Jonathan Little's Weekly Poker Hand: Bluff or Give Up With Busted Draw?
Poker pro and coach Jonathan Little has been producing a wide variety of strategy content for poker players for some time, including authoring multiple books and sharing videos and articles on his website and elsewhere, much of which is free to players of all levels seeking to improve their games.
Little started his popular "Weekly Poker Hand" series on YouTube several years ago, and recently he decided to switch up the format to begin featuring footage from live small- and medium-stakes cash games.
In the episode shown below, Little considers another hand from a $5/$10 no-limit hold'em cash game at Stones Gambling Hall in California, one in which the players are also playing with a $20 straddle.
After one player limps from early position with 9♣7♥ — not necessarily recommended — Steve Gee raises to $60 from the cutoff with 9♥8♥ and a player named Eli in the straddle calls with A♥3♣. The limper calls, too, and the flop comes A♣K♥J♥.
With top pair, Eli fires a big, nearly pot-sized bet of $175. The limper folds, and Gee calls in position with his flush draw. Eli then checks after the 10♣, and Gee checks behind (much to Little's dismay, as he thinks a semi-bluff bet would've been good there).
The 10♠ river completes the board, and after Eli checks again Gee must decide whether to bluff or give up. What would you do?
Some of the concepts discussed in the hand analysis include:
- starting hand selection
- betting for protection
- the relevance of position
- semi-bluffing with drawing hands
- bluffing
Take a look:
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $6,800,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. Sign up to learn poker from Jonathan for free at PokerCoaching.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle..
