i seriously need help playing situations like this........

anyways, for this hand i didnt "fold" when it came to the river.
i was pondering the call and trying to read the board, when the timer ended and it auto-folded for me.. I was 50/50 on a call there, because I had the villian on a broken flush draw river bluff - Something like Ax of spades, maybe AQs.

Villian played the hand rather wierdly. He check-called flop in less then 1 second without even thinking. Then did the same on the turn. The potted the river right away when the card fell. Almost as if he had every move planned out from the start.

Help.


Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.50 BB (8 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: ITH Forums)

UTG ($56.05)
UTG+1 ($66.95)
Hero ($51.15)
MP2 ($47.25)
CO ($43.70)
Button ($22.10)
SB ($48.75)
BB ($34)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with , .
2 folds, Hero raises to $2, 3 folds, SB calls $1.75, 1 fold.

Flop: ($4.50) , , (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $4.5, SB calls $4.50.

Turn: ($13.50) (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $9, SB calls $9.

River: ($31.50) (2 players)
SB bets $31.5, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $63

Results in white below:
SB doesn't show.
He showed the T9o for the stone cold bluff.
Outcome: SB wins $63.



The results shows what he had btw.

wow that sucks.

AK is kicking my ass right now, I have a lot of sklansky chips waiting for me.

I either get the blind, end up vs AA, up a agianst pockets that hit a set to my TPTK, or get calls by some douche with KJ and some loser with pocket 2s pushes and the pot is so big that I have odds to call even knowing what they have and miss.

this is tough.

his hand looks like either
a missed flush draw (this is the most obvious, until you have a $31 staring bet at you)
a set, or some other monster.

i will check the turn alot here once i get a quick call from a potsized bet. if hes calling a potsized bet on the flop, few hands are folding this on the turn to another potsized bet, so ill check behind. this has a name, i think its called "pot control?"

the idea is controling the size of the pot(duh). the benifits are
-if he bluffs the size of the pot on the river, its $18 less and you would probably call it
-if he still wants to bet $30, its a WAY overbet and its an obvious bluff that you will probably pick off
-if a scare card comes (a spade) you arent committed to the pot and you can get away from the hand
-you take away his check raise on the turn
- besides a spade there really isnt a card than can make the river unbettable, so if he checks again you can value bet

somebody who knows a thing or 2 about pot control can refine anything i said, im pretty new to the concept as well, (perhaps i got it wrong)

however, ive been employing this tactic in my play and its REALLY saving me chips. i find im going broke alot less with this sort of hand.
however, there is a spade draw on the board, so if you bet like 1/2 of the pot on the flop, or an ammount a donk could possibly call with a draw, probably bet the river again.

this is a sick play against a player whos going to try this on you though, once you check behind they are like "wtf he has AQ ill bet pot" on river and you can call and scoop it. however, again, against a donk its usually better to value bet your strong hands.

Originally Posted by tightagressive

this has a name, i think its called "pot control?"

nice.. ive heard a bit about pot control on the 2+2 forums in their nlhe section.. just didnt kno what it was exactly.. thanks for clearing it up...

i guess the idea behind it is that u are either way ahead at that point or way behind.. villian either has the FD or is slowplaying trips or maybe some other PP and has you on AQ or AJ... so if ur unsure of what ur opponent has then its better to keep the pot small, so that u dont get bluffed out of it on the river.. and so that you minimize the amount of money u invest in the pot, so that way if u were up against the set and drawing dead, u essentially minimize ur losses by checking behind on the turn.. also by not betting the turn u allow urself to get away from the hand, as u wont be that pot commited..

yo tightagg, just wondering.. how would you have played this hand if u were OOP instead? lets say u bet the ps on the flop, and villian flat calls.. same card falls on turn, what do u do?

Originally Posted by Marm

4) TA, you say Pot control is saving you chips... but is it costing you more? Just a thought.

against some players, yes. against donks, just value bet the top pair the whole way, as they will pay you off with bad hands. if you keep the size of the pots small you will win smaller pots. and this is bad.

against smart, agressive players who are bound to outplay you post flop, you should control the size of the pot so you are less likley to get outplayed, and can still pick off their bluffs. against an unknown player who has played the hand hand in a strange way (the player in this pot) it might be smart to control the size of the pot, that way you still win the pot, but are less likley to get outplayed and still show down your hand.