Using Bottom Pair & Draw to Overbet Shove on the Turn
Today I want to share an interesting hand I played in a $1,500 buy-in World Series of Poker event. It’s a short and not-so-sweet one, as it ended with me heading to the rail.
We were in the 300/600/75 level and I had a stack of 20,000 to start (about 33 big blinds). Dealt A♠2♠ in early position, I raised to 1,400 and got three callers — the cutoff, a loose-aggressive player in the small blind, and the big blind.
As I discuss in the video below, it’s fine to open with ace-deuce suited from early position some of the time, especially if you know you aren’t going to get three-bet much.
With 6,200 in the middle, the flop came 9♠5♦2♣ and it checked to me. I bet 3,000, suggesting my range to be very strong and being prepared to give it up if someone raised.
Only the small blind called, so with 12,200 in the pot we were heads-up when the turn brought the 6♠, giving me a flush draw to go along with my bottom pair. My opponent checked.
The headline gives you an idea what I decided to do here with the 15,600 I had behind. Take a look below and listen to my reasoning for shoving with my draw and bottom pair:
Things didn't work out here as that turn card had given my opponent a set, although as I explain I do think the shove gets a lot of hands to fold. How would you have played the turn here?
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $6,900,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. Sign up to learn poker from Jonathan for free at PokerCoaching.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
