HU hand

[durron597]

This guy had been letting me rape his blinds from 100/200 all the way to this level. Lots of hands. He was playing very tight but had started to loosen up towards the end. Most flops he raised, he bet. Then this hand occurred.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (2 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Hero (t5480)
BB (t8020)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K/images/graemlins/club.gif, Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t600</font>, BB calls t400.

Flop: (t1025) Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 8/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
BB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t800</font>, BB calls t800.

Turn: (t2625) 7/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
BB checks, Hero checks.

River: (t2625) 3/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">BB bets t2400</font>, Hero ???

[bluefeet]

a bit reckless of him leading out on the river, if he DIDN'T have the goods - despite your loss of interest on the turn. tough one. pretty bold move even for an Ax....a value bet maybe, but he's really hit this hard. hmmmm, too hard maybe? buying the hand, holding second pair himself? having played a few hands, i'm wondering if you had any read on his willingness to cold-call your flop leads. does his call most likely mean to you he has a significant piece?

i think your mis-step here was on the turn. HU, it's not uncommon to run across opponents that require two bets to get off a hand. secondly, he's MOST likely to make his move here if he does have you beat. leading out another 800ish on the turn (u have t4000 remaining roughly) isn't going to bankrupt you at this blind level. you could fold to a push here, or likely get you to a cheaper check-check showdown if he is holding Ax.

the way this one played out, i don't think you can make the call here, even if you put him on a steal. you still hold plenty of chips.

[durron597]

Why am I betting the turn? To make him fold a hand I'm crushing? To spend 25% of my remaining chips to find out if he does, in fact, have an ace?

I dunno, that river bet really felt awfully large. If I had an ace there I would bet more like 1500.

[Quercus]

[ QUOTE ]
Why am I betting the turn?

[/ QUOTE ]

If he CRs, you know.

If he calls, you likely get a free showdown and know.

If you bet the turn and he call and then bets into you on the river, you know.

If you check and he bets big on the river, what do you do?

(Of course, this logic may be why my HU game is not so good.)

[durron597]

The problem is any real bet here is a large percentage of my stack. I would rather try to get to showdown as cheaply as possible.

[Quercus]

My limited experience with HU makes me think that its not often an opponent is going to let you have a cheap showdown once you check through the turn.

Of course, sometimes I figure the odds are fair I have the best hand but that if I bet and get called, I'm definitely behind. Whereas if I check and plan to call any bet, at least I've added a chance that I can pick off some bluffs.

[durron597]

[ QUOTE ]
Whereas if I check and plan to call any bet, at least I've added a chance that I can pick off some bluffs.

[/ QUOTE ]

My plan was not to check and call any bet. In fact I'm more likely to fold if his bet is SMALLER (or bigger). But that looks like an "I want to buy this pot" bet to me.

[durron597]

The flop: I really thought this opponent would have bet an ace.
The river: I really thought he would have bet less with a made hand.

So I called. He had JTo and MHIG.

[curtains]

[ QUOTE ]
Why am I betting the turn? To make him fold a hand I'm crushing? To spend 25% of my remaining chips to find out if he does, in fact, have an ace?

I dunno, that river bet really felt awfully large. If I had an ace there I would bet more like 1500.

[/ QUOTE ]

One reason to bet the turn is to stop your opponent from bluffing, especially if you aren't sure whether you will call that bluff.

Note that this doesn't mean I'd bet the turn, but you don't want to just give your opponent the chance to bet any river and win the pot with nothing, if this is something they are capable of doing. You should probably try to decide whether or not you are likely to call a river bet while you are on the turn, and then base your action accordingly.

[durron597]

[ QUOTE ]

Note that this doesn't mean I'd bet the turn, but you don't want to just give your opponent the chance to bet any river and win the pot with nothing, if this is something they are capable of doing. You should probably try to decide whether or not you are likely to call a river bet while you are on the turn, and then base your action accordingly.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's an excellent point. I usually think in terms of trying to induce bluffs but when your hand is marginal you might not want to do that.

Because I didn't put him on an ace (because of the flop action) I checked with the intention of calling the river.