Calling it down?

I'm reading Harrington 3 at the moment. I've heard from some people that it's not as good as 1 and 2, and I have to say that I'm finding that to be true. I haven't got all that far into it, but I'm not sure that his advice to call raises after limping with speculative hands is all that good. It's all very well to pick a few celebrity hands that have played out well, but I think Dan himself would be chucking a lot of the hands he urges us to call.

He's also too willing to play poker in sngs for my liking. At least at the low level I play at, I don't think it's smart. Take his Problem 13. We have AT in the cutoff at a loose table at t50.

One guy limps to us. Harrington thinks it is "mousy" to fold here, but sometimes I will. If I limp, the button is encouraged to limp behind, and that will likely bring both blinds too. I'm not keen on AT fivehanded. It's a trap hand of the worst kind. It doesn't play all that well on an ace-high flop, and you don't get enough T-high flops to make it a great hand either. I don't like raising much though, because if I put enough in to scare off the first limper and fold out the button, I will have put quite a bit into the pot with a middling hand. ATs is probably hand enough for the play.

So we limp and the button and SB fold. The big blind checks his option and the flop comes AhJh5d. The EP limper bets out $100 into a $175 pot.

The bet tells me he likely has one of three types of hand in descending likeliness: an ace of some sort, a flush draw that he's semibluffing with or 55. The last is fairly unlikely because most players would check that in an unraised pot, fearing that no one has an ace. (I wouldn't, as it happens, because players often limp aces, particularly if they're suited, and then play them strongly if they get lucky.) He could have AJ or A5; they're not counted out necessarily, even if many players will slowplay them. I would probably make this kind of bet with AJ, hoping that someone with exactly the hand we have here does what I would surely do in this spot, and raises.

Harrington advises a call. I think that's terrible here. I want to define my hand and quickly. If the guy is pushing a flush draw, a raise to $300 might well push him out. If I get called, I'm done with this hand, and won't piss any more chips away. Harrington won't raise because he is too scared that the big blind might be sitting with something. Well yeah, he might, and let's hope that if he is, he raises us off our hand, so that we don't dribble our chips away with a moderate hand.

The turn comes 9h and the limper puts $150 in. Harrington advises calling. Well, okay, we might still be ahead, but the list of hands we're beating (and likely to be facing) is getting shorter: A8, A7, A6, A4, A3, A2. If he was pushing a flush draw, he just made it. If he has a bigger ace, A9 or A5, we are paying him off. I never like to call down in a sitngo. I might call a bet on the river if I think the other guy is bluffing or betting a worse hand for value, but I will rarely play this passively. It just doesn't pay.

The river is Td. Well, that's improved our hand and I think you have to call the bet on the end. The EP guy puts $250 into a $675 pot. I am hoping that he's been pushing AK, AQ, A5 or one of the other bullshit aces, and I would probably win more than one in four times, so this is an easy call. I wouldn't raise because few hands I beat will call a raise here, and it would be very very hard to fold if the other guy pushes.

The other guy shows Th8h for the flush. Harrington says that it would be results oriented to say that if we had raised on the flop we might have driven the other guy out, but I think his analysis is way off. Most times you are losing even more than this taking his course, because the river bet will be somewhat bigger. True enough, if I raised on the flop and the other guy called, then checked to me on the turn, I'd take the free card, and then be looking at paying off on the river, so I'd probably lose about the same as he did. Many times, I would not pair my kicker on the river, so my way would have been a lot cheaper when I folded to the river bet.

Do I risk folding the best hand? Yes, it's true I do, but I don't think that's as painful in an sng (or any tourney) as it is in a cash game. I mean, I often do. I often fold draws that I do not have the odds to call that come in on the next street. It hurts but of course in the long term, paying too much to draw hurts more. And it's far less painful than going too far with top pairs that are beaten all the way from the flop. One reason I don't think it's too "mousy" to fold away AT in this spot is that you can find yourself in this position way too easily: with too much hand to fold to pressure but not enough that you feel confident about raising.