Quads vs Full House – What would you do??
Any good poker player who plays for ‘real’ will more than likely think that this post is absolutely obvious. However, I’m pretty sure that most players would never think of some of the things I want to share. This went down last night in a 1/3 NL home game I was playing in.
First off, the players in this game are all what I like to call ‘local semi-pros’. They play a lot. They are all pretty good for the most part and the majority of their play is in home games and local casinos, and some may even have jobs or careers or families. Obviously a little different then the local grinders in LV/CA or the ‘true pros’ or even internet players. I may fall into the same category, but I do like to think that I play on and am on a very different level – hell, I know I am. Either way, I started off on a bad note in a hand where this women was the sole caller on my UTG pre-flop raise of 5xBB. She flops a flush, while I flop top pair and 2nd nut flush draw. Of course I called her all the way down to find out that she had flopped a flush, with 26s?? No biggie, the luck boxes do have to win sometimes – hah.
However, onto the hand that I wanted to talk about. I had 44 in late position with roughly $500 behind and called a pre-flop raise of $15 from a player that was playing very loose and very aggressive (LAG) whom had me covered. The flop was 4 handed and came down 4A4 – quads! I was praying that someone, especially LAG raiser, was holding an Ace. Check to LAG raiser, who checks. Maybe the button had an Ace, so I check, but so does the button. I’m thinking – great, no one is holding an Ace and now I’m going to have to fire a bet on the turn just to get some value into the pot.
The turn was a rag 6. Again, check to LAG raiser and he finally fires a small bet of $15, which was a little uncommon of him. He had been betting big into raised pots almost every time, especially when C-betting. Right away it looked odd, but I thought it might be a stab/info bet with air so I didn’t want to raise here, thinking I might get the other 2 hands to call as well. Remember, he checked the flop – so I had already in my mind put him off the Ace and maybe he is just seeing if anyone hit at all – idk. Continuing with my line, I call and so did the button, first hand folds, leaving it 3 handed.
The river is another Ace. The perfect card I thought if one of them was holding an Ace – but remember, I was already off either of them having an Ace, so I figured if LAG raiser bets, I probably can only raise a small amount hoping for the call with a weak hand of medium pair or a 6. Again, I was sure neither had an Ace based on the previous streets check and small bet. Of course LAG raiser bet out again for $20 allowing me to finally make a raise. But, because I already had decided that my read was neither player having an Ace, I figured that the only raise that might get called is a small 2.5x raise to $50. Well… I was wrong, the button inst-folded and the LAG raiser inst-called holding an Ace-Ten suited?!?!
The reason I want to discuss this hand is because it has been on my mind for quite some time now and its because I wonder what I may have done different. The way that the LAG raiser snapped called my raise told me that he was trying to trap with his flopped Aces up, rivered Full House, and that he truly believed he had the nuts. Of course I did. And instead of trying to extract maximum value for the hand I was holding, I instead tried to extract maximum value from the hand that I thought he held. Here in lies the problem – did I extract max value? Was the line I took right? Should I have raised or bet on the previous streets? Or did I read to much in one direction, that I didn’t play my hand but was playing solely against what I thought my opponents held? What about an all-in raise on the river – does he still snap call?
Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and it seems pretty clear that he may have still snapped called a much bigger raise and I almost think he may have still snapped on an all-in. Even though I won the hand, I am torn over how much more I could have won in this hand. The game was already breaking up and within an orbit or two the game broke and I was dead even for the night. However, I did win or gain something, and that is the experience of this hand and if and when it comes up again, I am 100% positive that I will get as much if not the maximum value out of my opponents.
