Joe The Pro

Messing with Min Raisers

Nothing pisses me off more than when the pot is huge and someone does a min bet. Here are two hands that I had to face the Min Bet.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (6 handed)

saw flop|saw showdown

Hero ($117.67)
UTG ($53.03)
MP ($98.34)
CO ($111.11)
Button ($52.64)
SB ($88.02)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Kc, Ac.

UTG raises to $4, 4 folds, Hero calls $3.

I have two options. I could go all in or I could call his bet. I feel that reraising him all in would put me at a loss because if I miss the flop, a c-bet is so akward because of his stack size. A few things lead me to just call.

1. He was UTG which could mean a monster, no point in going all in vs someone when there is a better chance than normal he could have a monster and at the same time chase away all the hands that I dominate.

2. 4 dollars + blinds = 5.5 is just only 10 percent of his stack size. Not worth it to take with an all in. If he had bet 8+ dollars I could go all in and skip the difficulty of playing AK out of position.

Flop: ($8.50) 7s, Ad, 7h (2 players)

Hero checks, UTG bets $1, Hero raises to $2, UTG calls $1.

Great flop for me. I now beat KK, QQ, JJ, TT and dominate Ace everything except A7 (highly unlikely). I am almost positive I have the best hand except vs AA. If I bet here, he's going to play very cautiously and I could chase away hands that could pay me off. There are no draws on this board at all and I most likely have him dominated.

He does the 1 dollar bet. I hate the 1 dollar bet. It is a very safe flop for me, so I have the option of slowplaying. I decide to be an asshole like him and min raise him back, hoping if he has AQ or even AJ he'll be fed up with his own medicine and reraise me again. A frustrated, no information KK or QQ could reraise me here too.

He only calls.

Turn: ($12.50) 4c (2 players)

Hero bets $11, UTG calls $11.

Awesome sauce card. Totally safe if I was already ahead on the flop. I decide to do a pot bet because I believe almost any of the hands he could have would call because of my flop min raise and yet it triples the pot. He calls and I am now almost certain he has TT-K, AQ or AJ (AK would reraise the flop or at least the turn. AA he could still slow play if that's his style).

River: ($34.50) 2s (2 players)

Hero bets $19, UTG calls $36.03 (All-In), Hero calls $17.03.

Safe card again. I'm thinking in my head what he would call if he had the lower end of the spectrum 77-JJ, AJ and I decide that he would not call an all in with those hands and decide that 2/3s the pot is the max he would call with those hands. 2/3 = 22.50 but I decide to make it cheap for him and bet 19. To my surprise he reraises me all in. Did he have the unlikely AA? Or did he play AK strangely?

Final Pot: $106.56

Results in white below:

Hero has Kc Ac (two pair, aces and sevens).

UTG has Jc Jd (two pair, jacks and sevens).

Outcome: Hero wins $106.56.


Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (6 handed)


saw flop|saw showdown

Hero ($173.15)
SB ($99)
BB ($85.84)
UTG ($109.61)
MP ($90.77)
CO ($55.37)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Kd, 9d.

UTG calls $1, 2 folds, Hero calls $1, 1 fold, BB checks.

Table is loose so I won't be getting much steal/fold equity with a reraise here and decide to limp on the button.

Flop: ($3.50) 4d, Jd, 8c (3 players)

BB bets $1, UTG folds, Hero raises to $4, BB calls $3.

Flop isn't bad with a draw to the second nut flush. BB bet 1 dollar so he could have any kind of pair from a pocket to any of the ones on the board. I reraise him pot and don't mind if I take it down right here.

Turn: ($11.50) Qd (2 players)

BB bets $1, Hero raises to $4, BB calls $3.

Turn card gives me the flush and I'm pretty much considering my hand the nuts. If he was deeper then I wouldn't but he was only at 80+BB. He did his god damn min bet again. Again, this could mean anything from him hitting a lower flush to him testing out how good his pair is. My guess is he has a pair of jacks b/c he called my big reraise. Now the queen is up and he is scared.

Here is the tricky part. If he has just a pair then a 2nd barrel huge reraise would definitely scare him off his cards, but if he has a flush I really should be making the pot as large as I can.

BUT keep this in mind. Either he has a pair or a flush. Imagine pair first.

PAIR - I reraise big, he folds. I call. He check calls a small bet on the river. I raise small. He calls and then he checks calls a bigger bet.

FLUSH - I reraise big, he goes all in. I call. He bets big. I go all in. I raise small. He calls or reraises, but will bet again on the river if he just calls and then I go all in and he calls.

So in the flush scenario. I'm getting all his money no matter what. But in the pair scenario, the best option is to reraise small like you're scared of the flush card too, but at the same time you're actually building the pot slightly (much better than checking behind or reraising big).

River: ($19.50) 3c (2 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $25, BB calls $25.

He checks, so I know he doesn't have a flush. I reraised him small (like I was scared of the flush). He wouldn't check again with the flush b/c he'd be scared that I'd check behind. So now I know he only has a pair. Time to overbet the pot and hope that the J pair calls.

I feel that a jack would call from 0-8 dollars (only 1 overcard), not call 9-24 (looks like a value bet), and maybe call 25-30 (looks like a bluff, especially since the reraise on the turn was tiny).

I have to think that the 25 dollar call is 4 times less likely to make it less profitable than making the 8 dollar bet. At these stakes I doubt the 25 dollar bet is 4 times less likely so I go for the overbet route.

Final Pot: $69.50

Results in white below:

BB has 9s Qc (one pair, queens).

Hero has Kd 9d (flush, king high).

Outcome: Hero wins $69.50.

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