Here are the questions, answers, and explanations from our live cash game quiz.

---

Question #1

Live $1/$3. 9-Handed. Effective Stacks $300.

Hero is on the button with K♥ T♣
UTG folds. UTG+1 limps. UTG+2 folds. Lojack folds. Middle Position calls. Hero...?

🔲 Fold

✅ Call

🔲 Raise

This hand simply isn't strong enough to raise, even if we had the read that both limpers are playing very wide ranges preflop.

The fact that there are still 2 players left to act behind us, as well as two limpers that aren't likely to fold to a raise, means that a raise is unlikely to take the pot down right away or get heads-up against one of the limpers. Having said that, our hand is too strong to fold in this position. For these reasons, over-limping is the best option.

---

Question #2

Reads: The player in the Big Blind has been pretty active postflop, but has tended to only fire one bet. The player in the Small Blind is unknown.

Live $1/$3. 9-Handed. Effective Stacks $300.

Hero is on the button with K♥ T♣
UTG+1 limps. Middle Position calls. Hero calls. Small Blind calls. Big Blind checks.

Flop: T♠ 7♦ 4♣
Small Blind checks. Big Blind bets $6. 2 folds. Hero...?

🔲 Fold

✅ Call

🔲 Raise

The Big Blind has shown strength by betting into 4 people, but our hand is simply too strong to fold, even with a player behind us.

Given that the bettor didn’t fire a big bet, we can assume that his range is merged, containing not only very strong hands and semi-bluffs but also a lot of middle strength hands such as T3, 87, 64 that are just betting for protection (which would not be a good strategy on his part).

---

Question #3

Reads: The player in the Big Blind has been pretty active postflop, but has tended to only fire one bet. The player in the Small Blind is unknown.

Live $1/$3. 9-Handed. Effective Stacks $300.

Hero is in the Cutoff with K♥ T♣
UTG+1 limps. Middle Position calls. Hero calls. Small Blind calls. Big Blind checks.

Flop: T♠ 7♦ 4♣
Small Blind checks. Big Blind bets $6. 2 folds. Hero calls. Small Blind calls.

Turn: 9♥
Small Blind checks. Big Blind bets $30. Hero...?

✅ Fold

🔲 Call

🔲 Raise

The turn completes 2 straight draws (J8 and 86) and also makes a bunch flopped one pair hands into two-pairs. When we couple this with the fact that the Big Blind increased his bet size in relation to the pot ($30 into $34), and the fact that we still have one player behind us with an uncapped range, means that our hand is now too weak to call.

---

Question #4

Reads: The player in Middle Position is super splashy and you've seen him limp offsuit trash (like A5o and K5o) from early position.

Live $1/$3. 9-Handed. Effective Stacks $300.

Hero is on the Button with A♦ 6♦
Middle Position limps. Hero...?

🔲 Fold

🔲 Call

✅ Raise

This is an easy raise over Middle Position's limp. A6s has amazing equity against his perceived limp-calling range. On top of that, it has great playability postflop and we’ll have position regardless of who else joins the pot. Over-limping here would be a huge mistake as it would win us a lot less of money in the long run.

---

Question #5

Reads: The player in Middle Position is super splashy and you've seen him limp offsuit trash (like A5o and K5o) from early position.

Live $1/$3. 9-Handed. Effective Stacks $300.

Hero is on the Button with A♦ 6♦
Middle Position limps. Hero raises to $15. Big Blind calls. Middle Position calls.

Flop: A♥ 9♠ 3♣
Big Blind checks. Middle Position checks. Hero...?

✅ Check

🔲 Bet

Although we generally want to build the pot right away against weaker players, this board is very dry and our top pair is not the strongest. For these reasons, we should check back and hope to get a card like a Q, J, T, 8, 7 or 6 that bring many new pair/draws with which our opponents will be willing to put one or two more bets in (either by calling or betting themselves).

---

Question #6

Reads: The player in Middle Position is super splashy and you've seen him limp offsuit trash (like A5o and K5o) from early position.

Live $1/$3. 9-Handed. Effective Stacks $300.

Hero is on the Button with A♦ 6♦
Middle Position limps. Hero raises to $15. Big Blind calls. Middle Position calls.

Flop: A♥ 9♠ 3♣
Big Blind checks. Middle Position checks. Hero checks.

Turn: J♥
Big Blind bets $22. Middle Position raises to $66. Hero...?

✅ Fold

🔲 Call

🔲 Raise

Uh oh, that’s not what we were hoping would happen.

When the player in Middle Position raises with a player behind him, even if he is super splashy, it’s time to lay down our hand.

The fact that he is perceived to play more like a maniac makes it slightly more likely that he might do this with some sort of semi-bluff -- most likely a combo-draw like T♥ 8♥ -- but much more likely that he is merging his range. Plus, we still have the Big Blind to worry about. Given this information, we have a pretty easy fold.

---

Question #7

Reads: The game is super splashy, half the table having ordered at least one drink up to this point.

Live $1/$3. 9-Handed. Effective Stacks $600.

Hero is in the Small Blind with A♥ J♥
Every player (a total of 7 players) limps to you. Hero…?

🔲 Fold

🔲 Call

🔲 Raise Small ($12-$21)

✅ Raise Big ($22+)

We've picked up a monster hand and there's a lot of potential dead money out there, so it's time to put in a raise. Now is not the time to play passive -- we'd much rather play a raised heads-up or 3-way pot than a limped family pot with a hand this strong.

To have a chance at significantly reducing the number of players in this pot, we're gonna have to use a large raise size of around $33 (a $12 standard raise plus an extra big blind for each limper).

---

Question #8

Reads: Middle Position is an inexperienced, loose, and passive player. The Button is a pretty tight player, possibly a regular.

Live $1/$3. 9-Handed. Effective Stacks $300.

Hero is in the Small Blind with A♦ T♦
4 folds. Middle Position limps. Cutoff folds. Button raises to $15. Hero...?

🔲 Fold

✅ Call

🔲 Raise

Hero’s hand is easily strong enough to 3-bet for value against the Button’s raising range, and doing so would be correct in most circumstances, but it also runs the risk of pushing the inexperienced player out of the pot. We will win a lot more money from the weaker player than we will against a tight regular. For these reasons, calling to keep the inexperienced player in the pot is the most profitable course of action.

---

Question #9

Reads: Middle Position is an inexperienced, loose, and passive player. The Button is a pretty tight player, possibly a regular.

Live $1/$3. 9-Handed. Effective Stacks $87.

Hero is in the big blind with A♣ Q♥
6 folds. Button (short stacked) raises to $15. sb folds. Hero...?

🔲 Call

🔲 3-Bet Small

✅ 3-Bet All-In

The short stacked player has already committed a big chunk (17%) of his chips. The only play is to shove all-in with your AQo.

---

Question #10

Reads: UTG is a very tight regular. Cutoff and UTG+1 are weak players.

Live $1/$3. 9-Handed. Effective Stacks $300.

Hero is in the button with J♣ J♥
UTG calls. UTG+1 raises to $15. Cutoff calls. Hero 3-bets to $55. UTG 4-bets to $150. Hero...?

✅ Fold

🔲 Call

🔲 All-In

Gross situation, but you've gotta let go of these jacks preflop after a tight player decided to limp and then 4-bet. He'll almost always have you beat.

---

Want to Keep Testing Your Poker Skills?