pacific 2/4 four


everyone is loose. utg and sb are irrelevant, and button is the main villian in this hand.

he is really loose/passive in the sense that he is super stubborn. he can't resist calling a river bet ace-high when you've been showing strength the whole way and he's been chasing his ace. but, at the same time, he has traces of LAG. he tends to bluff a lot when checked to and seems to get overly aggressive at the wrong times (spewage).

i've been running over the table by simply running good and hitting flops. at the same time, i've been value betting like a mofo on this table, including value betting 44 on a board of 99632, stuff like that. these people are too passive not to.

this river had me at a bit of a loss what to do. i think i regularly have trouble with these kinds of decisions.


utg folds, button raises, sb folds, i three-bet with 10 10 in the big blind, button caps, i call.

now here's the thing. i haven't seen button cap before, but i also can tell button might be starting to tilt a little after losing a couple of pots to me. regardless, i got no fear, bay-bee!


(8 sb) 9 8 3

i come out betting, button raises, i fearlessly three-bet, he hesitates and calls.


(7 bb) 2

i bet, he calls pretty quickly.


(9 bb) K

i check w/ intent to call a bet (???) ...


comments on river play appreciated.

aseem

Personally, I like. Random combination of missed-draw bets + worse hand bets (AQ, 77) that he will call less often with on the river, and bets you save everytime he has AK (or an oddly played set/monster) makes this a pretty marginal decision.


I play it like that, because you don't lose much value on the river no matter what he has, but you DO lose value when he raises you.

Nice

Ice

a counterargument is that when i check, he gets to bet only the hands that beat me and check behind all the ones that don't. especially considering that the K is a really bad card for me, i don't know if a check is really all that great. at the same time, i would hate b/f against this guy, and b/c is definitely a waste of money.

it's like all three of my options suck. can there be a fourth option? i cower down in pity and i get my money back. he can even keep his money. just give me my money back please!

aseem

Yeah, that was a stupid card. Once it comes, I'm out of "how can I squeeze every last penny out of this hand?!" mode into "Well. Damn. How about we just agree to hate that card, mykay?"mode.

I really think based on the confluence of factors, his range of holdings, and your read, that checking is the right move, and not by a margin that you should worry about.

I just thought of this: Who's not to say that if he preflop cap was a quasi-tiltish maneuver, that he won't do something equally dumb if you show him your belly on the river?

I think we might induce a bluff here enough to go for it.


Ice

I like check/call here best of any option.

You MAY have been beaten the whole time
(JJ or QQ were my thoughts)

i agree about inducing bluffs and that's why i checked.

BUT

i said this guy was stubborn, so he was probably calling a bet with ace-high anyway.

??

aseem

I can't see him capping it PF with anything
much less than AK or a big PP, given your
read on him.

I just think anything that calls you here beats you.

with the information provided I check/call the river. With the combination of hands he could be holding anything. if u check/raise what do you do if he reraises? i would c/c

you assume too much, i.e. you think he plays too logically.

have you never been the victim of a "spite cap"?

i had three-bet this guy out of the big blind a few times before and i am willing to bet that when this happens to someone repeatedly, they will often put in a spite cap with weak holdings.

fwiw, this was the case here, as the king did not help him and MHWG. i won't reveal yet whether he bet or checked the river.

aseem

lol, i would never ever consider checkraising. why in the world would i ever do that??

the question is whether i should bet/fold or check/call.

aseem

ok, i think i figured it out.

up to this hand, my read was that he bluffs a good amount when checked to.

GIVEN THIS INFORMATION, i think a c/c is better than a b/f.

i was just stunned when he checked. albeit, he took a long time before checking and i could tell he wanted to bluff so bad.

i showed my 10's, he mucked.

aseem

What range of hands do you actually put your opponent on?

Are you going to call him if you bet and he raises you?

Count the hands you think he will call you with that you beat and put them on the plus side. Count the hands that he calls you with that beat you and put them on the minus side. If you call a raise, count the hands he raises with that you beat on the plus side twice over, and put on the minus side twice over the hands that he raises with that you lose to.

When all is said and done, if the plus side is bigger than the minus side, you bet; and if the minus side is bigger than the plus side, you check and call.

(If there are hands of his that beat you that he'll fold to your bet, count them and multiply them by the size of the pot and put the result on the plus side. But from what you say, he'd call you with A2o in this spot.)