The Min-raise

Big MO took this picture on his honeymoon. After getting railed for my worst loss ever, all in the span of 90 minutes just now, I think I know how the lioness feels... but let me rewind...

This morning, Mrs. Dynamite wakes me up 40 minutes early: "You might want to get up now, we have to go to the gym to shower." What the fuck? FUCK. The shower knob broke when she tried to turn it on, and it was stuck "on," with no control of the temperature. Fuck that - I threw on some deodorant and went to work. Mrs. Dynamite, on the other hand, waited another 30 minutes until the gym opened at 6am, walked the 1/2 mile to the gym, and found that there was no hot water in the gym! AIYAHH! Holy fucking TILT. Man am I glad I didn't take that beat. Anyway, I get home, and the fucking plumber is in my apartment, tearing the tile wall down. So now, even if he fixes the fucking shower, I need to have someone else come in and patch up the wall. I figure I'll escape to the serenity of Monday night poker at the club.

I sit down, and on the first hand, this shit happens:

1-2NL, $500 stacks. I find Friday in Vegas: pocket jacks in the cutoff. Habib, a capable player who has just returned from a top 3 finish in the $1k NLHE event at Foxwoods WPF straddles for $5 UTG. I've played a lot with Habib - he's tricky and aggressive - he's competent, but not as good as he thinks he is. I don't fear him like I fear the Vortex (to the fucking FELT Vortex!). So, Habib straddles, and there are 2 limpers. I make it $30 to go, Habib calls, and the limper in the ten seat calls. I'm in the one seat.

Flop: 2-4-Q rainbow. Check-check to me. I bet $75. Habib check-raises to $150. Now, I know Habib expected me to bet here. I don't put him on a small set: I put him on AQ or KQ. He's a solid player, and I think he's disciplined enough to lay it down easily, especially since he's played with me some, and knows I'm not a maniac. His min-raise is his way of asking me "Do you have A-K? TT maybe? If so you should lay it down." I look around the dealer and verify that the ten seat has folded before quickly and confidently coming over the top all-in, for Habib's last $300. My bet says: "No, Habib, I have AA or KK. Believe it Bitch." It's a slightly smaller than pot sized raise, and he shakes his head in disbelief. I've just come over the top of his check-raise - I clearly have a very big hand. I really like the story I've told in this hand - consistent and reasonable... And then Habib makes a crying call. Fuck. I tap the table and tell him he's good. He shows A-Q, and it holds up. I actually feel ok about my play on this hand: I could have checked the flop and folded to a turn bet, and I certainly could have lost $300 less on the hand, but my play makes sense, and against an aggressive opponent, I can't laydown my hand to a min-raise there. It's either fold or re-raise, and I chose the latter.

However, after losing another $500 pot, and a $200 pot, I made this play, which could go down as "the worst hand I ever played." I write about it because I keep trying to defend the play in my head, but it's like Alcoholics Anonymous... or Gamblers Anonymous: the first step is admitting I have a problem. So, without further ado, my name is Kid Dynamite, and I played this hand like shit:

Habib straddles UTG. I'm next with A-Q offsuit, and I limp with the possibility of limp-reraising in my mind. I'm stuck 1 1/2 buyins at this point, which is completely irrelevant, but I did have a sense of "get even" in my head. It's funny, because I have a very vivid recollection of myself earlier this afternoon as I left work thinking to myself as I recalled hands: I am untiltable. So, Joe raises to $15 after one player folds. Joe is a tight, solid, but perhaps too passive player. He's a very good player, but tends to quickly temper his aggression if he meets resistance. 5 players call Joe's raise and it's back to me.

Now, a few weeks ago, I wrote about a hand I played with Joe where he min-raised me out of position, and I absolutely KNEW he had a medium hand, instead of a big hand. Here, I had the same read: the game has been playing very loose. If Joe made it $25, he could expect to be called a few times, so he KNEW he'd be called multiple times with a $15 raise. Joe is not the kind of player who wants to play AA or KK in early position in a 6-way pot. He cannot have a big hand.

I re-raise to $115. Joe makes it $215 to go: min-re-raising me. Joe has $200 left after the raise, I have him covered. All fold back to me. I'm shaking my head, "This doesn't make sense Joe," I don't get it. Joe must know I'm tiltable here, and he's trying to defend against what he views as a steal from me. Fuck you Joe - I'm not letting your medium pair off the hook. I call.

flop: K-J-6 rainbow. I bet $225, putting Joe all-in. He shakes his head. He can't believe it, but he calls after 45 seconds. The Q on the turn and Ace on the river are no help, as Joe turns over AA. Wow. What the fuck am I doing?

I took a shot preflop with my raise - I could have called $10 more, closed the action, and seen a cheap flop, but I went the aggressive route instead. This isn't a huge blunder, but once Joe re-raises me again, I must lay this hand down. I was so keen on my read: that he would not make it $15 after a $5 straddle and my call of the straddle with a big hand; I let it blind me to the possibility that he could indeed have a big hand, and I lost at least $300 too much on this hand.

My flop push was a desperation play, which I'd probably only make against very specific players, but even then is almost unjustifiable, especially considering how my session had gone: Unlike the earlier hand against Habib, I couldn't reasonably expect Joe to give me credit for a monster hand.

One common theme in these hands is the min-raise: I'm clearly having a problem reacting to min-raises and deciphering their meaning. I need to get it through my head that it can be ok to fold to a min-raise.

until next time,
KD