Playing Cautiously With Pocket Queens
Here's a hand from a World Series of Poker event from last summer, one in which I have a big pocket pair that I end up playing cautiously both before and after the flop.
It was the 600/1,200/200 level and I began the hand with about 80,000. The hand started with a player who had about 35,000 to begin opening with a raise to 2,800 from under the gun. It then folded around to me in the cutoff seat where I was dealt Q?Q?.
If I knew the UTG player was especially active, I would three-bet here every time, and if I knew he was tight I would definitely call. I had no notes on this particular player, though, and when that's the case in this situation I will usually call, which is what I did.
The big blind who also had about 35,000 to start the hand called as well, which meant there was 10,800 in the pot when the flop came 10?9?8?.
Both of my opponents checked, and despite the coordinated board I decided to go for value and bet 4,000 with my overpair. Only the initial raiser called. The turn then brought the 9? and this time when my lone remaining opponent checked, I decided to check back. As I say on the video below, I feel like at this point I'm in marginal shape.
The 3? river then completes the board, and my opponent bet 10,500 (more than half-pot). Take a look at what I decided to do, listen to my reasoning, and think about how you would have played this hand:
Would you bet when checked to on this flop? What about the turn and river? How would you have played this situation differently?
Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and author with over $6,700,000 in live tournament earnings. He writes a weekly educational blog and hosts a podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanLittle.
