Playing against LA

I am in a 20 game that started loose but has since gotten tighter as fish have been weeded out.


I am on BB with 9cj9s.


All fold to cutoff who open raises. Now cutoff is a tricky LA player. I call.


flop comes 2d 6s Td.


Not great but not terrible.


I check, he bets I call. I do not raise because I am either behind and he is not folding his over cards in this spot.


I plan to bet with any card T or under. Turn brings 7c. I bet he raises. Like I said he is tricky. does he have a T, an overpair. Or is he still drawing.

I call. figuring I am ahead plus I have a few outs


River brings 9h. Help but of a curious kind. Ad8d is a likely holding, and would be consistent with how he played.

check, bet call.


Results in separate post.


Comments appreciated.

He turns over 9d Jd. My hand is good.


My play felt very passive, but he is a habitual bluffer. So not sure I want to slow him down so much. I like my play on the flop and the turn bet, But should I have reraised the turn, come out betting on the river, check raised the river.


I tend to be very passive on the river, (a leak?). But also notice that most of myopponents bet their busted draws on the end, and I end up collecting bets taht I would otherwise have missed.

IMO, you played this hand WAY too passively. He is in steal position, is known to be tricky, and you are heads-up. Likely that your pair of Jacks is by far the best hand.


When the flop comes, and you still have an overpair, you should make your move. This is because he may have a flush draw or overcards, and you don't want to give him any cheap looks at the turn or river.


I would have check-raised the flop, and either made it four bets if he reraised, or more likely, called the reraise and bet out on the turn when the offsuit 7 comes. In this case, unless he was playing 89 or hit some random two pair, you are probably good.


Of course, even bluffers sometimes have a hand, so if you get raised on the turn, I would call him down the rest of the way.


Without hitting your set, it's tough to go to the river with a pair of Jacks and still win the hand, even heads-up. So, with a beautiful board like the one you had, you have to be aggressive and take the pot as early as possible.


DC

Is this meant to be humorous, or did you misread the post? He had 99, so the T was an overcard to him.


Nobody had JJ in this hand.


~D

I think you've got a monster. Sure, he can have A8, but there's a *lot* of hands he can have that you beat. I'd be looking for exactly *two* bets to go in the pot on the river. Which means I'd bet out and call a raise.


Backing up, I can't figure out your strategy of check-call the flop, but betting the turn. You said that you might be way behind so you called. OK, now if you're way behind, why not let him keep betting (to avoid calling raises). I don't see that it's such a big deal to check-call the turn because it's not clear if you're getting or giving a free card.


Particularly with the turn giving you four gutshot outs, I wouldn't be looking for a confrontation there.


Regards, Lee

"Now I'll go see what really happened."

I agree, hand played too passively. I don't think I play agressively enough, and I would have raised pre-flop without a doubt.

I agree that it is ok to call this type of person down, but I think you should call all the way, which means not betting the turn no matter what card comes. If it had been a nine then a check raise may have been the best play, as it is you have to call.

Passive play is can work well against an aggressive player. Let him take the lead.


I think the turn is a good place to bring out the check/raise unless you are pretty sure he will bet the turn and river, then I would wait and check/raise the river.

Whoops!


I think I saw the poster's name, and that was the end of any reasonable post I might have provided... /images/smile.gif


Sorry about that! Ignore my original post...


Jason