Did I lose or gain bets?

[Forsaken]

Online 3/6 Not as loose as usual, more than ½ pots are raised and some blindstealing going on.

I open-raise from the button with AJ and BB calls.

Flop A J 6r and to my surprise BB bets. I'm thinking that maybe he's got an A or he's trying to bluff so I'll wait to the expensive street.

Turn A [AJ6] and he bets again. This is overkill. I call, he bets the river blank, I raise and he calls.

Is this standard? Does the turn A change anything? I think most people won't 3-bet the river but could go to war on the turn with a good hand so I don't want to miss any bets. But on the other hand what can he have that he won't fold?

[Homer]

I like that you planned to wait for the turn to raise, but you should have followed through with that plan. By raising, you give your opponent a chance to reraise with a weak A (hopefully A6), which there is a good chance he has. Even if he doesn't have an A, there is a good chance he will call you down with a J with which he would have check-called on the river (costing you a bet). Also, by raising the turn, you leave your opponent guessing other times you raise the turn without having an A. If you always wait until the river to raise with your powerful hands you will become easy to read.

-- Homer

[davidross]

Once again your read of your opponent is the critical factor here. It’s important to realize that he thinks you’re stealing. So if his bet is a pure bluff you will scare him off with a raise. If he had A6 or 66 I think he would check-raise you so I believe you are ahead and the call on the flop is the way to go. The turn is where you have to make your big decision. If he has a hand you can maybe get it capped here. But he’s just as likely to cap the river too. If not he probably folds and you lose maybe 2 bets(I think players are more likely to call river raises when they close the action). I think the way you played it won you the most you could expect.

[Forsaken]

Thanks for the comments

I won against his pocket 9s

[Homer]

If you could have somehow known that he had 99 your play is perfect. I think in most cases, though, it is best the raise the turn.

-- Homer

[Forsaken]

Had to look didn't you...

[34TheTruth34]

There was a hand posted like this the other day where the player waited until the river to raise heads up in a steal position with a strong hand. I didn't like it then and I'm not sure I like it here either. Considering the fact that your opponent had 99, the way you played the hand earned as much as you could have possibly earned given both of your hands.

But what I don't like is the fact that you never gave him a chance to "go off" for a bunch of bets. If he had 66 or A6, or any other ace for that matter, then you would have left a lot of bets on the table. When a player is betting all the way and gets raised on the river, especially at the lower limits, they just shrug, look at the board, and then call the last bet to see what beat them. And you win your 3 1/2 bets after the flop. But if you raise the flop or turn, the opponent doesn't know if you are raising him because you have the better hand, you are trying to get a free card or free showdown, or you are just trying to show power because you were the preflop raiser. This leads to them 3-betting, calling and leading the turn, check-raising the turn, just basically trying all kinds of moves and putting all kinds of money into the pot when you have the best hand. Then, finally on the river, they figure out you have a legitimate hand. But by then, the pot's decent sized so they have to call on the end to see it.

Obviously, this situation is opponent-dependant also. I'm not saying you should always play it aggressively on the flop or turn, just that I think your tendency should be in that direction. If your opponent is loose or aggressive or both, he will be very hesitant to put you on a big hand, in part because you are playing it aggressively [i.e., 'using deception by playing the hand in a straight-forward manner'].

You were fortunate enough to have an opponent who kept charging at the pot with nothing and still called the raise on the river, which is good for you. But you shouldn't be results-oriented.