I've been reading "The Theory of Poker" and playing cheap no-limit games lately and I'm thinking more and trying to take in as much as I can as a hand goes along. But, here's a very common scenario I get in no-limit with little information on my opponent:

I'm dealt KdQd on the button. Two people call. I call and the blinds call.

Flop: Kc Th 4h
Everyone checks to me. I bet a bit more than the pot. One person calls (not one of the blinds).

Turn: insignificant card like a 7 of spades
I get bet at for about 1/4 of the pot.

Question #1: Am I calling or raising?
Usually I'll raise to the pot, give or take a bit. If so, he calls. We go to the river.

River: insignificant 2 of clubs
My opponent bets the pot or more.

Question#2: What am I doing here?
Everytime this happens I'm confused. Was I trapped? Or did he miss his flush or his straight or his Ace? What about the turn or river helped him? It looks meaningless. Do you normally fold to a bet like this on the river in a situation like this?

EDIT: Edit river card. Someone drinkie too muchy last nighty.

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Leave the gun... Take the canoli.

in those types of situations... i usually just flat call the turn bet, then see what happens on the river.. usually flat call river bet as well if its not too large.

usually people who play like what u described above (check-calling then leading on turn for such a small bet) are donkies. And without a read, there is no real way to kno whether u are ahead or behind at that point. This donky could be trying to slowplay a set, slowplay 2pair KT, or even slowplay a hand like KJ KQ, it may even be a person chasing the flush draw or straight draw who doesnt want to get the pot taken away from them on turn so they mess everything up by making such a small bet on the turn.

I guess i would flat call turn, then flat call river.. then check the hand history to see what they had and record that info down so I will know what to do in the future when the villian makes that type of play again.


Regarding Question 1:

raising here to the potsize is also a viable option. But with no read on opponent a call down may be better as it gives you pot control. And therefore if he leads out on river, the pot will still be small enough that a river bet is callable. The only downfall to this play is that you give the free card to him. The plus side is that you may induce a bluff from him on the river.


Regarding Question 2:

If you had raised the turn, and villian still decides to lead into you strongly on the river. I will fold. Reason being that you have shown strength throughout this entire hand. Given that fact, I will assume villian will only make this river play if he indeed has a hand better then 1 pair. I would say that, if villian leads into you strongly on the river you are only really beating a bluff from a broken draw.


also this may be a typo, did u mean to say the river was a 2 of clubs? because a 2 of hearts would have completed the FD, making it a significant card.

On the button with two limpers I would raise 4bb+2. This leaves you with pocket pairs and should fire off an all infrom AA,KK,QQ and AK (you fold -) (pp's are not so bad because you're a coin flop by river). The pf raise should remove hands like KT...

After the preflop raise post flop.. you have choices and it is player dependent. Don't get into post flop squabbles unless you know the guy (20 hands at least).
If a strong lead out bet is met by resistance ( you have after all got AK - well thats what he thinks) - then youre goosed.. stop betting

If your using a womens alias then it's a bluff....

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Push when the turn card comes out and they bet, but only when its a blank like a 7 or something.

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