Setup Poker Hand of the Week
This week we are analysing a very controversial fold, we have witnessed on Live at the Bike! They are playing NL $5/$5 with a $50 big blind ante.
Former Kansas Star Landen Lucas and Tia are both recreational players and are playing against each other for the first time, means they don’t have any history. However, Lucas played pretty lose before this hand happened.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop Action:
It folds around to Tia in the Hijack, who finds Q♠Q♦ and raises to $200. Right behind her Landen has 9♠9♣ and he 3-bets to $725, everybody else folds except for Tia folds. Potsize: €1,560
Flop:
The dealer opens the action flop of J♥Q♠K♥. In general, this is a great flop for the 3-better as it hits his range pretty hard and he understandably makes a cbet of $1,000.
The flop is gucci for Tia as she has flopped a set, but she elects to just call, instead of raising, on this draw-heavy board. Pot size: €3,560
Turn:
On the turn comes the 8♥ , which is a scared card for both, especially for Tia. However, Lucas decides to turn his hand into a bluff and fires again.
Unlike on the flop, Tia now can’t really raise anylonger and therefore calls again. Pot size: €6,760
River:
The River 3♠ is a blank and Landen Lucas completes a triple barrel bluff by quickly announcing All-in.
Tia looks shocked and confused at the same time. She goes deep into the tank and ultimately decides to fold her set of queens!
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
We picked this hand, because it is a good example how passiveness and a mistake early on can get you into a lot of trouble.
It all starts preflop, where Tia just calls a 3-bet from the cut-off against her late position raise. Against an agressive and lose opponent like Landen, a 4-bet would have been better to both build the pot and protect your hand.
The bigger mistake happens on the flop, though where Tia only calls the cbet on a draw-heavy board texture, instead of raising big and charging potential draws as well as for the change to get it in against A-K. Landen won’t 3-bet A-T or 10-9 pre, so all she has to be worried about is 2 combos of Pocket Kings, so calling is way to weak and dangerous here.
On the turn the flush comes in and now raising a raise is too risky.
However, after the blank on the river, given how Tia has played her hand, she has to call here. Landen can value bet with several worse hands such as AA, AK, JJ and also has a fair amount of bluffs.
What do we learn from this hand? If you fold a set in this spot, you will get exploited by your opponents and lose a lot of money in the long-term, so play your big hands against lose opponents aggressively preflop and raise sets on draw-heavy boards.
Watch the Poker Hand of the Week here:
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