Both villains in this hand are tricky, deceptive players. BB is a somewhat aggressive player. Button varies his play a LOT from session to session.

* * * * * *

Blinds are .5 / $1, 5-handed

Hero is UTG with [Qc] [Tc].

Hero calls, 1 fold, button calls, 1 fold, BB checks.

FLOP: [4c] [7c] [2c] (Pot: $3.50)

BB checks, Hero checks, Button checks.

TURN: [Ks] (Pot: $3.50)

BB checks, Hero checks, Button bets $1, BB raises to $3, Hero raises to $9, Button calls, BB calls.

RIVER: [9d] (Pot: $30.50)

BB checks, Hero checks, Button bets $20, BB calls, Hero ???

* * * * * *

I can't remember stack sizes, but I believe all 3 of us had plenty behind after the BB called the river bet.

raises all in

Ugh, all-in.

Couldn't have played this any more passively either. Dear god bet that flop. You'll get called by anyone with a Ac Kc. Otherwise you're letting them draw for free. And if they don't have something to draw to, then you're not making any money off this anyway.

What are some hands that I can beat, that can call my river raise?

I think it's an absolute push. The villains ranges are so huge because of how passively you played it. I would've definitely liked a bet on the turn. Also lead the river and call a raise. The way you played it though, your opponents can't easily put you on a flopped flush and could have anything from a smaller flush (unlikely imo), 22, 44, 77, Kc9, AcK, AKc. I don't see anyone here having a bigger flush because neither of them 4-bet the turn - it's possible, but with the amount of action, I would've expected a 4-bet.

edit: You could probably get a crying call from 22, 44, or 77 with a push on the river. I think a competent player would fold just about everything else.

This might be the most oddly played hand I've ever seen.

I think there are two ways to interpret the button's play on the turn. Either he has supreme confidence in his hand and is trying to get the BB to come along or he has a good made hand but wants to see a safe river card. With the way this hand has played out, there are a lot of worse hands than yours that bet the river and call a raise. Your action hasn't been consistent with the strength of your hand, so I think you have to push here. Don't take this offensively because I really don't mean it to be, but it looks like you're representing being drunk more than a flush here.

"Plenty?" as in $600?
"Plenty?" as in $60?

I think I push as much as two buyins here if that's as much as I have in front of me. More than that and I smooth call.

Thanks for all the responses. This was a really weird hand. The button had limped behind with pocket KK (with K club), something I had never seen him do. BB had turned a random (K4) two pair. And I flat-called the river with the best hand. I took a lot of crap for not raising on the end. In this particular instance I was up against not one, but TWO hands that could possibly call a raise. I just felt like that was highly unlikely, and if I had the best hand I wasn't making any more money, so there didn't seem to be any value to a raise.

I think I like a bet-call line on the river.

Oh and nobody had 2 buyins behind.

Id push for sure, or atleast a big raise here.

Raisy Daisy. If you're beat, you'll hear from a bigger flush, but just calling loses tons of value from 2 pair/set hands and from weaker flushes. It's basically a raise/fold to repop line.

This is a really stupid hand btw, lolz.

Isn't this the strangest hand you've seen in a long time?

I think you played every single street wrong.

Hands like this illustrate why I can find a fold to river raises when villain checks every street. The slowplaying disease is epidemic.

This post is incredibly helpful. Thanks for taking the time to post!

I don't think Zach's wrong, so getting adgitated at him for telling you the truth is sort of stupid.

So to extend Zach's post...

Checking the flop is wrong for a number of reasons:
Someone can have the King or Ace of clubs and take one off and beat your hand for free, and then you might be incline to calling at least one bet if the Ace or King fall.
The board could pair and you could get stacked by someone waiting for a safe turn with two pair/set.
You're giving everyone the chance to draw for absolutely nothing, which loses value from a strong hand like this.

Again, you checked the turn which is wrong for all of the above reasons, plus:
A king hit. Now if you bet, some idiot with AK-K10 with no club is going to float you for a bet a lot of the time.
Now if you spring a raise, people that aren't completely stupid will know you have a flush.
When you finally did raise, you didn't raise very much at all, giving everyone great odds to break you, again.

The River, you checked AGAIN for some inexplicable reason:
This allows someone to represent a bigger flush and put you to a very tough decision.
You lose a lot of value if you have the best hand and it gets checked down, and I'm very suprised it wasn't, because I think it's fairly obvious you either have the best hand or are getting slowplayed by the nut flush, which is just a cooler.
You will get both people to call a reasonable bet if they're morons with top pair/two pair hands.
Checking the river after you put in a third raise on the turn and both people called doesn't make a lot of sense. What was the point of this?

Happy?

I agree with everything NoBBiR just said. This hand was played very poorly for the above reasons.

Thanks NoBBiR.

You forgot preflop though.

I think we should raise it up, but that's certainly debatable. I raise it in LHE easily, but I imagine at a 5 handed NL game, this is a decent raise.

I posted the hand here specifically because I am looking for criticism. I didn't post expecting a bunch of people to respond that I am the next Phil Ivey. I just don't see why he thought that his post would be useful, helpful, or insightful in any way. I must be sort of stupid.



Thanks, I agree with just about all of this. Basically, after 2 opponents called my turn 3-bet, I wasn't sure I had the best hand. Frankly my check on the river was more out of confusion about where I stood rather than any strategic decision, and I see how this confusion was a direct result of my passive play on earlier streets.

Ignore Zach. He's always frustrated because he lives in the hell that is "limit hold'em player".

Relax. If you can get past several people you've never met calling you an idiot multiple times, there's actually some good advice in this forum. Welcome, you ****ing idiot.

I <3 you sooo much.