10-20 - missed bet?

10-20 home game, fairly loose, UTG raises, on caller, i'm in cutoff w/JQs. I call. Button, calls,as do SB and BB. 5 players.


Flop: J-Q-7 rainbow. Beautiful.


UTG, tricky player, bets out, I raise. He calls.

Two players


Turn: A. He bets.


Do I call or raise?


Results later


Tim

Tim,


As an aside, you flopped big and may have wanted to call on the flop and raise the turn. UTG will often bet again on the turn and with this strong a flop you usually want another weak call or two.


Getting back to your question, if you raise the turn and he has a big set or two bigger pair he will usually (but not always) reraise and bet the river. Since he is tricky you pay him off costing you two extra big bets. However, since you have a queen and jack he won’t often have a big set (why wouldn’t AA make it three bets on the flop?). Based on the action so far he is more likely holding a hand such as AK or AT suited and bet the turn to prevent you from taking a “free card” on a draw (e.g., T9s) or just to punish what he may think is a weaker hand (e.g., KQ). I put you as a medium favorite to still be leading here.


Another alternative is to call the turn and raise on the river unless an ace, king or seven comes. Even a tricky player won’t reraise with less than the nuts in a spot such as this and this will get him to bet off weak hands a tricky player planned to fold to a turn raise (e.g. TT). Maybe someone else can comment on this plan of attack/defense.


Regards,


Rick

I called. I put him on a high ace, maybe A-Js.


River: Q!!!


He looked at me, realized that I most likely had a queen, checked, I bet, he called.


I won (duh), he had A-10.


Tim

nm