1. Home game .50/1.00 NLH

Hero 70.00
Villan 35.00

3 way pot button sb,villan, and hero bb

all limp seeing a flop of j 3 7. sb bets 2.50. He is not a steal type of player so i put him on j 7 immediately, but i hold j 3 and decide to come along. Button folds. pot is 8

Turn is J, Villan bets 5, again i come along pot is 18. I have him on J 7 until he checks in the dark. River is 9. Now my dilemma is to value bet here, knowing he has a hand or checking just in case he has the J 7. LIke i said the check raise threw me off so I bet 10. He moves in I call he shows J7. the only way he was doubling up there was to check in the dark in that spot, great play. It seems guys always make the play of their lives against me though.

2. Internet tourney

3 see a flop of Ac Tc 3h. Me being first to act, I pot it with A10. Villan calls, other guy folds. Turn is 10. Boating me up I check, Villan checks. River is Qc, putting a flush on board. I figure he flushed up so i check to induce a bet. He bets about 1/3 of the pot. I move in. He calls showing Kc8c. He then make the comment he knew he should of checked. The moral is when you value bet, be sure you hold the best hand, cuz sometimes a check on the river with a real strong hand is the best play.

Hand 1: you can put him on 77 here too looking to get paid by naked J. Value betting is fine here. did he C/R the flop tho?

He was first to act on flop, no C/R

Now my dilemma is to value bet here, knowing he has a hand or checking just in case he has the J 7. LIke i said the check raise threw me off so I bet 10. He moves in I call he shows J7

I'm sure this is semantics, but generally I consider a value bet a bet made when you don't hold the nuts or close, but when you hold a moderate hand that you think is better than what your opponent has. So in that scenario, I'd disagree with the previous statement. Its good to get the max value out of any hands you have.

I don't disagree with your opponent value betting that river. He has the nut flush and is trying to extract value from someone holding an A or a T. But sometimes you misread the strength of you opponent and you need to reevaluate when he moves all in over you

Mark

Well, I dunno what to tell ya about the first hand. It happens?

Second hand.

Lead the river for a half pot bet and hope to get raised if you think he's got the flush. Don't check. If you check to me in that position on a paired board where you've lead the whole way I'm going to check behind you.

A value bet is a bet you make that will make value in the long run. That is, you are betting into a situation where you don't know if you have the best hand, but you do know that in the long run, the weaker hands that will call you in this spot will make more money for you than the money you lose from the times that a stronger hand calls (or raises) you.

Never forget that cash games is all about considering the long term result (i.e. the EV) of the particular plays you choose to make.

Cheers,

Merby

Really now? Since you're not getting paid off by AK AQ AJ ? I understand folding to a check/raise with a good read but not betting the nut flush when its been checked to you merely because the board is paired is semi ridiculous. Of course if the board reads AAQ10 a check may have more substance then if the board reads AQ1010 like it did here.

I'd be more inclined to call a river bet than bet into someone with the second nut flush on a paired board after they've lead it the whole way.

Maybe that's a leak, and maybe that's because I know too many people who bet draws aggressively that I'm not going to pay off the nut flush or a boat. <shrug>

And I do stipulate that it may very well be a leak, and if it is, I'd like someone to give me a good reason why I should bet out the river in this situation when it's checked to me.

You may get paid off by the Qx flush or the Jx flush, possibly even AQ. But I don't think it's enough to make it a wortwhile proposition.