Live $1-$3 game.

I've seen the player to my left make a 5X BB raise with 78 off so I know he's mixing it up. I also watch him make a few squeeze plays in position and pull some tricky check raises. I don't really like having him on my left, but oh well.

I limp from the hijack with QJs. Villian to my left raises to $14. 1 of the blinds calls, 1 other limper calls, and I call $11 more getting 4-1.

Flop : Qd 8c 4h

Pretty dry board and it gives me top pair. Both players in front of me check so I bet a relatively small $22 at the pot of $56. Villian calls the $22 and the other 2 players fold.

I've already seen this guy float twice, one of those times with a big Ace all the way to the river. At this point I'm thinking he has AK.

Turn 3c.

I continue to take the lead in this pot and I bet $30. Another very small bet, but if he's holding AK, I assume he's folding at this point. He tanks for a bit and he raises to $65. Just barely over a min-raise, I know I'm calling it with top pair, but I now tank for a while. I dissect the possible hands he can have and really the only thing I can come up with is AQ that he would raise me with right here. I make the call and see the river.

Pot : $231

River : 8h. I love this card. I don't have him on 2nd pair, especially with the tiny raise on the turn. I'm also glad to see that it's not a club, because I'm actually thinking he might have 2 big clubs. I check this air ball card to him to see what he will do. He tanks for quite a while and then announces $75. I insta-call him going with my read that top pair is good here.

What do you guys think? Did I screw this hand up with the small bets on the flop and turn? Is my read right? Should I have bet the river? Should I have called the river?

Originally Posted by WotaWaster

I find that hard to believe.

We must have called you a donkey on here more than once!

Maybe so, but this is the 1st time I've ever heard it come from someone's mouth!

It would be a lot easier to tell you if it was a good play or not if you told us what Villain had.

Anyway, I like the check on the river. Aside from AK, he may have 99-JJ. If you bet, however, it would be hard to justify calling a reraise (unless he pulled his barely over min-raise crap again). After just smoothcalling twice, he set himself up to try to steal on the river, so I wouldn't feel too bad check-calling like you did.

But I hate hearing an incomplete story. What did he have?

I don't like your chances here. The minraise on the turn normally means danger. The smallish tank-bet on the river looks strong too as he looks like he's value betting rather than trying to bluff you off your hand. Live players can be clowns with not knowing what the pot size is and the underbetting so he might be trying to bluff but I doubt it. Plus the average live player is so passive that I wouldn't figure that him just calling your donklead means you're ahead. I don't think the fact that he likes to float flops and mix it up is enough to get me to call this river but it's a close one. But it's definitely a c-fold>c-call>>>>>raising on the river for me.

raise preflop, but as played just check to the raiser instead of making a tiny donklead.

call turn/fold river is pretty much the worst, so you need to decide on the turn whether or not you're going to showdown. i'd just fold it readless, but if you think he's really spewy/tricky the calldown isn't terrible i guess

Originally Posted by MJPerry

Why limp-call the hijack with QJs? That seems uber-weak/tight.

It is very difficult to steal the button with any raise under 5BB. I'm not big into bumping more than 5BB with QJ.

Originally Posted by squeezyplayer

raise preflop, but as played just check to the raiser instead of making a tiny donklead.

call turn/fold river is pretty much the worst, so you need to decide on the turn whether or not you're going to showdown. i'd just fold it readless, but if you think he's really spewy/tricky the calldown isn't terrible i guess

In hindsight, the smallish bets kind of left me in the dark about my opponent and left the door wide open for him to make a play. By the river I should be left questioning whether my hand is good or if I've been value bet.

HOWEVER, I have seen this guy float and make some tricky plays. My initial instinct is that he is trying to make a play because I have played my hand very soft. This is why I insta called. I could only come up with one hand, AQ, that had me beat that he would value bet right there.

Originally Posted by squeezyplayer

raise preflop, but as played just check to the raiser instead of making a tiny donklead.

call turn/fold river is pretty much the worst, so you need to decide on the turn whether or not you're going to showdown. i'd just fold it readless, but if you think he's really spewy/tricky the calldown isn't terrible i guess

The call down was actually the right play. He showed 99 and knew he was beat. He then berated me for playing QJ, then for calling the raise on the turn with 1 pair, then for calling on the river with 1 pair.

I think he was mostly frustrated with himself for giving away so many chips on 2 bluffs and trying to blame me for it.

I didn't feel bad about how I played the hand at all. My soft played opened him up to the idea of bluffing a pile of chips off to me and I made the right call in the end.

I guess I'm a donk though...