Villain limps and calls with a wide range of hands PF and he generally check/folds on a flop when he misses. I raised PF to isolate the villain and take control of the hand. Once the flop came and I bet, the villain INSTA-called. From my experience, and from a couple of books I have read, an insta-call is a fairly reliable tell that your opponent is drawing. So I put him on the flush draw and proceeded to bet the turn. He insta-called again. Once the river came, the villain quickly bet $33 and I'm left wondering wether or not my read was correct.



PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (8 handed)

UTG+1 ($41.80)
MP1 ($208.65)
MP2 ($98)
Hero ($99.75)
Button ($82.65)
SB ($139.40)
BB ($85.05)
UTG ($87.65)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , .
UTG calls $1, 3 folds, Hero raises to $4, 3 folds, UTG calls $3.

Flop: ($9.50) , , (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $6, UTG calls $6.

Turn: ($21.50) (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $12, UTG calls $12.

River: ($45.50) (2 players)
UTG bets $33,
Hero________???

Results in white below:

UTG shows TT.
Outcome: UTG wins $78.50.

Same villain, 10 hands later. Did he really think it would work again?



PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)

UTG+1 ($156.30)
MP1 ($227.25)
MP2 ($100)
MP3 ($99.50)
Hero ($89.70)
Button ($81.05)
SB ($103.50)
BB ($86.95)
UTG ($90.45)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , .
UTG calls $1, 4 folds, Hero raises to $4, 3 folds, UTG calls $3.

Flop: ($9.50) , , (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $6, UTG calls $6.

Turn: ($21.50) (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks.

River: ($21.50) (2 players)
UTG bets $21, Hero calls $21.

Final Pot: $63.50

Results in white below:
UTG has 8c 8h (one pair, eights).
Hero has JavaScript Kh (one pair, kings).
Outcome: Hero wins $63.50.

Originally Posted by WotaWaster

I think A6o is too weak to isolate against this type of player.

If he is a very loose passive type of player, where you will have a lot of fold equity on the flop then it is not too bad to make this play with any hand.

Prior to these 2 hands, I did have him pegged as a loose passive player. I'd seen him limp, call a raise and then check/fold the flop a couple of times already.

However if he is tricky and liable to bluff at pots (which he clearly is here) you can find yourself in a lot of marginal situations. Imagine you flop just the Ace here and he plays back at you. Did he limp call with an A9 type hand?, did he flop 2 pairs?, is he bluffing?

If I flop a marginal hand, I'll proceed with caution. But when I make a raise like this one, I'm not looking to catch a piece of the flop, I'm looking to take down the pot when neither of us hit.

I would also check turn behind. As played I fold river.

I think checking the turn is a great play in hindsight but I'm not so sure I agree with this play based on my reads at the time. I had my opponent drawing to the flush and if the flush doesn't come on the river then my plan was to take down the pot with another substantial bet. My plan isn't going to work if I check the turn because my river bet is going to look pretty suspicious and my opponent will probably pick it off with a wide range of marginal hands.