the 6d 2-bets, and the 6c in the bring-in cold-calls the two-bet. Obviously I cannot fold, so I call as does the 9d.

Both players showing sixes are loose and splashy. All three players are sticky. The player with the 9d would call with a pair of Nines in this situation (he sees the duplicated Aces). He would also call with a combo draw, something like 7d8d9d but seeing two Diamonds and two sixes dead, it is more probable that he holds a medium pair.

Actually, when I saw my 4th card

I thought, “OK, that's it — I'm committed!”

But that was before I saw the entire board:

The full table at the decision point: hero shows 7-8-A-4, Seat 4 shows 6-3 clubs and calls, pot 14,640

And to top things off I am getting incredible pot odds at 12.2 : 1.

What would you do?

Make your call

“Is an isoraise on 6th worth the risk?”

We're at the final table. I have a healthy stack and start with a good hand in the bring-in:

Start of the hand on 3rd street: hero brings in with (5c2d)3d, Seat 7 completes, Seat 1 shows a 7c

Seat 7's complete does not necessarily indicate a pair of Tens. This player had very loose starting requirements and was known to complete with hands such as three different Broadway cards. After the 7c in Seat 1 calls the complete, I have a clear call with (5c2d)3d.

The hand gets checked through to 6th Street, where things become interesting:

6th street: hero shows 5-2-3-2-10, Seat 1 shows 7-4-Q-5 and raises, Seat 7 shows 10-4-2-Q, pot 72,000

I improve to two low pairs with open 3s and lead out. In hindsight, I like a check-and-evaluate more. The pot isn't that big yet, which makes protection less important. And since I am in first position, I could check and see how the action unfolds to get more information.

Anyway, after my lead, Seat 7 calls and Seat 1 reraises, displaying 7-4-Q-5 and indicating at least a made low. Before I have to decide, there are 72,000 chips in the pot, of which I can likely only win half.

What would you do?

Make your call

The Discussion

How I See It

Once you've locked in your answer, this is where we dig in. For every spot I'll walk through the pros and cons of the realistic options and tell you what I decided — or what I believe is the right decision.

My take on 1.

The result: hero's action bubble reads Fold with 4,841 chips behind

Wait ... I did what? I had a 4-Low, catching an Ace might give me the lead for high and I could draw a 5 and 6 for a straight – so I could not possibly fold getting 12.2 : 1 odds.

In Stud H/L you usually only want to proceed if you have a chance to scoop the pot. This rule is somewhat out of order here since the pot is so big that even by winning half I will make a healthy profit. But what are the chances of winning either side of the pot here?

Let's start with the high. I'd say those chances are practically zero. There is a more than reasonable chance that the player in Seat 2 already has trip Nines, he called a raise and bets into three strong low boards. So, catching one Ace will not help me and one Ace is already dead. The most realistic way for me to make a hand that stands a chance to win high is to draw a 5 and 6. But: at least two Sixes are already busy. And even if I miraculously catch the straight, I could still lose against a Seat 2 Full House or a Seat 4 Flush.

What about the low? First my scary open board does not help me at all. Seat 3 and Seat 4, who are both potential low contenders, are sticky and they have a ton of chips while I do not have much left. This means I only win if I end up with the best low by the river.

And the chances for this are slim:

With 3, 3, 6 and 6 in opponents' hands plenty of the cards that I need are already gone. Furthermore the 3rd street betting pattern suggests that also 5s might be hard to get since they are among Seat 3 and Seat 4's buried cards.
My 7-8 low draw is about as rough as a low draw can get, meaning if I make a low, I will win only if neither of both of my opponents makes a qualifying low.

I did not see enough chances to win either side of the pot and that's why I eventually folded.

My take on 2.

The result: hero calls the reraise on 6th street with 129,134 chips behind, pot 84,000

I believe that folding is too conservative. Yes, Seat 1 could have a straight but he could also bet the only made low that is possible up to this point. And even if he has a straight, I have three outs to fill up. Note that after my lead with open 3s, Seat 1's range is heavily skewed towards made lows when he reraises as he would be unlikely to reraise with just two pairs (and this is further unlikely since a 5 was folded on 3rd) being afraid of trip 3s.

I think the real question is between call and raise. If the pot was heads-up, it would clearly be a call but Seat 7 still being behind changes the equation as he likely draws to a high hand that can beat my two pairs.

If I only call, he will likely also call and draw. If I 3-bet, there is a good chance he will fold. However, the play is high risk as even if Seat 7 folds, Seat 1 will very likely make it 4 bets and then bet again on the river. That means, if I 3-bet here, I likely risk four more big bets (48,000) to win half of what is in the pot (36,000). I think the risk-to-reward ratio is not good enough to pull off this play while at the same time I am running the risk that Seat 1 already has made a straight. Although I am blocking two 3s for his 3-7 straight, I cannot see 6s and 8s anywhere that he would need for a 4-8 straight.

Adding to that is the tournament situation: Losing 48,000 would hurt me a lot more than winning 36,000 would benefit me. So, I think a call is better.

If I had initially checked on 6th street and it had gone check-bet, I could have gone for a check-raise while risking less. However, in this setting, Seat 1 also has more higher two-pair combinations in his range that beat me. And it would still stay a high risk play for a considerably small pot.