interesting 87s hand

Bellagio $8/$16. We were five or six-handed, and an aggressive player (who I thought was adjusting nicely for the shorthanded game, unlike the others) open-raises my big blind, either 1st or 2nd UTG. All fold to me (told you they weren't adjusting well) and I call with 8d7d.


Flop was 875, no flush possibility. I check, he bets, I throw out 16 chips, and I let him take me to 5 bets before finally calling. I figure I'm against pocket 66, or an overpair such as TT, not a set or straight, but decide to see if I improve.


Turn comes the 9, I check and he checks. I kick myself.


River 10, I check, he bets, I call ($130 or so in the pot). What is his hand?


All comments welcome. Will post the answer later.


--jf

why go off for all those bets on the flop and then give a free card???


I would bet the flop, get raised(by anything probably), lead again on the turn, call a raise, and check/call the river.


I dunno what his hand is, but most likely 99,TT,JJ.

If you think you still had a pretty good shot at having the best hand on the turn (heavily opponent dependent in these short handed situations), I would have bet the turn. The scary turn card protects your hand from a raise by most hands better than yours, while making your opponent pretty unlikely to bet a hand worse than yours, as the 9 certainly looks more likely to help your hand than his.


I'm assuming you were going for a check raise by your comment about kicking yourself when the turn checked around. In my opinion, obvious scare cards are not a good time to go for a check raise when you think you hold the best hand, as your opponent will be only too happy to check behind you much of the time (unless the card helped him, which might leave you facing an unhappy reraise).


As to his hand, JJ certainly comes to mind rather quickly, although I would bet any set or straight on the end in his shoes.

Actually I kicked myself because I "realized" he was making an extended play for a free card.

Sadly, he showed down T9 offsuit. I'm sure he would have called a turn bet, but I think I should have arranged to make one instead of getting a bunch of money in on the flop.


I was just so sure I was beating him on the flop, and sure he would bet the turn himself.


--jf

A,8