Call river bet w/ AKs?

[string4]

First off, I think there is an obviously huge error in checking the turn, but please focus on the river play. UTG had just joined table so no read, SB was a total yahoo, 82% VP$IP, and went to showdown over 55% (only 23 hands)

PokerStars 0.50/1.00 Hold'em (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A/images/graemlins/club.gif, K/images/graemlins/club.gif.
UTG calls, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, MP3 calls, CO calls, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, SB calls, BB calls, UTG calls, MP3 folds, CO calls.

Flop: (11 SB) 5/images/graemlins/spade.gif, J/images/graemlins/club.gif, 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, <font color="#CC3333">CO bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, SB calls, BB folds, UTG calls, CO calls.

Turn: (9.50 BB) 2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
SB checks, UTG checks, CO checks, Hero checks.
<font color="blue"> Wow, what a big mistake to check here I think...I was concerned about the UTG coldcalling the flop raise, and I chickened out and took the free card. I think if I would have bet out I would have at least wound up heads up on river...opinions? </font>

River: (9.50 BB) 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
SB checks, <font color="#CC3333">UTG bets</font>, CO folds, Hero folds, SB calls.

Final Pot: 11.50 BB

Given what i perceive to be an obvious mistake by checking on the turn, is this a good laydown? When he bet on the river, I knew the pot odds warranted a call, but I was concerned about having another (unpredictable) player behind me yet to act.
Been working on knowing when to call on river w/ mediocre hands (a la SSH)...but in this case isn't my hand quite a bit less than a mediocre hand? Thanks for your critique )

[_bustedflush_]

Your turn check tells everyone you are on overcards or a flush draw. Neither came through on the river and they are betting into you. May as well fold.

If you had bet the turn and found yourself with this board and 2 or 3 opponents, I doubt you are good 10% of the time to make it worth a call. HU would be an easy call for me.

[djhoneybear]

After the flop you have a backdoor flush draw and two over cards (approx. 4 outs). You need about 10 to 1 to continue. You are getting 9 to 1 plus the implied odds to continue and decide to raise the flop better. In this spot you either have to raise or fold and I like your play. However, the purpose for me raising is to get a free card so that I can see if I can make my hand. The turn doesn't improve you. In my opinion betting the turn would have been a huge mistake. You probably don't have the best hand, it is possible someone in front of you was hoping to do a check-raise, and the field is too large for a bluff to work. Checking is definitely the right play and is the entire reason for raising the flop. The river also doesn't improve you so I check fold. It seems your play was right but your thinking isn't quite where it needs to be. Ace high isn't going to win this pot very often, with everyone checking the turn the pot isn't particularly large - this isn't the kind of spot you want to be calling a river bet.

[Zoelef]

I call the flop and check/fold UI on the turn. AKs is powerful but I don't like betting/raising without some other redraws against three opponents.

As for the river, you can probably go either way. I think some other player gets at least a pair here 90%+ of the time, so I fold.

[jason1990]

I like the flop raise, both as a free card play and as a way to clean up your overcard outs.

I think it would have been a mistake to bet on the turn. I don't think a turn bet would have gotten everyone to fold and I don't think you're going to win this pot in a showdown without improving.

On the river, with no read on UTG, I think it's safe to assume the chances he has you beat are greater than the pot odds, making the fold correct. But if you had a specific reason to think it was likely he was bluffing with nothing, then I think a raise would be correct in order to drive out the SB.

[PokerProdigy]

I actually don't think you should bet the turn, why not just take the free card? I doubt anyone else will fold so you might as well just check the turn and hope and ace or king comes off. Since the pot is so big on the river, you might be able to get away with a river call.

[FishHooks]

definatly take the free card against 3 other players, heads up bet this.

[Maurader1]

Looks like UTG could be slowplaying a monster that got checked through on the turn..I'd fold the river since we did not improve and anything except for a bluff will have us beat. From the looks of it even if we did bet the turn, we'll get called by SB and UTG. But even if we could, what is the advantage in betting the turn and getting it heads up, I would think we are still behind, no?

[LuckyStrike]

Nice hand. I think you have too many opponents on the turn to make betting it a good play.

[Rambino]

Tarding:

I like the whole line. Too many opponents left to bet the turn unimproved. Somebody has at least a pair, so fold the river.

[gvibes]

[ QUOTE ]
In this spot you either have to raise or fold and I like your play.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why do you have to raise or fold? In this situation, I would call the flop, and fold the turn unimproved.

[jason1990]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
In this spot you either have to raise or fold and I like your play.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why do you have to raise or fold? In this situation, I would call the flop, and fold the turn unimproved.

[/ QUOTE ]
By raising, you might get hands like K5 or 67 to fold, thereby increasing your chance of winning the pot when you hit one of your overcards. You might also get a free card.

Each person left to act after you raise has a certain percentage chance to win the hand. When they fold, those percentage points are distributed among the remaining players and you may get some of them. The extra percentage points you get when they fold correspond to a proportion of this large pot. Since the pot is so large, even a small proportion would make up for the extra bet you spent by making the raise. So, usually in this situation, raising has a higher EV than calling.

[Uppercut]

[ QUOTE ]


Given what i perceive to be an obvious mistake by checking on the turn, is this a good laydown? When he bet on the river, I knew the pot odds warranted a call, but I was concerned about having another (unpredictable) player behind me yet to act.
Been working on knowing when to call on river w/ mediocre hands (a la SSH)...but in this case isn't my hand quite a bit less than a mediocre hand? Thanks for your critique )

[/ QUOTE ]

You have Ace high. That is the definition of a less than mediocre hand. Given the fact that you have an unpredictable player behind you yet to act, this is an easy fold on the river.