Homegame Blues
For a father of two there's nothing quite liberating as getting together with the guys for a poker game. The rustic looking cabin-styled bar we met up at for happy hour had a Northern Minnesota feel to it yet served a thirty dollar steak.
After a pint of the local brew we traveled to a nearby friend's house to chow down on wings, cheese bread, and those little barbeque cocktail weeniers that make you regret the five seconds of tasty pleasure the next morning. After a few Cap'n Cokes, I began to set up a sit and go Hold Em' tourney for the guys since I play too much and its second thought for me to set up a tourney structure.
1000 chips to start, blinds at one and two gave lots of play to start with but doubling blinds every ten minutes made for caution to not sit around waiting for aces. I would bust my friend of 25 years' brother with a hidden set of eights versus his turned top two pair. Given a sizable chip lstack after an hour and half we were on the money bubble with three left after eight guys were dealt the first hand.
But here's the hand that knocked me out and maybe you play it differently…
Blinds at 100/200 you have 2500 chips on the button, the SB who never plays any hands has 700, and the very aggressive/will-bluff-with-any-two big blind has 4800, top two finishers get the HUGE payday (ok $30 and $10). You have Ad2h and limp in, SB folds, BB checks to a Ah, 4h, Qs flop.
BB fires out a 600 chip bet. You…
a) Push
b) Call with intentions on pushing on the turn no matter the card
c) Fold like a wimp who would limp on the button in the first place
Leave a comment to let me know how you'd play it.
I’d fold because I’m a wuss and suck at poker.
I fold because A2 is crap. And I’m a wuss and suck at poker
I don’t like A, B, or C, precisely. I’m concerned about my kicker, and I’m concerned about the BB holding Qx of hearts.
If the BB is a super-aggro bet-monkey, I’ll probably call the 600, and hope for a low non-heart. If the turn is a Q or a Broadway heart, I probably check/fold. If the turn is safe, I commit the rest of my stack.
Folding is also a pretty good option.
Oh, and open-limping on the button with A2o? Blech.
I place full blame on the Cap’n for the limping