Hand to critique

40/80 hold'em. I very rarely play this high, but there are 3 very bad players in this game. This game rarely goes (2 or 3 times a week) so usually the bad players are in my 20/40 game.


I'm on the button with AQo. One very bad loose-passive player limps from early position, another bad player limps from the cutoff and I raise.


A very aggressive local pro calls from the BB. We see the flop 4 handed. Flop comes T86 rainbow.


Checked to me, I bet, BB raises, cutoff calls, I call.


Should I have called? Folded? Re-raised to buy a free card?


My hand pretty much sucks at this point. Two pair is completely reasonable for either player, as is a straight, or a pair with a Q or a A, not to mention me hitting a Q gives anybody with J9 the nut straight.


The problem with re-raising is the BB knows me pretty well and she would more than likely 4-bet me.


Anyway, I called and the turn brought a Q. BB bets out, cutoff calls, and I raise. BB calls, cutoff flashes everybody at the table JJ and yells at the dealer as he mucks.


Blank hits on the river, BB checks, I check.


Any comments are appreciated.

The flop initial bet and the subsequent call (as opposed to a fold or reraise) are debatable...I wont even get into it...but why did you check the river???? Surely, he would have 3 bet you on the turn if he can beat AQ?


You should bet. If he folds, so be it. But way more often than not, he will make a crying call.

In the heat of the moment I would have played just like you did.


However, I think the better play is to take the free turn card. There is no way you are stealing that pot on the flop, and probably not on the turn either. Love the raise on the turn. Have to drive out hands like JJ which are dangerous (six outs). I have the same problem on the river, but with last position I would usually bet. Check raising the river is a pretty amateurish play. If she is beating you she reraises the turn.

Cut-off yells at the dealer and shows his cards after not raising pre-flop, nor betting the flop, nor 3-betting the flop and folding despite possibly having 6 outs on the turn getting over 11:1?


I understand why people show their cards when folding a big pocket pair. They're frustrated and disappointed. Never mind that there were still two of you involved and two jacks are significant cards with the board Q-T-8-6.


But why a person blames the dealer for the cards that come out has always been a mystery to me. Perhaps someone can explain it to me.

T-8-6 is what I call a "limper's flop." (Sounds like a dance step, doesn't it?). Cards bunched up in the 8-9-T-J range. Unlikely I'm going to win the pot by betting the flop and likely I'm going to be check-raised by someone who either has a piece of the flop or realize I probably don't.


I feel no disgrace in raising pre-flop and then checking the flop. Reserving that option is one of the reasons I raise pre-flop anyway.

I show my AQo, and the BB shows 97 for the second nuts.


Somebody at the table asked her why she didn't re-raise the turn and she said something lame like she thought I had J9. Friend of mine sitting next to me whispered "bullshit, she was gonna check-raise your ass on the river". Since I was thinking the same thing, I am pretty that was her thinking.


Flop: I probably should have checked. I hate checking in this situation, though. There is 8.5 SBs in the pot, so if all of them fold as little as 7 or 8% of the time then your semi-bluff was correct.


Turn: If she had 3-bet I would have folded, so the only way she was getting more money out of me was either trying for the check-raise on the river or using the stop and go. I am not sure if she is realized this, or if she just felt like check-raising me. She does like to play games with me. She one time check-raised me on every street (flop, turn, and river) in the same hand.


River: I do a lot of value betting on the river, sometimes very, very thin. So this check on the river was very uncommon for me. But for some reason the entire hand just didnt feel right. I was very confused by her play and by the whole hand in general. My friend (who is a very good player) beside me said he would have played it just like I did, but he would have bet the river. I dont usually buy the "poker instincts" play, but I think that maybe my instincts picked up something my brain wasn't processing.

I often ask players who blame the dealers for their misfortune if they also get upset at the postman for the bills they get in the mail. The typical response is a blank look. Personal introspection is usually in short supply at a poker table.