(Selected excerpt from "No Limit Hold 'Em: The Book of Blunders")
ANALYSIS OF HAND #5
NO LIMIT HOLD 'EM is set up to take advantage of weak players. Many top players are just looking for an opportunity to put an opponent to the test if and when they show weakness.
After a nice bet on the flop, Fish showed weakness on both the turn and river. He was essentially begging for this pot to be taken away from him when the third club came on the river.
First of all, you should never bet less on the turn than you did on the flop. This is screaming to everyone at the table that you are worried about the strength of your hand. In NLH, if a tough opponent thinks you doubt the strength of your hand, they will put you to the test every time. To further the point, betting the same amount on the turn as you did the flop is also weak.
Besides that, what kind of hand could Ted have called the flop with? If he had an over-pair, wouldn’t he have likely raised pre-flop or at least on the flop? If he had a set or 54 for two pair he would have also likely raised to cut off the draws…remember that on the flop he still had to worry about Hal hanging around and Hal would have had good odds to call if he was on a flush draw. So we can reasonably put Ted on a draw or a medium pair. It is always good to be putting your opponent on a range of possible hands throughout the entire course of play. You must always be thinking of what your opponent might be holding so you can attack accordingly.
When Ted senses weakness, he probably sees an opportunity to give himself more outs. What that means is that Ted might decide right now that if the club flush comes on the river and Fish checks it to him, he is going to put Fish to the test with a big bet. It is always important to be thinking one and two steps ahead of the play of the game so your bets appear natural and it is harder to pick off your bluffs. Ted really can’t be sure that Fish isn’t betting a flush draw himself (his smaller bet on the turn actually looks like it could be a weak semi-bluff) but Ted can be sure that if Fish is betting his flush draw, and it hits on the river, Fish will bet out instead of checking. So now Ted might feel that he can win with any 3, any 8 or any club if Fish checks the club.
When the club falls on the river, Fish seals his fate by checking. Now Ted fires out $1500, an amount that is five times the size of the turn bet. Fish can only shake his head and curse his bad luck. He is now looking at a board with two over-cards and three clubs. He might think that there is a chance his pair of tens are good, but he would be basically betting his entire tournament on it. He folds and hopes for a better opportunity.
Could Ted be trapping here? Not likely but not impossible either...however you have to take your chances to go far in tournaments and this is a perfect situation to make an aggressive bet to pick up a decent pot.
