The Poker Quiz
You are in the early stages of a deep stack No Limit tournament.
In middle position you hold Ace-Jack offsuit and open the
pot with a raise to 3 times the big blind. A player in late
position calls as does the big blind. The flop comes J
10
8
. The big blind checks and you lead out for 8 big bets. The
player in late position folds and the big blind calls. The
turn is a 2
. The big blind checks again, you bet 15bb and your opponent
calls after a moment of thought. The river is a 6.
The big blind checks for a third time.
The Solution
Check.
There is no reason to bet in this spot, even with top pair
top kicker. No Limit Hold’em is a game of trapping and
his actions are consistent with a strong hand looking to extract
value. The big blind could have called the pre-flop raise
with a variety of hands that could have you dominated. Checking
and calling in this pattern would indicate he flopped a strong
hand, possibly a straight, two pair or a very strong draw.
Check it down in hopes that he was calling you with a worse
hand while eliminating the possibility of getting trapped
with a re-raise.
