Should I have re-re-re-raised the flop?

Mr.McJ · #1 (**permalink**) 10-09-2006, 04:53 AM

I've played with the villain once before but never for very long. Here are my (brief) notes on him:

1st Impression: Likes to bluff
1st Impression: Battles for pots, doesn't easily give up

Should I have re-re-re-raised the flop?
Should I have raised to $9/$10 instead of $6?
Should I have pushed the turn?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (8 handed)

BB ($23.40)
UTG ($7.10)
UTG+1 ($29.85)
MP1 ($5)
MP2 ($32.10)
CO ($26.05)
Hero ($32.60)
SB ($14.40)

Preflop: Hero is Button with

,

.
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.75, 1 fold, MP2 calls $0.75, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.75, SB calls $0.65, 1 fold.

Flop: ($3.25)

,

(4 players)
SB checks, UTG+1 bets $2.5, MP2 folds, Hero raises to $6, SB folds, UTG+1 raises to $10, Hero calls $4.

Turn: ($23.25)

(2 players)
UTG+1 bets $7.75, Hero calls $7.75.

River: ($38.75)

(2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: $38.75

Results in white below:
UTG+1 has Kc Ad (two pair, kings and threes).
Hero has Qh Kh (two pair, kings and threes).
Outcome: UTG+1 wins $38.75.

Eclipse86 · #2 (**permalink**) 10-09-2006, 05:35 AM

I really dont like the flop raise. Its 4 to the flop, if villian has AK/AQ, then he shouldnt really be cbing here, especially with 2 players to act after him. This means that his flop bet is most likely TT-AA (and more often then not, it will be QQ-AA due to the fact that the raise came from EP).

If u want to raise, then u have to raise alot harder, ur raise to 6 is no different then a min raise. He's calling ur raise with whatever hes betting with.
Thing is, I hate raising here, because if you raise your pretty much deciding to play this hand for ur stack because ur pot commiting urself really really fast. If you jack this up to 9 on the flop, and villian calls. The turn potsize is going to be $21-22 (and you will have $22 left).

If you want to continue with ur hand on the flop, the best way to play it imo is to flat call and see a turn card. You have position, so you dont really need to raise here to get a free turn card. If you flat call, he should be afraid of the possible set, and therefore check the turn with whatever hes betting with. If you think he has AK/AQ or is someone that is capable of folding an overpair then you can freeze play him on the turn and take it off him using ur position.

If he bets the turn weak, you can either continue calling him with good odds. Or you can raise it on the turn and take it off him (this works well because you've played your hand just like a set would).

OrionPro · #3 (**permalink**) 10-09-2006, 05:43 AM

Well played imo (given your read), he didnt have the right odds to chase his overs

I dont like reraising here. We dont know if the kings/queens are outs or not.

He certainly misplayed the hand, there's nothing you can do here

OrionPro · #4 (**permalink**) 10-09-2006, 05:55 AM

Note I would consider folding against a very tight/strong player too. If you hit your flush, he might check/fold and your play is hugely -EV.

the alex · #5 (**permalink**) 10-09-2006, 01:36 PM

Given your read on the guy, I'd've had all my money in on the flop. No reason to think one of which (a King or a Queen), if not both of your cards are live here to that board. In your case, at the point of his 2nd raise, there's almost $19+ in the pot and he has about $19 behind him. It's enough for him to get away from the hand which, from your read, he'll probably do with AK-AQ and maybe even 8's or 9's. If he calls, I'm not scared too often getting 2:1 on the push.

On the flop, I'd've raised to at least $7 to get it all in the middle. The hands I mentioned him folding will be folded enough here, but we don't mind getting it all in here and gambling with him. Worse case, we lose and hopefully he takes a note that we're willing to play a huge poit with a huge draw, so we can stalk him and we'll bust him more times down the road than he will to us with him on our buddy list.

Flat calling would depend on my read of the SB. If he like to float a lot of flops or is just a weak/passive player in general, he'll call along with enough hands to justify a call. But this looks like it's only gonna be 2 players giving action and these cases come up enough against players like this to make hyper-aggression on the flop a +EV approach.