Confusing hand

[William Jockusch]

My opponent looked like a reasonable player in my PT.

Party Poker 15/30 Hold'em (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, T/images/graemlins/club.gif.
<font color="#666666">6 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, BB calls.

Flop: (4.66 SB) 7/images/graemlins/spade.gif, Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
BB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises</font>, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.33 BB) T/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
BB checks, Hero checks.

River: (4.33 BB) 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
BB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises</font>, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 8.33 BB

[lil']

Flop is standard.

The turn check by your opponent is odd, and I would suspect I was being set up. He check raises with two face cards on the flop against a PFR, then checks the turn? You have outs to improve (ace, jack, 10), so I like the turn check to see if one of those cards show up. Giving a free card here is probably not going to hurt you.

On the river, after he checks again, you have to decide if you can bet for value. No way is a better hand folding. If he had a 7 or PP, one would think he would not be check raising that flop with two overcards appearing. It would also be tough for him to call with ace high here. It may sound boring, but I'd check the river too.

[BigDan9]

Hmmm... A few strange moves by the BB, but it's hard to believe he would check-raise twice with no better than a pair of tens. I'd take advantage of his check on the river to get a free showdown as I don't think betting for value will usually be the right play.

[Paluka]

I think this river bet is just too thin. I understand why you called- the checkraise seems really out of nowhere and fishy. It could even be one of those where he thinks you are bluffing but his hand doesn't beat a bluff so he has to raise. But chances are that he smashed your face.

[KidPokerX]

i might consider folding to the flop c/r

if you do not, i would not bet the river. You are not gaining much value, as I could not see him calling with a weaker hand. pot is small, check/fold river

[Edge34]

[ QUOTE ]
i might consider folding to the flop c/r

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know what the OP knows about the BB prior to this hand, but I don't see folding to the flop checkraise in this case. Look at it like this: he openraised in the CO. Anybody with some kind of positional knowledge understands that the range of hands he could have here is massive. A tricky, aggressive player could checkraise with any piece of this flop, a PP, or nothing at all. With the overcard and gutshot, as well as the slight possibility that you've already got the best hand at this time, folding isn't a very good option.

Checking through on the river would be a good idea, though.

[William Jockusch]

I will say that at all times during this hand, I felt folding was completely out of the question. On the flop, I had a gutshot to the nuts. On the end, my opponent's play was just too weird.

I am also pretty clear that it was right to bet the flop.

The parts of the hand I'm not sure about are:

1) Should I have bet the turn?
2) Was I correct to bet the river?

When an opponent check raises me, then checks the next card, I just don't know what to think.

[Edge34]

I think he got tricky and wanted to pull the trifecta on you.

I figure if he DID have a piece of this, its limited to AK, AQ, KQ, or 77. I'm 3-betting AK from the BB against an openraise from the CO, and calling the rest.

Should you have bet the turn? I don't think so. You're still behind to him if he's got a K, Q, or set, and this card just made AJ's straight (yet another possibility with this card...don't see checkraising with AJ on that flop).

I wouldn't bet that river. You didn't improve, so if you were behind before, you still are. I also don't think he calls here with anything you can beat. Save yourself the bet and get the free showdown.

[William Jockusch]

I am going to give the results now, because the conclusions virtually everyone is drawing about the hand turned out to be incorrect.

My opponent showed 7 /images/graemlins/heart.gif3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif for a pair of sevens. This surprised me as well -- not so much because I won the hand, as because his VPIP etc. seemed perfectly normal.

[Edge34]

[ QUOTE ]
I am going to give the results now, because the conclusions virtually everyone is drawing about the hand turned out to be incorrect.

My opponent showed 7 /images/graemlins/heart.gif3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif for a pair of sevens. This surprised me as well -- not so much because I won the hand, as because his VPIP etc. seemed perfectly normal.

[/ QUOTE ]

Knowing his hand, I guess it isn't all THAT surprising. I did mention that his reading you for a weak raise would lead to a potential checkraise (I'd do it too), with any piece of the board. From his point of view, your check-through on the turn meant you WERE weak, and he knew the 2 probably wouldn't help you so he did it again.

Not knowing the hands, I still wouldn't have bet the turn or the river. Sure, its easy to say you should do it knowing his hand, but maybe next time we could use a little more info on the player ahead of time? "Normal" didn't help too much...

-Edge

[jetsonsdogcanfly]

Id say the turn check is pretty standard here. he's not folding anything you beat, and you have some redraws. You certainly don't want to get checkraised again on the turn.

I'd say the river bet is not a good idea, because most hands he could call with that you beat are hands he would likely three bet with preflop. The only one i can see him calling with that you beat is JT, which would probably be my most likely read on this hand. There's no shame in checking down after raising from the cutoff, especially when you get to see a strange player's cards.

[William Jockusch]

That's part of the thing that's so strange about it. His VPIP was like 25%. I didn't have a whole lot of hands on him, so I couldn't get much more of a read than that.

I couldn't for the life of me fathom the rason for the flop checkraise, followed by the turn and river checks. I did think JT was a possibility, which is a lot of the reason I bet the river.

After he checkraised me again, nothing made sense, so I called out of pure confusion.