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Andrew Feldman, ESPN.com 17y

The Debate: Check it down?

The beauty of poker is that 10 players could play the same hand 10 different ways. Granted, most of us would raise with aces preflop, but the amounts might be different. Or maybe the way we'd play them against different opponents would change our strategy.

In this week's debate, our hero is already in the money in a double-stack multitable tournament. After a raise and an all-in ahead of him, how should he play big slick? This week, Cosmo joins me to analyze and discuss our hero's play.

As always, read below this week's debate for some of your feedback on last week's entry. Click here to submit your response, and you could be featured next week.

Let the debate begin …

Situation: Forty-five players remain in a deep-stack multitable tournament which began with 1,000 players. Hero has just doubled up and is sitting on the button with $18,000 in chips. The blinds are $500/$1,000 with a $100 ante.

The player second to act raises to $3,000 and is followed two players later by an all-in to $3,900. How should our hero play Ah-Ks when the action is folded down to him?

Cosmo: What do we know about our opponents and the blinds?

Feldman: To start, everyone that remains in this hand (aside from the player who raised all-in) has our hero covered. The initial raiser has $24,000 and the big blind, who has yet to act, is the table chip leader with $37,000. I would say the better of the two players would be the big blind, and the initial raiser has been getting more aggressive the last few orbits. The small blind is a medium stack, but very, very tight.

Cosmo: Well, I can't see raising here to get the raiser out of the pot because that would take half of hero's stack. That said, it's either all-in or call. I'm leaning toward calling here and if hero misses, he folds to any bet (even though it should get checked down), and gets out of the hand.

Feldman: It really is a tough decision here and I can't fault a call, but I'm leaning toward moving over the top and pushing all-in. We don't have a good enough read here on the initial raiser, but his early-position raise could really mean anything. I'm hoping that if we move in, he'll fold his middle pocket pairs and A-Q/A-K, leaving us heads-up with the all-in player.

I'm not 100 percent sure that we have the all-in player beat right now, but A-K is better against one player than two.

Cosmo: Understood, but without much knowledge of the initial raiser, just the fact that he raised from early position, that to me signifies a good deal of strength. I can see the validity of wanting to face the all-in opponent heads-up, but why are we overplaying A-K to do it?!

Feldman: Good point. How about the fact that if we limp, we're going to make sure that the big blind joins the action as well. Now we have A-K against three other players. I'd like to thin the field with a push here, but you're right, I'm not sure if we're going to get called or not.

So you think we should play A-K very tentatively here?

Cosmo: I think we should play A-K for what it is, a good but unmade hand. Now, using my own logic, playing this hand for what it is also means protecting a vulnerable hand. But you've just doubled up, flat-calling here doesn't cripple you, and you might get to see five cards for the price of three. I'm just never enamored with pushing with A-K when (1) you don't have to, (2) a guy you don't know well has already raised from a position which indicates strength.

Feldman: That's hoping that we do get to see all five cards after each of us check around.

Action: Hero calls, as does the big blind. The flop is Kc-3c-5c and the action is up to hero.

Feldman: Wow. Obviously I'd say check around here, but without a club in our hand, our pair of kings might be best here.

Cosmo: Hmmm … I have to admit, I'm not liking this flop. Generally, the play here is to check it around, but with this flop, you have to bet. The odds of someone having flopped the flush are poor. The pot is about $16,000 if my math is correct. I'd say it's time to push.

Feldman: Just think about it this way: If either of them flopped the flush, they would've checked anyway, so pushing here could be extremely risky. There's no bet in this scenario besides an all-in, so you're right that if we're going to do anything at all, it's all or nothing … into a dry side pot.

I'm leaning toward checking. That way if a club comes on the turn we can still get out. We know that if someone is holding the ace of clubs, they're going to call here. I think it's just a bad situation to be in and playing more cautiously might be the best way to go. Either way, the table is going to see two more cards.

Cosmo: Well, if the big blind has the Ac, maybe he chases with incorrect odds. However, I doubt the initial raiser would put his whole tourney on the line. Isn't the point of poker to get people to commit to draws with incorrect odds?

Now here's one thing to consider, though, and this is why checking might be the better play: Nobody is going to bluff into a dry side pot. So if they do bet, they will probably have something. So there is legitimacy to your check, I just hate handing out free cards, at this stage in the tourney, when the odds say we're ahead.

Action: Hero checks and the turn is the 7h. Once again, the action is checked back to the hero.

