Online Poker Press

I was playing 2/5 NL Hold’em and had about $800 in front of me. I had been looking down at K3 off for about 2 hours and had built up a pretty tight image at the table. One guy was advertising how tight I was to the table, so I took it upon myself to use this image to my advantage by bluffing a few good size pots. A while later, I looked down at J9 of spades and decided to limp in middle position. There were 4 players to the flop.

Flop: 10s Jc 3s

The small blind bets $35, early position folds, and I take a moment to think. Personally, I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside every time I hit top pair and a flush draw. My kicker isn’t that great, but the possibilities are enough that I feel confident in raising. I could hit my flush (9 outs), I could hit my 9 (12 outs), I could hit another Jack (14 outs), and I still have a possible backdoor straight draw. (Of course, hitting the 9 and the J is assuming my opponent doesn’t have a set, or a Jack with a higher kicker.) There are enough bluff outs here that I feel I can play this hand stronger than what I actually have in order to win the pot without actually hitting my cards. With this being said, I raised him $115. Late position folds and small blind calls. I was actually a little surprised that he called, but figured he might have something like A J or two pair.

Turn: Qh

This card was money as I just picked up additional outs with an open ended straight draw. Small blind bet $200. I wasn’t expecting this. I was about to reraise to put pressure on him, but realized that he only had $125 left. Surely he wouldn’t fold to a reraise when he had just stuck over ¾ of his money into the pot. I also felt that he could beat my pair of Jacks with the way he was betting, so I decided to just call his bet.

River: 10d

Ouch! This was not the card that I wanted to see. If my opponent had flopped two pair, then I am in trouble. Strangely, small blind checked to me with his last $125 sitting in front of him. At first I thought this was a ploy to get me to bet, but then it didn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t he just go all in knowing that I had been betting or calling big raises the whole way? Surely he knew I wouldn’t fold for $125 with a hand I was so strongly representing. The only reasonable explanation is that he was on the nut flush draw and missed. More likely is that he probably had AQ of spades and made the big bet on the turn thinking he was good. I declared all in and he folded his hand. Since it was a cash game, and I knew he was a smart player, I also knew he would fold for the last $125 if he thought he was beat. He would save the bet because he knew he could add on and use those chips for later.