this hand came up in a 50nl game two days ago. my river play was based on numerous past experiences in which i thought a hand was a split pot and end up not pushing in more money.

50 nl. i just sat down and posted a blind two off the button. i have a full stack. my opponent has me covered on the button.

[4h].

few limpers to me, plus button and a blind or two. 6 way pot.

$3.00 pot.

flop - [8c][4s]. yum.

checks to me and i bet $2.50 with only the button left to act. he smooth calls. two others call. sheesh.
4 way turn.

$13 pot.

turn - . not yum. checks to the button who bets $1. other two fold. if that's not odd i don't know what is. i call the baby bet.

heads up. $15 pot.

river . ok, i'll take it. i lead out with an $8 bet. he raises it up to $20. i figure it's probably a split pot, but i push in. he calls instantly with [3s].

I drag a nice $100 pot and double through on my first hand at the table.

There's been plenty of times where iv'e had a hand that seemed likely to be a split pot, and plenty of times where i've just called a river bet thinking there was no point in raising. usualy (probably 80% of the itme at limits as low as 100nl), it is a split. if i had raised in those pots, i would have just fed the rake and lost an extra buck or two. however, that 20% of the time against idiots like this, i get paid off.

For that reason alone, i've made it a standard play to keep raising on hands like this - where the only thing i can lose to is 88. for the amount of times i'll lose this pot to 88, compared to the amount of times i'll win it to 73s, i'll take my chances.


~Dustin

You lose to K8 also, but I get your point and agree with you.

At the low buy-in tables, you'll frequently get someone clinging to the bottom end of that full house as well.

hey mad.
yeah, i'm still on PS, though i haven't played a whole lot recently.
i had a bad run that lasted about two weeks, and as a result decided to move down for a while. lately i've been going back and forth between the 100nl and the 50nl tables - just because of the amazing amount of terrible players at the 50. i played at the 200nl last night for a little while and made a bit, but the amount of fish there just don't compare to the lower limits.

~Dustin

Hmm...I may have to reconsider playing the lower-limit cash games. It's been tough trying to build my bankroll out of playing occasional multis and HU matches, and it sounds like the fish are still plenty in the 50NL tables. Will probably play for a couple hours tonight and see how it goes.