The HEPAP Line

[jrz1972]

For those not already familiar with it. Note three key details: First, I am in position after showing aggression preflop. Second, I flopped a good hand. Third, my opponent is betting into me.

Villian is LAP.

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (9 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J/images/graemlins/club.gif, Q/images/graemlins/club.gif.
<font color="#666666">6 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, BB calls.

Flop: (4.50 SB) 8/images/graemlins/club.gif, J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 7/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">BB bets</font>, Hero calls.

Turn: (3.25 BB) J/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">BB bets</font>, Hero calls.

River: (5.25 BB) 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">BB bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, BB folds.

Final Pot: 8.25 BB

[Amerretto]

FWIW as I'm a newb. I would have raised the flop, and turn, rather than slow playing. Make him pay for his draw / overcards. Let me know if I'm wrong in my assumptions.

[jrz1972]

If your opponent is on a draw or has overcards, you want him to keep betting into you. Note that on this hand, there is a very good chance that if I raise the flop, Villian is check/folding the turn UI. If I raise the turn, he might very well drop immediately. Neither of those lines extracts as much when I'm ahead.

[mannika]

[ QUOTE ]
FWIW as I'm a newb. I would have raised the flop, and turn, rather than slow playing. Make him pay for his draw / overcards. Let me know if I'm wrong in my assumptions.

[/ QUOTE ]

The fault in your assumptions is that you naturally assume that he is on a draw or overcards. Given that he led the flop HU, he is likely happy with his hand, and probably has at least a pair already.

In situations like this where you are probably well ahead or well behind, it pays to call down (and then possibly raise on the river if you are very confident your hand is best) in order to maximize bets. In this case, BB folded to the river raise, meaning that if you had raised him earlier on, he probably would have folded, costing you extra money.

Generally this line should be only taken heads up, as in multi-way pots the pot is usually large enough to try and win it right there, and there is a greater chance of someone being on a strong draw.

Edit: As JRZ mentioned, even if he is indeed on overcards or a draw, you want to keep him betting into you. Because the pot is relatively small, the advantages of getting additional bets from the villain outweigh the disadvantages of possibly losing the pot to a made draw or a hit overcard.

[itsmesteve]

Depending on reads, BB leading, imo, doesn't mean he's happy with his hand. He's trying to show strength against what he sees as a steal raise in defense of his blind. If he like his hand, i'd expect something like ck/call, ck/raise, bet. This is what makes this line particularly profitable. BB could be betting basically nothing, and raising may very well fold someone who would otherwise continue to spew chips into your stack.

[ArturiusX]

Beautiful use of the line.

The name of the game isn't raising our post flop aggression, its extracting money from a sucker. Lets him draw without proper odds then smash him.

[MrEngenic]

I like it, especially if he likes to bluff alot. If you raise on the turn you will be 3-bet by the straight and a bluff will fold. I would do the same here, and I would also wait like 20 seconds before calling that turn bet, and do the same on the river. If you autocall the turn you will signal "I will call you down" and if you autoraise you will signal "I got an overpair or a jack". Usually works pretty good. Nice play.
I would raise the river here even without the 8, it's much more probably you are ahead against two pair or something here I think.

[hicherbie]

very well played against an agg player. if an blank had hit the turn instead of clinching your hand, you would have popped him there right?