Hey Everybody,

Just wanted to thank TPE for being such a great community and really helping me become a better player.  Also would like to thank RFB and KB for being so involved with the site, and very responsive/ helpful to me when I had questions.  I don't consider myself qualified to be handing out poker advice as I still have a lot to learn, but I thoght I would share my thoughts/ advice on a specific topic that I think I can offer some insight into.

I notice that a lot of people are afraid to get sucked out on(myself included) and take sub-optimal lines so they can tell themselves, “well at least I didn't let him get there” and “that donk called my 4/3 pot shove with a naked flush draw, what a moron”.  Because of this they take lines that may be plus EV, but not as +EV as other lines that may give your opponent “the chance to suck out on you”.  I will give the best theoretical example I have heardI will show one of my hands where I could have gotten more value by “allowing” my oppoent to take a free card.

Example #1: (Brian Townsend uses a hand like this in a video, I modified it to make the stack sizes a little easier and I don't really remeber the hand so I probably messed it up)

You have QcQd in the BB with $150 effective stacks at .50/1.  Everyone folds to a solid agressive regular in the button.  He makes it $3, SB folds you make it $9, he calls.  Flop comes 689dd, you check, he bets $15 into $18, you call. 

Turn comes the 2 of diamonds and the pot is now $48.  You check,  he bets $32, leaving himself $94 behind.  I feel like a lot of people shove here, and it is a big leak.  Yes, sometimes you get called by worse, like TT, JJ with the T/J of diamonds, maybe A9 with the A of diamonds.  This board is so draw heavy though that there are a lot more semi-bluffs in his range than hands that you have beat and are willing to call a turn check shove.  You are getting called by everything that beats you when you jam turn, so if you're beat, you're beat, there is no changing that. 

I think check calling here is a way more +EV line then shoving because of the fact that you allow him to barrel off his semi-bluffs that miss on the river, and with the Qd in your hand you have a lot of equity against his semi-bluff range.  If he is somewhat smart, he will be bluffing the river a considerable amount, because the check-call, check-call line doesn't scream of strength.  You will have to call ace and king rivers, you will have to call diamond rivers, and rivers that put 4 to a straight on board, and sometimes he will river you and you will get pissed, but if you shoved turn, you never allow him to continue with air or the semi-bluffs that you have lots of equity against, and get called by maybe 1-2 worse hands. 

All of the hands that beat you are stacking you either way, so by check-calling turn here you are allowing him to continue with hands you have 75-90% equity against, and letting him bluff the river when he misses, which he should do a lot of the time considering our line and the board.  Consider a hand like TJ,  he is going to barrel this three times a lot of the time to get people off hands like TT-KK, Ad9x, maybe some type of 76, 78, etc.  The preflop play is pretty standard and doesn't really narrow either player's range that much as to rule out hands like that.

Example # 2

 Merge Network $0.50/$1.00 No Limit Hold'em – 6 players
TournamentPokerEdge.com Hand History Converter

Buccos2012 (SB): BB = 100.0, $100.00
Hero (BB): BB = 224.8, $224.77
gopostal1 (UTG): BB = 30.2, $30.15
lovesnsd4life (MP): BB = 99.0, $99.00
JhonB75 (CO): BB = 99.5, $99.50
HOLDDDDDDDDD (BTN): BB = 105.0, $105.04

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with 5 4
4 folds, Buccos2012 raises to $3.00, Hero raises to $10.00, Buccos2012 calls $7

Flop: ($20.00) 5 4 A (2 players)
Buccos2012 checks, Hero bets $15.00, Buccos2012 raises to $35.00, Hero raises to $214.77 all in, Buccos2012 folds

The guy was sitting there with $55 behind, with a pot that would be $90 if i flatted turn.  I am giving him odds to call with a flush draw when I jam the flop anyway, $150 in the pot, $50 to call.  He will also be calling his A2, A3, hands, and all his aces, so the only thing he is folding is maybe 67(which I have good equity against anyway) and bluffs.  He was probably fustrated on my right as I tend to 3-bet a little more than average, so there was a chance he was on air.  By shoving here, I make him fold all the bluffs, and make him call all the hands I am getting it in with on the turn anyway.  He is going to jam turn with his made hands he is calling the flop with.  Lets say he has AJ in this spot.  Instead of jamming the flop I call, a jack peels off, he shoves, and I call.  Did I let this happen? No, because he was never folding AJ anyway.  The only thing I let happen was allow him to angerly barrel his stack off on the turn with air when he is on a bluff, instead of forcing him to fold the flop because it would make me feel better if all the money went in before the turn was a spade and he makes his flush instead of after, even though it was irrelevent as we had already committed oursleves to the pot on the flop.

By shoving the flop you committ yourself, but you can committ yourself and flat here, calling every turn, the only difference being your oppoent can bluff turn.

Now obviously this isn't true for every situation.  If you don't think an oppenent is capable of bluffing the river in the first example or bluffing the turn in the second, either shoving the turn/flop or in the first example maybe check folding the river is a better option.  But I think that being able to identify these spots and resist the urge to “not let him suck out” can help you stack you opponents more often.  If anyone has different views, feel free to share.  If you actually read all this I am honored as well.  Thanks TPE 🙂