Harrah's NO 20/40 LHE (6-handed)

Cobalt is SB w/ J J . Only my second hand at the table, so no reads.

Pre-flop:
4 folds, Cobalt raises, BB 3-bets, Cobalt caps, BB calls

Flop (8 SB): A 8 7 (2 players)
Cobalt bets, BB calls

Turn (5 BB): 6 (2 players)
Cobalt bets, BB calls

River (7 BB): 5 (2 players)
Cobalt checks, BB bets, Cobalt calls

Final Pot: 9 BB

Looks fine.

You are more liable to get raised on this river than called by a worse hand, so check/calling is fine. You also get to table your hand and get a read on this particular player.

If the river is blankish, I think you should value bet.

I agree with that. If we're raised on this turn, do we go into calldown mode?

Why isn't the Ace a scare card? What do we put the villain on that we should be considering a calldown with, or are we simply callind down for info?

I have absolutely no problem with the way you played it, but I think we get shown an Ace here an awful lot and it doesn't really make sense for villain to have much of anything else.

I think you should bet the river. You never get raised by a worse hand here, especially live.

Betting has a few advantages (if you plan on check/calling anyway).

One is that he may check behind hands like 99/TT anyway, but will almost certainly bet any Ax, and if he is good, will bet KK too.

Another, more important advantage, is that live players like to fold. If you bet the river, you may convince him that you have the ace, and he may fold KK/QQ here. Also, by betting, it makes it much harder for him to get a read on you in the future. You can then value bet more because he will be more inclined to call you.

Info actually. The ace is definitely a scare card. Based on the action, my read is that he's got JJ/TT/99, but there's a chance he's being stupid with something worse than that.

screech, the reason I didn't try a bet/fold in this spot was that I wanted the info. If it were later in the session, I'd definitely pull that line. And, these guys most definitely did not like to fold.

I normally go into c/c mode on the turn. I hate the free showdown raise and checking often induces bluffs.

I don't think you lose much value with a check-call.
TT seems to be the only hand.
(99 beats us)




How big of an Ace would you value bet here if you were BB?
I don't think I could value bet A2-A7.




That would impress me.
I don't see too many players value betting KK here.




If KK has called this far, I really don't see them folding for 1 more bet.


I check-call


--cm