The hand and how he played it

The blinds were 20/40 PHP. the stack of players on the table were averaging from 1k -5k PHP.

The game was a little slow as the raise preflop was only from 80-120 PHP on average and a lot of passive callers.

Our player had around 2k. His hand was 10-8 off under the gun. as there are a lot of passive players. there was no raise in the pre-flop stage.

The board went 10 9 3 rainbows (no same suite)

Our player fired with 100 PHP. the button reraised to 300 PHP. all other players folded except our player who just flat called.

From our player’s perspective, the only possible hand the opponent could have to make such a reraise would be.

If it was a high pocket pair, then there would have been a raise preflop. Ace 10 and king 10 would also meet a raise preflop as that was how the action was going on the table..

But as the table is 20-40 PHP and based on the hands being played. any pair was being raised preflop.

The only possible hand that the player could play on an unraised preflop would be a Q10 or a J10. or a drawing hand.

On the turn came out an 8. which gave our player two pairs. our player check and the other player shove all in. Our player confidently called.

Base on the shove on the turn. The player did not have a straight. as this is a cash game. Why would a straight go all in? You would want the player to come in more. the only possible hand a shove would be good for is a drawing hand. 

The opponent revealed his hand to be Jack 10 off

Analysis and opinions

We are removing the end result because oftentimes the end result affects the opinions of the players.

The question on the flop is “what is right to call when your opponent was ahead?”

Our player opted to float as there was also a chance to create an open-ended situation because the hand of the opponent was quickly revealed on basis of the betting.

Floating means calling because there is a possibility the turn could help improve your hand.

The next was should he have bet the turn?

The next question would be should he have called.

The factors that are rarely considered.

A lot of players usually base judgment on everything that is the same type of basis. But the factors involved are seldom even considered. here are some of the factors.

The blinds you are playing

Cash games are fundamentally different from tournaments. the blinds you are also playing in also affect it.

An example is although he played his hand like that on a 20-40. most people disagreed with the call on the flop. but the truth was to our player if the game was 50-100 or a tournament. the possibility of him folding admittedly was higher.

The reason was that he admitted that on bigger cash games. the 10 8 UTG would be a fold. As the power of position is also missing. Although in that case, he was able to make use of the position he was to his advantage. in other cases calling UTG is a bad position.

The opponents your playing against.

Understanding the opponents on the table is also a key factor. the opponent in this particular hand would only play small blinds and never play in big tournaments. His move is rarely seen in bigger games.

Yes, ask any big cash game player you know. they would not go all in the turn. because most of the time the big cash game players have more chips on the table. 

Care to share your opinion

The reason we wrote the article is to open the minds of players. not all the time everything should be based on who wins or loses. or all cash game blinds are the same.

but we would love to hear your opinion!

Stay safe poker playas!