Presto in the Cutoff.

[Bob T.]

2-4 online game. My first lap, but I chose this table for its loose looking statistics.

Three limpers to me in the cutoff, I call with red 55. The small blind completes, and the big blind raises. Everyone calls. The big blind has played every hand so far(4), and has put in a fair number of raise, but the hands have all been decided without a showdown, so I only am suspicious of his play.

Flop JT2 rainbow. SB checks, BB bets, and everyone folds to me. I am ahead of big aces, and behind just about everything else, but there is a nice pot here. I raise, the SB folds, and the BB calls.

Turn, 4 completing the rainbow. BB checks, I bet, and he calls.

River, 7. Check, bet, call. How did I do?

Results below.
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He had A7 off for a rivered pair of sevens.

[Allan]

I like the play of the hand. I think you read the situation very well against this opponent. The flop is raise or fold with only the SB left to act. The turn play is automatic once the sb folds. Had the sb called do you take the free card or fire another bet? I found myself wanting to check the river not knowing if he'd pay off with an unimproved ace. If he's got any of the board or a pocket pair it looks you are gonna get called, and the only thing you make money off of is an unimproved ace who manages to call. Good aggresive play.

Allan

[pufferfish]

I agree with Allan on your read and play of the hand. I probably would have checked it thru on the river, but I tend to miss a lot of value bets that way.

I think a helpful read on a player like this would be knowing how often/under what circumstances he calls without a piece of the board (Ace/King high).

TC,
pf

[GuyOnTilt]

I would have checked it through on the river. Other than that, I like the play. Since you don't know too much about the player, besides his apparent loose/aggressive nature preflop, I'd check it through. If you knew that the player was one who would call with an unimproved ace, then you may choose to bet, but it looks as though the only hands that will call here are ones that will beat you, and any that you beat (such as ace high) will lay down on the river. For those reasons, I don't like the river bet. My guess is that you lost this one to a medium pocket pair.

[bad beetz]

check the river through.

[Bob T.]

It was an unknown player, and as it turned out, he was a loose cannon.

I bet the river, and he called, and he had made a pair of sevens on the river. The respondents, were pretty unanimous, in that they all believed that I should have checked the river, and shown down. I think that might be correct, but most people thought that I wouldn't get called by an unimproved Ace. This player actually did call down with unimproved aces and even a king once, later on. However, when I was making this play, I had put him on a much to narrow range of hands, certainly one that didn't include A7 off, and when I realize that he might be raising out of the big blind with so many hands, then I am not so sure that my play up until the river was as smart, because given the wide range of hands that he might have, I think that it was a lot more likely that he had part of the flop then I thought that he did.

Thanks for your responses.