Peeling One Off...
First, apologies to both my readers for my one month unwilling sabbatical. It's been crazy busy being the Shark, and hopefully, I'll be able to put more time into blogging now...
Anyhoo, a post by MecosKing over at BTP inspired me to write this post. The example he gave wasn't really as good as another I saw later the same day. Here's the setting: You're playing and you look down at a small pocket pair in LP or the BB. That could be a post in and of itself, but I digress. In LP, you limp in and see the flop, in the BB, it's raised to you and you call the raise from the blind. The situation matters less than the play:
Party Poker 5/10 6-max:
Preflop: Hero is BB with 3c, 3d. CO posts a blind of $5.
1 fold, MP raises, CO (poster) calls, Button calls, SB calls, Hero calls.
A blind defense, a profitable BB call with a pair, either way, you're in.
Flop: (10 SB): 9s, Qh, Ah (5 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets, CO calls, Button calls, SB calls, Hero calls.
The advantage of having relative position after a bet--you're now getting 14-to-1 on a call, and even though you KNOW you're beat here, think of the implied odds you get if you hit... Granted, you're drawing to 2 outs, with one possibly tainted, but for one SB...you peel one off.
Turn: (7.50 BB): 3s (5 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets, CO calls, Button calls, SB calls, Hero raises, MP calls, CO folds, Button calls, SB calls.
The gin card. This isn't my hand, and I'm not sure I like the check-raise here with 2 flush draws now out there, (not that a straight bet will help here either), but he drew to his 23.5-to-1 prop and hit. He spent a small bet to get a lot more and hit his perfect card. The flush draws can be scary here, but now he's building the pot with what likely is the very best hand.
River: (16.50 BB): 9c (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, MP calls, Button folds, SB folds.
Yahtzee. Only way I like this better is if the card that falls is the 9h (completing a heart draw). He extracts max value out of it and takes down a $185 pot.
Peeling one off isn't always a solid play. For example, in this situation, he has to figure he's way behind on the flop, maybe to 2 pair, and he's getting nowhere near the odds to call the flop bet. This is where the subtle differences in holdem between a small bet on the flop and a big bet on the turn and river come into play. Many players will use a peel off on the flop to see if their marginal hand will get good on the turn. The difference between good players and donks is that the good players re-evaluate their position after the turn, while the donk will just keep peeling. In this situation, if the 3s doesn't hit on the turn, our Hero can easily get away from this hand to a BB, and can live to fight another day.
He's looking at the implied odds here. I'm being results-oriented, but at the same time, you have to in this analysis of what on the surface looks like a poor play. He's calling 14-to-1 on a 23.5-to-1 shot. A bad play, right? What did hitting get him? 18.5 BB to 1 SB. Reduce it out--37-to-1 implied odds on the call. Granted, he could have hit his hand and still lost to a flush or even an oddly played straight, but a set to a full house on the river potentially gives you 9 outs, 37-to-9, or 4.1-to-1 odds of pairing the board.
Don't think I'm saying this is the end-all, be-all play, or even a solid one--just consider adding it to your arsenal in the right situation!
As a post-script, not poker related, but of the utmost importance besides, the ultrasound showed that we're likely having a baby girl in April. I thought I couldn't love anything more than I love my wife. I was wrong, in a good way.
Anyhoo, a post by MecosKing over at BTP inspired me to write this post. The example he gave wasn't really as good as another I saw later the same day. Here's the setting: You're playing and you look down at a small pocket pair in LP or the BB. That could be a post in and of itself, but I digress. In LP, you limp in and see the flop, in the BB, it's raised to you and you call the raise from the blind. The situation matters less than the play:
Party Poker 5/10 6-max:
Preflop: Hero is BB with 3c, 3d. CO posts a blind of $5.
1 fold, MP raises, CO (poster) calls, Button calls, SB calls, Hero calls.
A blind defense, a profitable BB call with a pair, either way, you're in.
Flop: (10 SB): 9s, Qh, Ah (5 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets, CO calls, Button calls, SB calls, Hero calls.
The advantage of having relative position after a bet--you're now getting 14-to-1 on a call, and even though you KNOW you're beat here, think of the implied odds you get if you hit... Granted, you're drawing to 2 outs, with one possibly tainted, but for one SB...you peel one off.
Turn: (7.50 BB): 3s (5 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets, CO calls, Button calls, SB calls, Hero raises, MP calls, CO folds, Button calls, SB calls.
The gin card. This isn't my hand, and I'm not sure I like the check-raise here with 2 flush draws now out there, (not that a straight bet will help here either), but he drew to his 23.5-to-1 prop and hit. He spent a small bet to get a lot more and hit his perfect card. The flush draws can be scary here, but now he's building the pot with what likely is the very best hand.
River: (16.50 BB): 9c (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, MP calls, Button folds, SB folds.
Yahtzee. Only way I like this better is if the card that falls is the 9h (completing a heart draw). He extracts max value out of it and takes down a $185 pot.
Peeling one off isn't always a solid play. For example, in this situation, he has to figure he's way behind on the flop, maybe to 2 pair, and he's getting nowhere near the odds to call the flop bet. This is where the subtle differences in holdem between a small bet on the flop and a big bet on the turn and river come into play. Many players will use a peel off on the flop to see if their marginal hand will get good on the turn. The difference between good players and donks is that the good players re-evaluate their position after the turn, while the donk will just keep peeling. In this situation, if the 3s doesn't hit on the turn, our Hero can easily get away from this hand to a BB, and can live to fight another day.
He's looking at the implied odds here. I'm being results-oriented, but at the same time, you have to in this analysis of what on the surface looks like a poor play. He's calling 14-to-1 on a 23.5-to-1 shot. A bad play, right? What did hitting get him? 18.5 BB to 1 SB. Reduce it out--37-to-1 implied odds on the call. Granted, he could have hit his hand and still lost to a flush or even an oddly played straight, but a set to a full house on the river potentially gives you 9 outs, 37-to-9, or 4.1-to-1 odds of pairing the board.
Don't think I'm saying this is the end-all, be-all play, or even a solid one--just consider adding it to your arsenal in the right situation!
As a post-script, not poker related, but of the utmost importance besides, the ultrasound showed that we're likely having a baby girl in April. I thought I couldn't love anything more than I love my wife. I was wrong, in a good way.
1 Comments:
I have to say that I do agree with the peel... given you have enough people in the pot to justify your implied odds.
It seems that it happens every session where you don't peel and it hits and the heartburn begins.
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