Top Pair Madness

It's been a while since either of us have posted. Here's a little something ... I'll try to get back in the habit ASAP. For now, enjoy.
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How would you have played this hand?

I’m in middle position, and I’m dealt Jack-Ten of spades. Because neither my position nor my hand is the greatest, but this is a pretty good drawing hand, I just call the big blind for three bucks. The button also calls, the small blind calls, and the big blind checks. The pot is now $12.

The flop comes with rags, Ten-high. About as good a flop as I could have hoped for. There is no obvious straight draw on the board, and no flush draw. The blinds check to me, and I bet $10, hoping to take it down right there. I figure I have the best hand at this point, and I don’t want any players with bigger cards lurking around hoping to hit on the later streets. So I put my chips in and sit back, trying to look calm but a little nervous that someone else has benefited from this flop.

Apparently, someone has. The player on the button raises to $30 (triples my bet), and the other two players in the hand both fold. The action is back to me. My face is a mask, but inside I’m reeling from my opponent’s aggression.

What the heck does this guy have???

Fortunately for me, I’ve played with this guy before. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you are probably somewhat familiar with the guy as well, for he is my co-writer – Billy. Yes, all this happened to me in a home game recently, and I must admit he got the better of me. Perhaps in a moment, you wouldn’t mind suggesting how I can escape his wiles in the future.

Getting back to the hand … at hand. I’ve played with Billy since we were both little fishes just entering the vast sea they call Texas Hold Em. I’ve watched him grow from a guppy to a shark, and I know a few things about the way he plays. First off, Billy almost never limps in with big pairs. So I was more-or-less able to rule out the possibility of him having an overpair. Second, when Billy is on a stone-cold bluff, he will usually bet
enough to push someone out of a hand. Here, by raising only $20, he was giving me about 2.5 to 1 pot odds to call him. So this raise seemed more likely to be for value than to get me to fold.

So what hand could he be holding strong enough to bet for value with? Did he have a 10, with a better kicker?

I tried every trick I knew to get a read on him. I got in his ear, asked him if he was bluffing. He just stared right at me, and didn’t say a word. I even tried one of my favorite moves – showing him one card to see his reaction. All I got was the faintest of smiles, which didn’t tell me much. No, Billy wasn’t going to be this easy today. He wasn’t gonna give me a single iota.

I sat there for a good three minutes, hemmed and hawed, going back and forth in my head. Billy was gracious enough not to put the clock on me. Eventually, I decided to pick a better spot, and mucked. After I had discarded my hand, I asked him “Was my Jack-Ten good?”

He laughed out loud, with the most mischievous expression I’ve ever seen, and showed me his Jack-Ten. I nearly screamed.

I take that back. Now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure I did scream.
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