Okay, a $5 heads up SNG with starting stacks of 1500 chips. At this point, I had a chip lead of 2090 to 910 as well. Blinds were at 10-20 when the hand below occurred.

My question is, how bad of a play was this on my part? A note about hands before this. This guy tended to be a limper preflop but I hadn't gotten a good feel of his play even after a decent number of hands. (BTW, I couldn't quite convert the hand in any program, so I'm providing the details manually)

I'm dealt Ac7c on the SB. I min raise to 40, and the guy of course calls from the BB (pot = 120). Flop comes 4d, 2c, 8h. I bet 80 and he flat calls me (pot = 280). Turn comes 5c and I check, he bets 150 and after a moment of hesitation, I call (pot = 580). River comes Jc for a flush but I check, and he bets 220. I raise to 550 and he calls and flips over KK. Needless to say, the guy starts cursing saying how bad of a suckout this was. This hand left him with less than a 100 chips and I knocked him out shortly thereafter.

So my question is, how bad of a play was this on my part? I missed the flop but I bet out to see what he'd do (nothing wrong there). The guy simply calls, which was a bit suspicious. The turn gives me a flush draw (9 outs) and gut-shot straight draw with me needing a 6 (3 outs since 6c accounted for). Because I didn't have a pair and I pegged the guy for top pair (figuring he'd check if he had a set), a 7 wouldn't be of help but another ace could help (3 more outs). That's 15 outs or about 30% to make the winning hand on the river. After he bet out 150, I was getting about 3 to 1 on a call (more exact calculation comes out to 2.87 to 1), so I basically needed 25% (1/4) or better to call, which I did. I think I'm adding up all the numbers right. Anyway, thoughts on this hand?

I'll go ahead and reply to this before anyone else comments on how he played his hand poorly. Had he been playing this in a full ring in a multi-way pot, yeah I'd have to call him a moron. Heads up though, you've got to not only take some chances with mediocre hands and stone cold bluffs, but you've got to take some risks trapping with big pairs, checking nuts, etc. Each of these scenarios will backfire form time to time in a HU game, but they'll pay off more often than not.

That being said, let's take a look at how you played this hand. First off, you've got him covered 2 to 1. I like the aggression with the suited ace and the solid chip lead. He flat called, so maybe he's got anything at this point.

Good follow through on the flop. Maybe he missed and you get the pot. Another flat call. Nothing you can do about that.

You nail a ton of outs on the turn. Pot odds are good. Implied odds make it worth an even bigger call, but we'll stick to the pot. If you folded there, I could've said something at this point about how you played the hand wrong. But you made a good call. His bet was enough to put you on bad odds for a primary draw, and honestly was a good bet on his part. The problem for him is that your draw was better than primary, giving you good odds. If he puts you on a primary draw hand, then he has to be willing to get away if a club, ace, or a 6 hits the board (depending on the hand he puts you on).

Nuts come on the river, so you can't play that wrong with a raise. He made the mistake of calling your check raise: 1) A check raise is more often than not the sign of a very strong hand. 2) He put out a perfect bet to give bad odds to a flush draw, which means he's got to take the chips when it doesn't come, and get away when it does if he wants to profit in poker.

I give you an A+ on this hand. I would also give your opponent a very high grade, but I'd have to dock him for the way he handled his loss and his call of the river check-raise. By grade and by chips, you win.

Well played!

i wonder how he analyzed what you might have. he tended keep pots small, so if your hitting the flush was a significant possibility in his mind .. it seems he would have checked. the river bet could have been a probe, but a check-raise almost always means a monster* or something close to it. that he called your reraise makes me think the 220 was a value bet. the second club coming on the turn was enough to camouflage your hand and i believe he thought you had hit the 8 too. how quickly did he call?

all told, i agree with b.d. ... you could reasonably expect that any six, ace or club would give you the best hand on the river. whether your opponent had an 8 or overpair made no difference to your hand (barring aces), so you played it to perfection. well done!

ryo, if you are unfamiliar with 'implied odds' ... the terms is used to describe the probability of gaining more after the river card has been dealt, if it improves your hand.


*my favorite poker word lately ... nuts to 'the nuts', who's got 'the monster!'

Thanks for the feedback guys. I found myself running through the scenario a few times so rather than overthink it, figured it would be better to get feedback.

I think part of this guy's frustration was that he had a 2 to 1 chip advantage initially (a little over 2000 for him, 900+ for me) but then I fought back when I went all in with two pair (Aces and Sevens) and he called with aces. The hand above transpired 6 or 7 hands after I regained the chip lead.

Also, in reference to your question dijawaila, the guy took some time to call. I got the impression that he was considering the possibility of the flush after I check raised him.

Another part of my thought process was that after check-calling the turn, a bet on the river with the board flushing would give my hand away. I normally wouldn't check the river with the nuts in a multiway pot or a ring game, but I had the sense that he would bet out on the river and pay me off.

Pretty interesting sequence of events! I agree with TBD's and dijwaila's comments pretty much to the letter. The odds were favorable all the way around for you to make that call after the turn in HU. It's a much different game at that point. The only thing I might add from what I got out of the hand was that your opponent's emotions played a much bigger part in the hand than he would ever admit. After that river card hit the screen... he should have taken a little time to collect himself before making the call. He probably figured you would fold when he raised after the turn... and when you didn't.... well... the results could tell the story. His emotions got the best of him(who knows.. in a live game he might have folded if he took more time and collected himself)... and I figure that's what lead him to call after your check/raise. Instintive players make the right moves at times like that... others don't for the most part. We all make mistakes in this game.... just ask me... I can make more than my share, but I hope I'm learning. ...... Forums like this can help us all.

A7 is not a good hand!!! You definitely should avoid calling all in situations with it man you will be dominated so many times.