Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t200/t400
(Ante: t50)
9 players
Converter

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is MP3 with Q J
UTG calls t400 (pot was t1050), 3 folds, Hero calls t400 (pot was t1450), 3 folds, 3 folds, BB checks.

Flop: K T A (t1850, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets t1200, Hero calls t1200 (pot was t3050), BB folds.

Turn: 5 (t4250, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks.

River: K (t4250, 2 players)
UTG bets t1999, [color=#cc0000] Hero???

No real read on the villian, I had a fairly LAG Image so far.

Just call or raise all in?

I didn't read him for a set or AK given how it was played.

Also, do either of you raise the flop or bet the turn?

Bet the turn.

Seriously.

^

You have a nice hand but it's vulnerable. You want to extract value from pairs here. A straight is not really a hand you want your opponents to catch up to, at least not when the ace is out. Many players will donk off once they hit top pair, but top pair's already visible. Either they have it or they don't. If they do they will pay you off on the turn, and if they don't you're only getting action when you're beaten, ie when villain hits a fullhouse or a flush.

I'd bet turn as well, last thing you would want was someone to backdoor flush you for free when you have the nuts on both flop and turn.

I probably bet turn with this hand, its unlikely he's gonna put you on the straight so try and extract as much value as possible from AJ A10 etc. I might also raise the flop, if anything to try and represent a hand like AJ. But obviously you want to get paid this hand and not lose villain. I probably just make a crying call on the river and hope its KQ and he think's he sucked out on you.

QFT

OP: Stack sizes would be helpful, btw.

I would raise on the flop to represent that at least you had an Ace and you don't wan't villian to draw out on you and to make it look like you wanted the hand to end here and now.

As for the turn (Assuming you didn't raise on flop), I actually wouldn't bet there. If he is willing to bet on the flop with whatever, why would he check on turn if he happen to hit a flush draw? But at this point I'm wary that he has KQ and was too scared to bet on the turn after your flop call. If he has two pair, he's betting again.

On the river you shouldn't be worried with the K. His bet screams that he had Kx (I'm still thinkin KQ here) and he thinks he is in control of the whole hand and he wants to get a value bet in. That being said, you should go all-in (or hefty raise, depends on the stacksizes).

But yeah...I'm an idiot so I'm probably way off on this.

Do not ever let this turn check through. Welcome to playing in position. If you were first to act and trying for the c/r, I get that, but man...when it checks to you...you gotta bet sommmething.
(even with air I'm throwing out a bet there...)

You played this hand terribly.

Scathing. But pointless, help the OP out by explaining why?

Thanks for your insight.

He started the hand with around 9k, I started it with around 11k.

I wanted to check the turn through. I had him on either an A or KQ/KJ. I figured he's betting almost any river, then I can push on the river and possibly get a call from a weak hand representing a desperation bluff.

Results: He had KK for Quads. Basically no matter what it was getting in, I probably should've bet the turn though.

Zim, I think the key to this hand is that you have a LAG image, as you stated.

Since he thinks we'll bet at the turn when it's checked to us, then we should do it when we have a hand, right?

Well, we can bet at the turn because of that.

However, I wasn't so LAG that they figured I'm firing at anything. Obviously he's not folding the hand he had, but I think he still folds a weak A, maybe even KQ/QJ. By checking behind, I give him a chance to bet the river, where I can raise and get all his chips. That being said, I still probably should've raised the turn.

I'm ok with either play.

I mean, most hands that we are afraid of, will not check that turn, usually.

So, most of the time, we actually want him to catch up a bit more.

Great point. Harrington talks about this, that someone like Ivey needs to keep firing away when he's strong, or it will raise a red flag. I've noted some online players who take super aggro shots at every pot checked to them, so when they didn't, I was suspicious--and sure enough, they had a monster. If strong is always weak and vice versa, you're not being "deceptive" if people are paying any attention.

Maybe i'm missing something, but this seems like the easiest flop raise of all time. I raise this flop like a huge % of the time, and expect to get action very frequently. Raise flop. As played, it's an easy shove on the river.

QFT. Very easy standard flop raise.





Disagree. I think you just call here. Only getting value from Kx (when X is usually J or Q) and that's only some of the time. Granted stacks aren't listed, but I think you just call the river, I don't see a value raise here, too often you just get a fold or get called when beaten.

You should raise the flop.

If your opponent doesn't have 2-pair or better, he is shutting down after you call the flop bet anyway, so slow-playing does not gain you anything. And he could easily have some kind of gutshot, in which case giving a free card is disasterous. If another straight card falls on the turn, you may lose your action even if your opp does have two pair. It's better to get the money in now.

yep. i'm raising this flop 98% of the time.

I don't mind the flop call if you're bet/raising the turn. Calling the flop and checking the turn is just criminal. Don't we want to build a pot with the nuts? I call on the river. We've under-represented our hand, and are likley best, but raising gets folds from a lot of inferior hands and costs us big time when we're beat.