10/20 Help at the Borgata

Long time reader, first time poster here... 10/20 at the Borgata this weekend...Table is somewhat loose and passive, with most raising indicating big hand or flush draw...

Hero is in MP1 with two red aces. Folded to hero, Hero raises. Two cold calls from old man at cutoff (usually passive) and donkish BB. Cutoff slowplayed a set earlier, vs. my flush and rivered a full house and showed no aggression until the river.

Flop comes 10H, 5S, 2H. BB bets out, Hero raises, CO immediately 3-bets excitedly, BB cold calls... Hero thinks about 2 seconds before capping, and CO tries to re-raise before dealer tells him the betting is capped!!! BB calls 4-bet.

Turn is J of diamonds. BB bets out again... Hero ... ???

[ErrantNight]

how much do you want to pay to determine precisely what the passive old-man's excited betting really means?

and:

how good are you at rivering trip aces?

[ QUOTE ]
how much do you want to pay to determine precisely what the passive old-man's excited betting really means?

and:

how good are you at rivering trip aces?

[/ QUOTE ]


That's what I was thinking...but really threw me off was that last time old man cutoff flopped a set against a raise preflop, he passively called the flop on a two-tone board, and then when I hit the nut flush on the turn and made it two bets to him, he just called again. No aggression at all until the board paired on the river.

[ErrantNight]

was it bottom set last time? had the action been crazy before the flop?

there's all sorts of reasons why he might be playing this set (if that's what it is) faster this time... or, he may be a very poor bluffer (acts like this when he's bluffing, plays passively when he's ahead). perhaps he thought it was rainbow this time around (even though it's not). who knows.

but your read implies he's not trying to intimidate, but rather, just trying to bet/raise without regard for the table action. which seems to imply he's in his own little world playing his own little hands. which would seem to me to imply you're behind. if you're not confident in that read, then try to get to showdown as cheaply as possible, because you're clearly not confident enough that he's not bluffing you, and if you're uncertain, you really want to get to showdown, not play back at him.