ATo in MP (5/10)

[BigEndian]

I can't say I see anything wrong or right with this hand. I'm still cuting my teeth short-handed - never having given it an extended run. I'm just playing however feels natural.

SB seemed a little LAG to me, but again I'm no expert and even LAGs find acorns now and then. BB was really the player that had me a little worried by them just coming along for the ride while SB and I fought it out.

Party Poker 5/10 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed)

Preflop: BigEndian is CO with A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, T/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
<font color="666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="CC3333">BigEndian raises</font>, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">SB 3-bets</font>, BB calls, BigEndian calls.

Flop: (9 SB) 4/images/graemlins/club.gif, 3/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, T/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">SB bets</font>, BB calls, <font color="CC3333">BigEndian raises</font>, SB calls, BB calls.

Turn: (7.50 BB) 9/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
SB checks, BB checks, <font color="CC3333">BigEndian bets</font>, SB calls, BB calls.

River: (10.50 BB) J/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
SB checks, BB checks, BigEndian checks.

Final Pot: 10.50 BB
<font color="green">Main Pot: 10.50 BB, between SB, BB and BigEndian.</font>

- Jim

[The Bear]

Not sure why you checked the river. Looks like the easiest of easy value bets.

[RunDownHouse]

I'd consider value-betting on the river, depending on reads. Do you honestly think the SB would 3bet KQ, QJ, KJ? The SB could certainly 3bet JJ, QQ, KK, or AA, but would he shut down like that after you pop him on the flop?

He could be waiting to the river to raise you with any of those hands, which is why I don't especially mind your check. He might play AK like that, in which case he probably folds, but the BB might call.

[Nate tha' Great]

Played fine until the river, where you missed a value bet. These folks will pay off with hands like 77, A4, and even AK/AQ. If you get check-raised, so be it; make a fold-call decision based on your impression of the opponent and move on to the next hand. But you can't miss value bets in these very loose games when your opponents are just checking and calling the whole way.

The other line to take, since a flop raies will not protect your hand, might be to call the flop and raise a turn blank, since a flop raise does little to protect your hand. I think that's probably pretty close in EV to the way that you played it, the main downside being that you risk getting 3-bet on the expensive street if he does have a big overpair. OTOH, if he's LAG enough to raise preflop with a variety of hands, and bet the turn with nothing, you might make more money that way. Also, if you are extremely suspicious of BB's cold call (and there's really no reason to be), you can consider folding if the turn action goes bet-raise.

That said, if the SB is *super* laggy, I usually like to raise the flop here in the hope that he 3-bets with a worse hand, which sets up a cap *and* could eliminate the BB from drawing to a hand that has outs against yours.

e.g.

SB is tightish and passive - raise flop to avoid uncomfortable turn decisions.

SB is somewhat loose aggressive - wait to raise turn to maximize profit with likely best hand.

SB is very loose aggressive - raise flop and go to war as soon as you can since TPTK is a huge hand against these guys and he'll play back at you with worse.

[joker122]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm still cuting my teeth short-handed - never having given it an extended run

[/ QUOTE ]

I may have guessed this based on your river play. It took me a while to start making what seemed like razor thin value bets...but the hands these players will showdown are unbelievable.

[Nate tha' Great]

[ QUOTE ]
. It took me a while to start making what seemed like razor thin value bets.

[/ QUOTE ]

This value bet is about as razor thin as the blade on the knockoff Swiss Army Knife that I picked up at the dollar store the other day.

[joker122]

[ QUOTE ]
This value bet is about as razor thin as the blade on the knockoff Swiss Army Knife that I picked up at the dollar store the other day.


[/ QUOTE ]

How much mental effort did you expend on that comparison? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I agree that it's a clear value bet. I was just trying to stress the fact that some bets that would appear thin have alot of value in this game.

edit - let's see those results in your JJ hand.