Hand # 2. It's level 3 at a 10-player Sit & Go that has a buy-in of $109. The blinds are T50, T100 and I'm in middle position with T2300 in chips; we began with T2000, each. Everyone folds to me and I raise to T300 with Kc-Qc. The player on the button calls and the BB calls. The flop comes Ac, Ah, 3s. The pot is now T950 and I lead out with a T500 bet. The button folds and the BB calls. The turn card is 3h and I check. The BB also checks. The river card is Qd. I bet T500 into a T1950 pot. The BB raises to T1000.
Answer
Hand # 2. The BB called my bet on the flop, which implies he had some kind of a hand, but remember, it cost him only T200 to get into a pot that was T750 (my T300 bet, the button's T300, the T50 SB and T100BB), so he was getting over 3 to 1 pot odds, which he might call with almost anything; certainly A-x. Because I raised preflop, it's easy to put me on a hand of Ace-something, which is probably why the button folded, so what would compell the BB to call? Obviously, if he has an Ace, he's trying to trap me or, more likely, is worried that his kicker is smaller than mine, because he thinks I do have an Ace - something like A-K or A-Q. When he checked after me on the turn, I felt he thought that I either had him beaten badly with Trips or had nothing. I gave a small consideration to the fact that he may have called me with A-3 and now was "boated", but if that were the case, I was just going to have to pay it off. When the Q hit the river, I finally had a hand! Was it any good? Well, I had to find out, so that's why I bet T500; not counting the fact I'd be getting about 5 to 1 pot odds on it, should he call. But then he raised and I went into "the tank". Surprisingly, I figured it out much quicker than it takes to read this. My thought was that he raised for one of two reasons: He had me beaten badly and was trying to extract a few more $$$ or he realized only a bluff could win at this point. But it was a pretty weak bluff - what's sometimes called a "Post Oak" bluff - which is actually a sign of a strong hand and it almost caused me to fold.
Do you see how you can talk yourself out of a hand by thinking too much? In fact, if this had been a $20+$2 SnG, I'd have folded because I'm sure my opponent would have turned up an Ace on the showdown. As it was, I didn't like calling, but did. My opponent evidently was bluffing, because I won the hand. Unfortunately, he mucked his cards, so I cannot comment further with any certainty. But if you'll settle for a guess, I think he had something like 7-7 or maybe Kh-3h and was trying to buy the pot.
(Source: GameMaster)
