AJs in Small Blind

[Aaron51_lz]

I was playing 10/20 Limit at pokerroom.com in this hand. AsJs was my hand.

Everyone had folded to the button who had been agressive(too aggressive, it seemed, for his skill level) and raising the blinds the last few round on the button and one off the button, when folded to him. I thought then that his raise then, could easily be a steal attempt, and even if he had a hand it would be marginal at best. Maybe a weak Ace or high cards(without an ace) or worse.

So I 3-bet, figuiring that I was probably ahead of the raiser. The big blind folds and now the button reraises, and I call.

Flop comes down Jc-8s-10c. I check and he bets. Call/Raise/Fold. I call, figuiring that he would most likely bet after capping now matter what and I wanted to see if my backdoor flush draw would become live.

Turn is the 3d. I check he bets. Call/raise/fold. Back door flush fizzles, but I can't help but think my top pair is best, yet I did not want to risk the bet, fearing that he might re-raise me, even if he did not have what he was representing. I call, intending to call him down.

River is the 5s. I check he bets and I call.


Thoughts before I post his hand, on all streets and preflop would be great.
Thank You.

[cold_cash]

Pre-flop is fine.

I would probably check-raise the flop and go from there.

I think your river check was bad.

[StellarWind]

You need to play this more aggressively. Bet and 3-bet the flop, checkraise the flop, checkraise the turn: take your pick. But you are going too easy on this overaggressive player. You need to make people pay when you are the favorite. You cannot wait for a guarentee before putting extra money in.

[StellarWind]

[ QUOTE ]
I think your river check was bad.

[/ QUOTE ]
No, it's good and the only consistent follow up to his previous play. Against this type of player bet-folding the river is a very bad idea. You may very well make more money by just checking and inducing this overaggressive player to bluff. Everything that has happened so far has set this up. If you do decide to bet and he raises you need to pay him off. You cannot paint a vivid picture of a small pair and then bet-fold. This type of player could either bluff-raise a bust or raise a slightly worse hand than TPTK for value.

[synthtrance]

On a slight tangent, what if you check-call the flop, then check raise the turn and he re-raises you? Would your TPTK still be good enough to call down?

[oreogod]

[ QUOTE ]
You need to play this more aggressively. Bet and 3-bet the flop, checkraise the flop, checkraise the turn: take your pick. But you are going too easy on this overaggressive player. You need to make people pay when you are the favorite. You cannot wait for a guarentee before putting extra money in.

[/ QUOTE ]

[HajiShirazu]

I don't play 10/20, but if this guy really is an aggro, you should just lead right out on the flop and look to 3-bet, or checkraise the flop and cap a 3-bet, because his cap preflop means next to nothing here.

[Aaron51_lz]

Well, despite being an agressive player, I had not seen him cap a pot yet(although I had only been at the table a good 20-30 minutes), so while he was playing aggressively, him capping did worry me slightly.

I usually would play this hand much more aggressively. Probably check/calling the flop, then check-raising the turn.

However I also figuired that if he had me beat I was saving money by not playing so aggressively and if he had not had anything that I could induce a bluff from my passive play. Thats why I check/called all the way.

Check-raising the flop and then betting the turn would probably end it there, unless he was semi-bluffing, with maybe a straight or flush draw. If he had a reasonable hand he would pay me off, but he also might get out if he was on a bluff.

By the way, he showed down 5-5 and I took down the pot. Played that hand much more aggressively than I thought someone would.

After seeing his hand I am not sure how much more I could have gotten out of him. I probably could have check-raised the flop and then bet out of 4th and 5th street if he wanted to chase his miracle 5. I also probably could have check-raised him on the river for value, but I thought, even against an aggressive player, I wasnt sure that I could profitably gain a bet when ahead and also win the pot if he 3-bet(even if he would 3-bet as a bluff).

More thoughts please.
Thanks

[Reprocess]

um, didnt the river bring a 5 for a set?

[cbragado]

[ QUOTE ]

By the way, he showed down 5-5 and I took down the pot. Played that hand much more aggressively than I thought someone would.


[/ QUOTE ]

He may have put you on an AK calling down with a good ace high or a KQ and an oesd. I can understand his play betting for value on every street, because you didn't raise him post flop.

Heads up I find myself betting bottom pair for value and getting calls from ace high hands. Maybe your opponent thought the same...

On the same token, I would have raised on the flop and took the betting lead away. I would do this in order to affect my opponent's thinking in the future. They have to understand that they'll be facing a lot of bets if they try stealing all of the time.

Did this hand cause other opponents to steal from you more? Did opponents think you would not punish them after the flop? just curious...

[Aaron51_lz]

Late night typo on that 5, I believe it was a 6.

On the topic of other people trying to steal of me no. The reason is the round before the same person tried a steal on me, I 3-bet preflop and then led out on an uninteresting flop and he folded.

I had been playing tigh pre-flop. I wouldnt really mind at all if players thought they could move me off hands, I usually have a much clearer idea of whether i'm ahead in a hand(as opposited to my confusion on this hand). So I had been inducing bluffs part of the night, and playing aggressively when the flop missed me. I had a very good rhythm going last night and this seemed to flow right with it.