That Scary Turn Ace

[Chris Villalobos]

Here is a play that I made last night and I'm wondering if it has +EV. I think it was a good play.

I'm in the BB with [Ks,Qc]. All fold to the Button who raises, the Small Blind Calls, and I call. I could have re-raised here, but I didn't. Possibly a poor play their, but I didn't want to make a huge pot with KQo.

The flop comes: 3s,Kd,4d

SB checks I bet and the Button raises, knocking the SB out of the pot. I call. I'm pretty sure I have the best hand here, but decide to see what the turn brings before I make a big move, I can also slow play this hand, letting the button try to bully me with something lessor. He may think I was semi-bluffing with the two diamonds out and two cards to a low straight. I also may be betting a worse pair than kings here.

The turn brings possibly the worst card in the deck for my hand: Ah

Well, instead of checking, I bet. Is this elementary? If I get raised again I can fold semi-comfortably, if I get called, well I would have called anyway if I had checked and he bet. The best thing that could happen is that he folds, because he doesn't have kings beat and he can't take the pressure when I bet at him again after he tried to stop bluff me on the Flop.

[Dynasty]

Check-raising seems better since there's not much reason to believe your beat on the turn either. If he checks behind, he's probably drawing very slim and it's worthwhile to give him the free card if he'll call one bet on the river with an inferior hand.

[Chris Villalobos]

If I still check-raise the turn when the Ace arrives what have I gained? I would guess he would throw away anything I can beat, but call with a hand that beats mine. Playing this way I would lose two or three bets when he beats me but only win one when I beat him. Maybe not, he might be the type to pay me off, but I think the former is more likely. I do agree with you that there is a good chance that the Ace did not help him and he may have as little as two outs.
I could possibly do better by check calling the Turn then betting the river no matter what comes. He may be more likely to pay me off this way because my River bet will sometimes seem odd to him, and he may put in a curiosity call with a hand I can beat. This works more like a slow play.

[Dynasty]

He will call with many hands that you can beat- starting with KJ. You are giving your opponent too much credit. You flopped top pair/second best kicker in a short-handed game. That hand is a monster.

By the way, the pot is big enough that you want him to fold many hands here which you beat.

[Ikke]

Preflop calling is fine. Your hand is good, but you dont have best position and two other players are in the pot. Heads up I would give more weight to reraising, but 3-handed not.

On the flop betting is fine, but checking is certainly an option as well. Button has, especially on this board, virtually an auto-bet. Furthermore SB might call with a hand that doesnt warrant it, like an ace or maybe even something like QJ etc. Maybe he will even try to run a bluff and check-raise. So by checking you will have a lot of options, either check-call and for instance raise the turn, or check-raise right there. But you should be betting a fair percentage of the times as well, because you will often try to steal with a bet in this kind of situations. So you should cover up for that as well.

On the turn I would just check-call. I don't know if I can lay down to a raise. A tricky opponent might do that with a reasonable king or a flushdraw, in the hope you will lay down a better king. See that he can always check the river behind. Isnt position nice.

I dont like check-raising either. This is because I think the ace CAN have helped him. A lot of players will raise your flop bet with ace high, because they either suspect a bluf, or can opt to take a free turn card for instance. I also think the chance of getting the turn checked through is quite low. The ace is an excellent opportunity for your opponent to (semi) bluff again. And, as Dynasty said, if he has a worse hand you probably dont have many outs against you unless he has a flushdraw.

Regards