Curious to see what people think of this hand. I thought I played it perfect, ended up losing, don't think theres much I could have done. Happened at MD Live during a $1500 High hand Promo (which affects my decision making slightly)

I straddle UTG $5 in seat 10, Seat 2 raises to 17, seat 8 calls, I call.

I have Pocket 3s.
Flop is K32. (rainbow) I check. Original raiser makes it 28, Seat 8 re-raises to 75.
I smooth call. Seat 2 Folds.

Turn is a K. K32K
I check. Seat 8 raises to 105, I go all in for $350. Seat 8 Calls all in with like $240.

I put him on pocket deuces or AK, assuming I am very far ahead.

River 9. (irrelevant) K32K9

Seat 8 turns over K2 of clubs.

Crazy loose call pre flop in a 1/2 game for $17. Player claims he would have folded If i shoved all in on the flop but with an all rainbow flop, seat 2 in for $28 and the High Hand Equity I think my only move here is to smooth call the 75.

Thoughts? any other strategy or can i just chalk it up to bad luck.

You played it fine. Youre never folding and it got it in when you win 99% of the time. Villian calls here with 2's, most bare kings, etc. No way youre getting away from this imo. Never folding here.

Don't straddle. I would just 3! the flop. Flatting the raise looks super duper strong here with the EP raiser/bettor left to act on a dry board. If you shove at least you can still be bluffing in their minds. I doubt he'd be able to fold his two pair to a shove.

I would donk ship the turn.

How likely is quad 3s to win the high hand promo?

You're thought process is terrible. Never go back and think about how you could have made the hand come out differently when you get an unfavorable outcome. Play to maximize your EV against ranges.

I thought flatting the 75 was maximizing my EV because the OG raiser for 28 is likely to call the 75 with AK potentially and there is nothing scary at all on the board for me. Then I was going to check shove the turn which I did.

it's called a cooler. nope. nothing you could have done. I mean you got what you wanted on the flop, a bloated pot with one of the V's pot committed and no straight or flush draws get there.

+1

Maybe flatting is the best play. There are a lot of factors that could tip it one way or another, but there were no reads given in the OP. You'll probably get mixed responses on this.

The most costly mistake in this hand is what you did afterwards, which is thinking that maybe there was some way you could have done something to avoid getting coolered.

You're really questioning his line when the end result got all the chips into play? This is exactly what we want....and he accomplished it.

^ agreed. We want this action and card selection EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Of course I am, and so should you be. This is results oriented thinking as well, just in a different way than the OP.

Getting the money in good and losing doesn't mean the hand was misplayed. Getting it in good and winning doesn't mean the hand was correctly played. Getting it in good when we're ahead 95% of the time doesn't mean we played the hand correctly.

There are a lot of different ways to be results oriented and they're all detrimental to one's game.

Your smooth call on the flop looks insanely strong. I might just 4! it then and there, as any thinking player will be able to put you on at least two pair.

Sorry about the cooler, but don't overthink things. You played it fine and just got unlucky.

Hey I also play at live. Don't let the high hand bs get to you. Even though its every half hour, quad 3s will also almost always never make it through, especially during prime time hours. I had quad 2's today and didn't expect to win. And lone behold I lose it in 3 minutes, no surprise. In the 9 hours I played today I have never seen anything less than quad kings win. Just play the hand how you usually would. You're only losing to a set of kings, so I just 4! and get it in. A cooler is a cooler.

Fold turn.

I agree about not changing your play to chase high hands. If it comes, it comes. That said, there are times when it's such a large sum that it will affect you.


As for the bolded, SMH.

"Thought I played the hand right..."

Yeah, and I stopped reading at "I straddled $5 UTG..."

omg
OP played it fine, and whats with all this nittery about not to straddle etc
yeah, might be -ev, but as long as op doesnt care or wants the game to loosen up, so what...

Genuinely terrible advice and 100% results oriented. OP don't post the results, post the hand as it played out with out the spoiler.

Please pardon my Engrish

We are getting it in here almost always. Really hard to put him on K2, but even if he does, it's rare enough that we are MORE THAN 70% against his range:

PokerCruncher-Advanced-iPad V.8.2.1

(Equity, Win, Tie)
Player 1: 28.6% 28.6% 0% {KK, 22, AKs, KQs, K3s-K2s, AKo, KQo}
Player 2: 71.4% 71.4% 0% [3c3d]

Board: [Kc 3h 2d Kd ?]
Deal To: River

And if we add even more kings to his range, we are better. If we reduce his range to AK, KK, 22, K3s and K2s we are still 65%:

PokerCruncher-Advanced-iPad V.8.2.1

(Equity, Win, Tie)
Player 1: 35.2% 35.2% 0% {KK, 22, AKs, K3s-K2s, AKo}
Player 2: 64.8% 64.8% 0% [3c3d]

Board: [Kc 3h 2d Kd ?]
Deal To: River

Of course, KK may flat flop or if flop raised check turn to induce, if we remove KK that brings us back to 70%.


That said you're 200 blinds deep. The flop raise does look strong, like set or two pair.

You didn't discuss player profiles and reads. There are players I'll stack off 300 blinds here happily. There are OTHER players I'll puke when the top card pairs and check call down hoping to get the cheapest showdown possible (that is, when I have more than 200 blinds).

I say this becuase most tight regs in LA will not raise that flop with less than two pair. As such, it is very read dependent.

The thing is a "tight reg" doesn't peel a PF raise with K2s. But a LAG definitely will. But even then, would a LAG raise that flop so much with only AK (TPTK is often played a bit more cautiously on the flop at least in the games I play in LA)?

Since you posted results (don't do that) it may be tainting my perception - but generally when deep, players don't look to build big pots with only TPTK. In LA live games, most players, LAGs included, wait for two pair + to start building a big pot on the flop when more than 200 blinds deep.

When less than 100 blinds deep, people are more likely to stack off with TPTK.

That said, even if the player only has 22, K2s, K3s we are an Almost exact coin flip on his range:

PokerCruncher-Advanced-iPad V.8.2.1

(Equity, Win, Tie)
Player 1: 50.3% 50.3% 0% {22, K3s-K2s}
Player 2: 49.7% 49.7% 0% [3c3d]

Board: [Kc 3h 2d Kd ?]
Deal To: River
Dead Cards: {}

So even in the WORST CASE RANGE it's not really a mistake to get all in on that turn.

UTG straddle is just really bad, but otherwise played fine. If you don't lose hands like this on occasion, you don't play enough. (spoken by one who got 500 bb stacks in preflop last session with AA and lost). Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

don't straddle utg!

Lmao that's about where I stopped...

Lol @ calling K2 to a $17 raise at 1/2

Anytime that moron limped ahead of me and I had any kind of a hand I would jack it up to 20+ and pound the ish out of him post

Agree that the UTG straddle is not ideal. Man dont you guys just love it when you're on the button or in the CO and you get a consistent UTG straddler. Good lord it's fantastic.

Anyway, yes - hate this as well, but maybe there were other factors going on? A round of straddles or something?