Here's a hand I just played and would love some feedback on. The primary villian just joined the table and I don't recognize him or have notes from previous sessions. My line here is completely based on the preflop action and going with a read. Your thoughts?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

SB ($24.20)
Hero ($51.50)
UTG ($65.60)
MP ($67)
Button ($57.65)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, Q.
UTG raises to $1.5, MP raises to $3, 2 folds, Hero calls $2.50, UTG calls $1.50.

Normally I would have raised preflop but I'm in the BB and the donk mini-raise by MP has me suspicious of a big holding. I decide to see a relatively cheap flop and re-evaluate from there.

Flop: ($9.25) 8, 6, 8 (3 players)
Hero bets $4, UTG raises to $8, MP folds, Hero calls $4.

Relatively safe flop for me and I decide to make a small bet purely for information on MP's hand. I'll gladly sacrifice $4 here to find out where I'm at or at least get some info on how he's going to play his hands.

Turn: ($25.25) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $14, Hero calls $14.

To me the flop doesn't fit UTG's actions pre or post flop. I'm actually putting him on a hand like TT or 99. I'm not putting him on a higher pair than mine because he most certainly would have reraised preflop after I called.

His $14 bet into a $25 pot doesn't have me convinced that I'm beat.

River: ($53.25) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $26.5 (All-In), UTG has me covered.

Going with my read on the turn and the blank on the river I decide to push. I don't think that if I check that a pair of tens or nines will bet after being called down on previous streets. So I decide to push and hope he makes a crying call for a pretty big pot.



Thoughts?

I *definitely* 100% of the time reraise PF. If you don't know where he's at, you will certainly have a better idea by seeing how he reacts to your 3-bet. Reraise it to the neighbourhood of $10 to $12. The reraise is a *must* since you will be OOP against two preflop raisers in a big pot. Reraising allows you to define everyone's hand and probably knock out the initial raiser, getting it heads-up.

Now, assuming that PF plays out as it did, once I see that donk minraise, I am likely to repop here too. I *do* smooth-call occasionally (say around 20% of the time) with the intention of pulling a stop-an-go, or if my opponent is a habitual bluffer, letting him bluff off his stack to me.

For the river, I prefer checking to induce a bluff from a busted draw or a value bet from an overpair, however it's close here, and I don't mind the open push at all.

The reason I opted for the push was that I didn't feel my read of TT/99, or maybe even JJ would fire another bet after I'd called him down on this board. I did feel he might make a crying call with that range though with how big the pot became.

i repop pf most of the time. this is one of those spots where raising for value/protection also is probably just as good for informational purposes. smooth calling here puts you at somewhat of an information disadvantage vis-a-vis MP if he is getting donk-tricky w/AA/KK. your smooth call defines your hand to the villain, but you're not really sure if villain's just looking for a cheap pf steal or being "tricky."

postflop, meh. i could go either way on calling down and betting river or c/r'ing the turn, the latter being because neither you nor villain's going to like the river if an A or K pops. a turn c/r might be one of the rare instances worthy of a minraise because of stack sizes.

That's why you need to define this hand before you see a low-hanging flop like this and still aren't sure your overpair is good or not.

As played I c/r the turn ai

i can see the call pf, but i probably re-raise to something like $10, if one of them re-raises then you have to figure him for aces or kings, and if they call then you can probably assume that you are ahead

i don't like your lead on the flop, it seems very awkward to call a raise and a re-raise pf and then just lead the flop OOP...i check and see what happens from there, probably just calling a bet

if you read him for 10-10 or 9-9 on the turn, i would shove right there and hope to get called, rather than letting a card come off that could force a tough decision on the end

based on your read, river play is fine

Seems like 99 could definately be a possibility. He could have made that min-raise on the flop because he wasn't sure where he was either and wanted to see how you would react. Then if he really does have 99 he's still gonna wanna bet the turn because he probably thinks he's ahead, plus he's open-ended now so he knows he probably has 10 outs in case he is behind. I think it's best to raise the turn and get the money in before the river.

Yeah, I think in a similar situation I would raise him on the turn and hope for a call based on my read.

The villian elected to fold to my river push.

personally i feel if you're planning to shove the river.. you might as well shove the turn... esp since you're first to act on the river anyways, why give him a free look @ the card (obv not a FREE look as he bet, but if you shovel the turn it's going to cost that much more) to make his decision?