River - bet out or go for free showdown?

[theblitz]

Villain is new at the table.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 6 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

CO ($22.15)
Button ($21.99)
SB ($34.45)
BB ($19.3)
Hero ($43.4)
MP ($24.25)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A/images/graemlins/spade.gif, K/images/graemlins/club.gif. SB posts a blind of $0.1.
<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $1</font>, MP calls $1, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, Button calls $1, SB (poster) calls $0.90, BB calls $0.75.

Flop: ($5) 5/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, BB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets $3</font>, MP calls $3, Button folds, SB folds, BB calls $3.

Turn: ($14) T/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
BB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets $10</font>, MP calls $10, BB folds.

River: ($34) 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero check or bet?

I was puting villain on TP + big kicker.
But with the turn call I got worried of a possible set.

On the other hand, if I check and villain does bet out then I am going to call - so should I just bet out or check and hope for the free showdown?

[pyedog]

I'm struggling right now at NL25 but I'll take a shot at this anyways. Preflop and flop plays I like. I think those are pretty straightforward.

On the turn I would be a bit worried about the two callers since there was no obvious draw on the flop outside of 7-8. Could they both have a weak ace? I guess you can't really know with no reads at these stakes. Nonetheless of course you still need to bet out on the turn to protect your hand. I would bet half the pot ($7) to hopefully allow some weaker hands a chance to call. I think that most people on here would advocate your size of a bet in general (3/4 pot) though. I'm actually pretty unsure about why most posters seem to advocate betting closer to the full pot size on the turn, or is that only the case when there are obvious draws on board?

On the river, no obvious draw has been completed. You've got to worry about A-T or a set primarily I think. Since the pot is now $34 and your opponent has $10 left you are probably pot committed if you check and he bets, or if you bet weakly and he raises you. He will probably only check behind if you have him beat with a weaker ace and I would expect him to bet his full $10 if he has two pair or a set. Since there is no obvious missed draw for him to bluff with then I think you're either beating his one pair hand in which case he'll probably check behind, or else he's got you beat and he'll force you to call his all in. So with that in mind I think it's better for you to just take the initiative and bet his last $10.

I'm not sure if I would have concluded the same thing on the spot though. I'm too much of a p#ssy on the river. I'm curious to read other thoughts.

[tripdad]

check/call. you'd love for 7-8 of spades to try to grab the pot here. the size of this pot will induce a bluff/semi-bluff quite often. the typical player at this level will not check behind with an ace, either(i don't think).

ni-han!

[TrailofTears]

Either or is fine. I probably usually make a value bet here of around 1/2 - 2/3 pot, but check-call has its merits for sure, as long as you know why you are doing it.

-T

[xorbie]

I used to try this a lot, and lost a lot of money on the river. You just don't see missed draws bluffing as much as people seem to imply they do. If it's a player you know is agressive, check/calling is fine but otherwise I like betting out.

[FreakDaddy]

At this level 6 handed I'd bet more pre-flop in EP. At least 6x BB. Look at all the callers you got! Since it's such a big field and there's already money in the pot, I'd define my hand a little more here and bet 2/3 to full pot on the flop. Turn bet is fine. On the river I'd commit villian to the rest of his chips. You're likely not to get a free show down and at 6 max there's a decent chance people are playing top pair with semi-decent kicker all the way through.

Note: I don't play 6 max very often.

[theblitz]

I checked and he checked behind.
He showed AQ.

Oh well, he probably would have called something reasonable.