Feldman: It's still a dry side pot, we still have to check again. I know this check is more foolish than the last because we're still letting our opponents draw, but it's still a dry side pot and there's not much to gain with a bet besides getting to finally see what the all-in player holds. Once again, we're limiting our risk in a tough situation.

Cosmo: Go ahead dealer.

Action: Hero checks and the river is the Ad, giving hero two pair. Both players check again.

Cosmo: Well, the only hand that will call you at this point is a hand that has you beat. I guess you could hope that our initial raiser was holding A-Q, but still, the only bet that makes sense is the all-in. I think we have this pot won. In fact, I know we do, but I can't see the point in betting here. I don't think it can be considered a value bet on the end if we have to bet more than the pot and put ourselves all-in. Let's just thank our lucky stars we weren't outdrawn.

Feldman: I think that as terrible as this sounds, we should value bet. A small call-me bet that will hopefully get someone with K-Q or K-x (in the case of the big blind) to pay us off. Let's try to get a little something out of the hand. If you know we have it won, why not maximize value?

Cosmo: So you're going to bet what, $4,000 into a $16,000 pot, and leave us with $11,000 going forward? What if you get raised?

Feldman: I think if you get raised here, you're beat. If they waited this long on their hand and have checked it to the river, if they reraise you, you've got to let the hand go.

So what happened? Hero bet $3,500. The big blind folded and the initial raiser moved all-in. Hero contemplated, then mucked the A-K. The initial raiser showed Jc-10c while the all-in player showed 6c-7c for a weaker flush.

Cosmo: I really have no clue why hero would bet here. Huge amount of discipline by the initial raiser, I guess, although I have no idea how he could believe someone would bet the river. I think he misplayed this hand, and he misplayed it well enough that it trapped our hero.

What would you do if you were in this situation? Send us your feedback, and we'll take a look at your thoughts next time.


Feedback from the last debate:

Richard (Sydney) I certainly wouldn't push here with 6-6. First of all, we know that a tight player has raised under the gun. There's pretty much no greater strength of a hand than that. So immediately, he has either A-K, A-Q and maybe A-J suited or pockets (8s or higher). It's unlikely that a tight player would raise under the gun with two aggressive players on his left with anything less. I'd actually put him on A-K, A-Q suited or pocket Js or higher. So really, a coin flip is the best possible situation. In this hand too, hero is the fourth to act. What if the big stack on the left or any of the other five players call? Surely then under the gun will call too and hero is potentially faced with four overcards and perhaps at least one player with over-pockets. I'd actually rather push with any two cards (hopefully with an ace or king) in the next few hands rather than be faced with a coin flip at the very best.

Jeff (Kansas City) There isn't a debate here. If his range is what you guess, your 6-6 has somewhere around 45 percent equity. You will be getting 1.3-1 on your money if he calls (betting $12,500 to win $16,900). There is a small chance he folds also. Your odds are around 1.2-1, so the money says push it in. Personally, I would not have waited until I was this short to push because you've lost all your fold equity.

Alan (San Diego, Calif.) In a situation like this I believe there is only one plausible solution: go all-in. Yes, 6-6 isn't that good of a hand, and if you get called, best-case scenario is a coin flip in your favor. However, you have no other options as with each cycle around the table at these blinds it will cost you $4,400 (35 percent of your stack) to wait for a hand. If your opponent folds to your all-in, you are now up past $21,000 in chips, meaning you are up to the average-sized chip stack. If he calls, and it is a race situation, assuming you win, your chip stack is around $29,000, giving you a good chance at winning. Now, as for the fact that you could be dominated before the flop by a higher pocket pair, you still can't afford to wait around for a strong hand, as you could easily be down half or more of your chips by then.

Zach (Collegeville) I disagree with this play, only because of the position of the hero relative to his/her opponents. The fact that a relatively tight player in front raised early allows the hero to automatically judge that he is up against either two good overs or a dominating pocket pair. At best, he's a coin flip, at worst, a 4-1 underdog. No matter the hero's actions, this person who opened the pot is sticking in. Here's why my opinion deviates from the hero's: normally, in this situation, I would push all-in and pray that the coin-flip holds up (and that he doesn't have over-pockets). However, since the huge chip lead is directly behind you, I wouldn't be surprised if he called the all-in (not even including the other players to act), even with a marginal hand (such as a couple of face cards, even as bad as Q-10 or so). The rationale for that? The chip leader would be getting over 2-1 for his chips preflop, it's not putting a dent in his stack, and he's got a chance to knock out at least one player and move up the payout. So it's not improbable to think that the hero's pocket sixes may be up against two opponents, for a total of four overcards or two overs and an over-pocket.

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