Friday, September 11, 2009

Poker Quiz: Inside the Mind of Greg Raymer

How to approach a poker hand the Greg Raymer way

I have never played against Raymer but every time I see him on TV, he is making the right decision. I am impressed.

Greg Raymer in the 2005 World Series of Poker.Image via Wikipedia


See if you can you figure out why Greg does what he is does each step of the way in this hand:

It's a major event and the blinds are $300-$600 with a $75 ante. Greg is in on the button with $55,000. The cutoff has $50,000. The blinds have $80,000 each.

It's folded to the player in the cutoff who raises to $1,600. Greg finds Ah-10s. Greg calls.

Question 1: Why does he just call?


a. He identifies the player as being loose.
b. The blinds are deep stacked.
c. He doesn't want to be re-raised.
d. He wants to see a flop in position.
e. All of the above.

After Greg calls, so does the big blind. There is $5,775 in the pot.

The flop is Ad-10c-9h.

The pre-flop raiser bets $4,000 and Greg re-raises to $13,000.

Question 2. Why does Greg re-raise here?

a. The board is coordinated and he wants to eliminate players.
b. He flopped 2 pair.
c. He wants to see where he stands in this situation.
d. He wants to have the lead on the turn.
e. All of the above.

After Greg re-raises, the big blind folds but the initial raiser calls. There is now $31,775 in the pot.

The turn is the Jc.

After the cutoff checks, Greg pushes all-in for his remaining $40,000+.

Question 3. Why does he push all-in here?

a. He puts his opponent on a hand like A-K or A-Q
b. There are so many river cards that can beat him.
c. He believes he is in the lead at this point.
d. If he makes a big bet that is not all-in, he will have few chips left.
e. All of the above.

After Greg moves all-in, his opponent calls.

Tomorrow: The answers and the outcome to this hand.

1 comment:

Jonathan Gelling said...

I'm thinking the answer to all the questions is all of the above, with the possible exception of question 2. I can't imagine saying that Raymer is raising to find out where he stands with top two pair -- he must be supremely confident he's in the lead, and if he's not, it's just a very cold deck. And he doesn't need to buy the lead on the turn since he isn't drawing to anything.

But the board is coordinated and he did flop 2 pair, so he wants to build a bigger pot with the best hand, so a and b seem correct to me.

I'm going to guess his opponent turns over AJ?

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