Bodog .50/1 NLHE (9-handed)

Cobalt $127
UTG $106

Cobalt is BB w/ A 8 . UTG hasn't been at the table long, but nothing's stood out so far.

Pre-flop:
UTG calls, 5 folds, Button calls, 1 fold, Cobalt checks

Flop ($3.50): 3 Q 8 (3 players)
Cobalt bets $2, UTG raises to $4, 1 fold, Cobalt re-raises to $18, UTG hesitates for a while and calls

Turn ($43.50): 4 (2 players)
Cobalt bets $40, UTG goes all-in for $85, Cobalt calls


We cool with this line? I know that super-aggro approach is to just go ahead and push the flop, but I felt stacks were too deep for that. As for the turn bet, he seemed genuinely weak on the flop with his hesitation.

You could just push the turn.

I know that's a tourney move. Would that work here? Give you some more FE along with your outs, since we're committed anyways, if he pushes, right?

Yep, betting $40 here is akin to pushing anyways, so you might as well.

yeah u had enough outs if he had a queen i dont think its a terrible call

My question on pushing the turn...isn't it needlessly risking $85 on those times that he's planning to fold? Is it actually that much more pressure that he'll fold for that amount and not for $40? Personally, I think my betting $40 here instead of pushing him in looks like a lot stronger hand. (I realize that we're quibbling over details and don't hate the push, but I'm not convinced that it's the best play.)

They're probably pretty close.

Don't know what else to tell ya

If he folds for 85, he folds for 40 most of the time...

So, it probably doesn't matter.

If you bet 40, and he pushes, you aren't folding.

If you bet 40, and he calls, are you c/f the river for $45 in a pot of like $150?

I play more limit than no-limit, but it seems to me that if you don't want to push the flop, then you should just call rather than reraise. You're probably better than even-money against villain's range of hands if the hand goes to showdown with 2 cards to come, but if you don't commit all the money to the pot now, your outs are not well-disguised, and if you hit any of them on the turn it could convince villain to fold. And, if you miss, and the money goes in on the turn, at that point you're almost certainly a substantial underdog.

If villain has AQ or better, then he's the favorite, and pushing sucks, but in that case you should just call. Unless you have strong reason to believe that villain is weaker than AQ, I would just call the flop rather than reraise.

This smells like either AQ that doesn't want to let go of top pair or a set of 3's that is genuinely concerned that you might have a set of 8's.

I don't like the re-raise on the flop. Feels like your bloating the pot for no good reason. And on the turn, you're managing to get 1.5:1 on your money in a situation where you're drawing to 12 outs at best (and I think you really only have 9 in this case, and possibly as few as 7).

We're "bloating" the pot cause we have an equity edge (in addition to fold equity).

I think it's pretty easy to see that he likes his hand after later action, but when I'm confronted with a weak raise and like my hand, I'm usually going to put in another raise.

As for the results of the hand, I was pretty astounded when he flipped over KQo. On the river, I drew an A and took the pot.


I felt that villain could easily be on a weak queen or draw of some sort.

Line's fine.

I don't think leading with a push is awful, but, I'm also not a huge fan of betting double the pot.

..anyone just smooth call the raise to 4 bucks to keep the pot small OOP?

3bets OOP are so rare. I'm usually calling here and probably getting very passive OOP unless I catch good. In this unraised pot, it's just going to be too hard to get them all in on the flop, so I think we need to make a play off of implied odds if we catch good rather than str8 pot odds + FE. that being said, 3betting this flop is probably the best chance of getting them all in on the flop.

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be like Cobalt.....

Seriously...i like the line alot.