Villian is 44/26/2

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (6 max, 5 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Preflop: Hero is BB with J:diamond:, 9:club:.
2 folds, Button calls, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: (3 SB) A:heart:, Q:spade:, 9:spade: (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, Button folds, SB calls.

Turn: (2.50 BB) 5:spade: (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

River: (2.50 BB) 3:club: (2 players)
SB bets, Hero folds.

Final Pot: 3.50 BB

Call river, or let him drag this baby pot?

What hand range do you put him on after he check/calls the flop and checks the turn?

I'm probably letting this go, but if I don't have a read (I don't have PT), I may call for some information early in the session.

I would venture to say a bet on the turn takes
this down 8/10 times.

If you get raised, you can fold.

I don't know why I checked the turn. LAGs scare me.

I think I took just about the worse possible line in this hand.

If your opponent is straightforward, then this seems like an appropriate time to Bet/Fold the Turn.

If he consistently leads out with his good hands, then you are probably ahead, and betting the turn will usually pick up the pot right there.

However, if Villain is tricky and is capable of slowplaying and bluffing, then I think there are alternative ways to proceed.

Here is my thinking:

If you are behind:
Your tricky opponent is slowplaying and waiting to check raise the turn.

If you bet, you would then fold to his raise.
You lose 1 bet

If you check down the turn and call his river bet, you still lose 1 bet.
But you have seen both the river card and showdown for the same price.

If this is the case, checking the turn seems to have some merit.

If you are ahead:

If you check down the turn, your tricky opponent may try to pounce on your weakness and steal the pot with a river bluff.
You would then call and win 1 bet.

If you bet the turn, your opponent will probably fold and you will win 0 bets.
However, there is a possibility that the tricky Villain may occasionally bluff-raise you on the turn.
You would then fold and lose the entire pot.

In this case, checking the turn also seems the best way to go.

Note:
Checking the turn gives a free card to your opponent and allows the possibility of being outdrawn.
But it also gives you the same free card when you need it.



Conclusion: Against the tricky opponent, checking the turn may actually be the right way to go.


--cnm

I play it the same almost always, except I call that river against this opponent.

I think, if you're going to call a river bet, you should go ahead and bet/fold the turn instead. (Unless villain frequently makes extremely loose flop calls and then folds the turn, but will often bluff the river - then I think there's more value in letting him do so).

If villain is calling the flop and check-raising this turn with a worse hand than yours, I say let him have it, his play is senseless - you'll punish him later (this would be an extremely wild move, even for a LAG opponent, I believe). If he just calls on the flop and bets the river, I think you should fold if the river is a spade, and call otherwise.

Against a tight villain who would not make speculative flop calls, I think the original line would be perfect.

Definitely bet/fold the turn. You're getting him to fold a better 9, or even possibly a Q here. This is something that is helping me succeed a lot at higher limits. When I'm playing 5/10 or now 10/20, you have to keep the lead on the turn if you sense some weakness in your opponent. If he hit the flush, then just bet/fold to find out. In almost all cases, I will bet/fold rather than checking the turn and check/call or check/fold the river.

Against a LAG I like calling the river a lot more than I do bet/folding the turn. But yeah, I'm calling that river if I check the turn.

Jeff