home game hand vs. a very good player

[SossMan]

Hand from a home game vs. a very good player. .25/.50 blinds. Both our stacks are about $110.
6 handed...only one soft spot. I'm probably the 3rd best player in the game.

Villian open raises from the button for the 100th time in a row for 1.75. I flat call from the SB with KsTd. BB folds.
Pot = 4.00
Flop is J /images/graemlins/spade.gif Q /images/graemlins/heart.gif 3 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif

I check call a pot sized bet.

Turn is the A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif, giving me the nuts.
I check call a pot sized bet.

River is a small diamond. Before the river comes out, he says something to the effect that he "feels a bet coming".
River comes a 5 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif, completing the runner runner flush.

I bet out 20 into a $36 pot.
He thinks for about 2 min. and puts me in for another $38.
I call.

thoughts?

[Hellmouth]

As soon as the ace comes out I would start to bet because it does put two diamonds on the board as well. You most likely did not protect your hand when you had the nuts and let your opponant draw out on you. Since the A is a high card he might have put you on Aces and continued to play his draw but I think that a big bet would have made it an unprofitable play to try to draw out on you and he would have folded before the river.

Then again, you might not have been thinking flush draw at the time. But you still should be trying to get more bets into the pot with the nut straight.

Greg

[Kaz The Original]

Check raise big on the turn. Given that he could have ATC here you have to put the pressure on and charge him if he had a draw or a set.

Note, check raising, not leading out on this turn is undoubtably correct here because you have to protect your out of position checks vs this opponent.

[solid]

I think the turn check/call is very player dependant and that you're committed to getting all the money in on that river card after playing so passively on the first two streets. What if the river card paired the board? How strong of a hand does the villian need to fire pot sized bets on two streets?

An alternate line I might have used would be to lead for approx. half the pot on the turn and expect to get raised by strong two pair / set hands.

[solid]

"Note, check raising, not leading out on this turn is undoubtably correct here because you have to protect your out of position checks vs this opponent."

Can you explain this a little more, Kaz? It seems like leading the turn would be OK if original poster would do this with hands other than K10 (ie, a made hand on the flop, or a decent ace).

[Tilt]

The runner-runner flush if he made it is just bad luck. If you raise the turn and force him off a flush draw you are losing money in the long-run. On the other hand you can't really put him on the runner flush draw...I don't see how you can make that laydown very often. You are willing to go all-in on this hand as soon as your nut straight hits. Its just a matter of how you get there IMO.

That being said, I think a min sized turn c/r gets him all-in much more often...if he's on two pair he'll either play back or draw to the boat.

Your check/call line doesnt sound like its fooling him much. But maybe he outhought himself here...he may think he talked you into bluffing the river and now thinks his two pair or trips are good.

[BobboFitos]

Hey Soss -

I dont have general guidelines for this hand, (I dont know if you're worried about villain backdooring the flush) but I can offer some general poker wisdom I'm sure you're very familiar with:
Despite villain open raising from the button with a wide range of hands, and perhaps its annoying, rather than "protecting" your money, I'd let it go. KTo is a terrible hand out of position with such deep stacks.

Also, as a general guide, if you dont like him auto raising your blind, reraise him with a hand like JTs and auto bet hte flop, and see how he likes it. I'd suggest reraising with anything that is a non dominated pair type hand and not pocket pairs, as playing them for set value with such deep stacks is so much more useful.

[SossMan]

Just for clarification, he had not passed an opportunity to open raise when folded to him on the button. Probably 6 for 6, or something like that. I repopped him once with, coincidentally, KTs, and he folded.

He could literally have any hand there.

After he fires into me on the flop and on the turn on that board, I know that he knows I'm strong since I didn't raise him somewhere.
He knows that I'm aware that he's been more than liberal with his blind hands and that I don't have to put him on a big hand there, so my check-calls have to be scary to him.

I almost repopped on the turn, but I thought that I would get a curiosity call if I led on the river. I may even get a frisky raise if the flush doesn't come and he has two pair or a set.

I don't think that there's any way that I could have folded to the river bet from him, though I tried my best to convince myself that I was beat.

He had K /images/graemlins/diamond.gif2 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif for the rivered nut flush.

[tbach24]

I'd fire the turn. You'd be surprised how many players will miss the fact that odd straight draws like this one miss. He may think that you are playing back at him. Flush draws and paired boards are much more obvious than straight draws.