Party $30/$60, hand #1 - JJ

[Fianchetto]

No great reads on anybody yet as I’m fairly new to this game. I haven’t played a whole lot of the 30/60, just a few sessions so far, so I'll post some hands I was wondering about. The game was okay; very aggressive with almost every pot raised and many times reraised preflop. 1 or 2 soft spots were cold calling raises with weak hands, but they were not involved in this hand.

Party Poker 30/60 Hold'em (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, J/images/graemlins/heart.gif.
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, CO calls, <font color="#CC3333">Button 3-bets</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero caps</font>, CO calls, Button calls.

Flop: (13.50 SB) A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, CO folds, Button calls.

It was an ugly flop for me but check folding seems too weak.

Turn: (7.75 BB) A/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets…..</font>

I didn’t like getting called on the flop much, but again on fourth street checking didn’t seem right since now that I've got it heads up if it goes check/bet I don’t know where I'm at. I guess I could go into check/call down mode since I'm probably way ahead or way behind...except for QQ, which actually is a likely holding for my opponent. So I lead the turn planning to fold to a raise….

What do you think of my line here?

[Victor]

.....if he calls i check and fold.......this game sucks sometimes...

[Fabian]

I think you played this one right.

[Bill C]

If he raises I fold; if he calls, I check-call.

[K C]

Let's look at what you may be up against here. If he has an A or K then you're in trouble of course. Pair of queens will do you in here. Excluding all this, what could the guy be 3-betting the flop with, and calling your re-raise? Lower PP? Not unless he's a maniac.

My guess is that you're in trouble here, and he's going to raise you on the next move.

Calling a 3 bet with this PF is something you're going to have to think about, and it comes down to the person doing it, but at an aggressive table without any good reads it's not a bad play. However, I wonder about capping it with this though.

Next, you've got to hope an A or a K doesn't flop, and you had both. In this situation, it might seem weak to check and fold to any bet, but your chances in this hand don't seem very good, and sometimes you've just got to lay it down. The only way your flop bet will scare him out is if you have him beat, and if you don't, you're playing right into his hands with these bets.

KC
http://kingcobrapoker.com

[DeeJ]

Yup, ugly. He could be 3-betting with 88 or 99 or TT, or AQ or AK or AA or KK or QQ. Mostly I think you're beat here, but given the 8 BB in the pot it's probably worth calling down from the turn check-call rather than risk being raised by 72o /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[DeeJ]

I always cap with JJ. It's just strong enough in its own right, and can do real damage when you hit the set with an Ace / King / Queen alongside it.

[Fianchetto]

Button mucked to my turn bet, and I take it down.

Did I push him off QQ? I'd like to think so, but it's probably more likely he got away from something like TT, or 99.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Luke]

If you can comfortably fold to a raise, I like the turn bet.

But in many instances I'd prefer a turn check-call as better hands are not folding (with the possible exception of QQ), there are probably not a lot of free cards you need to worry about, and you may get a worse hand to bluff at least one of the 2 streets.

Luke

[billuhbong]

always cap with jj wut u expect him to fold to a 3bet even if the player u know is extremely tight, papapaplzzzzzz

[DeeJ]

a 3-bet where? Depends on the flop?! Jacks are the 5th best hand in the game. No way am I putting in limited cash preflop.