Posted by Dr Fro 9:47 PM

Junk hands

I played poker a week ago and lost a lot of money on a hand. I had KK pre-flop and raised 5xbb pre-flop. I got a caller who had 57o. Flop came 689, and the turn and river brought 4 and 4. I slowed down a bit when the board paired on the river, but other than that, I was jamming each street. When he showed me that he flopped the straight, my jaw hit the ground.

You might think that this is the point in the post when I complain about a bad beat, about how smart I was and how stupid he was. On the contrary...

There are two basic types of junk hands that can hit a big draw: suited cards and connected (including 1-gappers) cards. Suited cards just aren't that valuable because when the third card of a suit falls, everyone slows down. You'll only get action from a higher flush. When junk cards connect with a straight, nobody sees it coming. It is like a cheap-shot punch from the back in a parking lot fight. You are kicking a guy's ass, feeling pretty good, and then, BOOM, you're seeing stars. Not only will people not see it coming, they will still think they are value betting their overpair (junk cards require low/middle cards to connect, so in all likelihood, there will not be an Ace out there to scare off the betting).

Ideally, you play suited connectors to bust up big hands, but if you have to choose, go with the connectors that aren't suited rather than play suited cards that are not connected.

2 Comment(s):

Posted by  Johnnymac, at 10:43 PM, October 05, 2007  

Inevitably I will flop a little straight at some point in a card game playing unsuited connectors for cheap. It's the PERFECT big blind hand to call a single raiser with. Even Teddy KGB got busted by 89, although I think that might have been suited (clubs?).

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Posted by  Anonymous, at 3:17 AM, October 06, 2007  

That's just a tough situation to be in. You probably also thought that he might've flopped a set with pocket 6s, 8s, or 9s (all of which would explain a call of 5x BB preflop).

I saw a similar hand on High Stakes Poker that was brilliantly played against Phil Ivey by some no-name amateur (I may be slightly off on numbers and cards, but you get the idea):

No-name raises to ~$4200 with 2s4s. Ivey, who is holding KK, comes over the top and makes it $14,000 to go. No-name thinks for min and then smooth calls.

The flop is 358. The pot is ~$30,000, and Ivey leads out with a bet of $23,000. No-name moves all-in for $300,000 more.

Gabe Kaplan discussed the rationale, and the consensus in the booth was that Ivey should fold. There's no way he can call a $300,000 bet with merely an overpair.

Ivey thinks long and hard, and simply has to put no-name on a set. It is a very probable holding in this situation. Ivey mucks, and no-name takes a very nice pot by outplaying one of the best players in the world.

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