Is there an opportunity here?

[BigEndian]

This opponent seemed reasonable to this point. The table had gotten tight and I was crushing it recently getting great cards and showing down big hands (getting lucky against people who were making second best strong hands). It's been a while since I lost a showdown.

I'm in MP3 with 9/images/graemlins/club.gifT/images/graemlins/diamond.gif and open raise. BB 3-bets. I call. On this table, my raise can definitely be a steal as it obviously was.

Flop: A/images/graemlins/heart.gifK/images/graemlins/heart.gifT/images/graemlins/heart.gif (6.5SB)
BB checks, I think about betting but check suspecting a possible trap.

Turn: 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif (3.25BB)
BB bets. I...

Is it worth it here to make a move? Or should I go away? At what point are pots like this worth fighting for when you're at a table that most pots are contested heads-up?

- Jim

[Carmine]

If you had a /images/graemlins/heart.gif you would have bet the flop or even bet it with a A or K. I think the flop was the place to make a move (not that I'm saying you should have). Villian would have to be capable of folding QQ/JJ. Villian could not hold a heart nor could he hold AA/KK/AK because none of those hands are folding. It doesn't look to promising IMO. Being your image is so good you could Bet/Fold the flop, then Bet/Fold the turn and check through the river. The benifit here being if you don't re-steal the pot you gain a little LAG image back which may gain you some bets in future hands.

[QTip]

[ QUOTE ]
This opponent seemed reasonable to this point. The table had gotten tight and I was crushing it recently getting great cards and showing down big hands (getting lucky against people who were making second best strong hands). It's been a while since I lost a showdown.

I'm in MP3 with 9/images/graemlins/club.gifT/images/graemlins/diamond.gif and open raise. BB 3-bets. I call. On this table, my raise can definitely be a steal as it obviously was.

Flop: A/images/graemlins/heart.gifK/images/graemlins/heart.gifT/images/graemlins/heart.gif (6.5SB)
BB checks, I think about betting but check suspecting a possible trap.

Turn: 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif (3.25BB)
BB bets. I...

Is it worth it here to make a move? Or should I go away? At what point are pots like this worth fighting for when you're at a table that most pots are contested heads-up?

- Jim

[/ QUOTE ]

IMO, the flop sucks and you probably were getting trapped. The steal wasn't successful, and I see nothing wrong with just cutting your losses at the PF 3 bet.

[Bob T.]

[ QUOTE ]
IMO, the flop sucks and you probably were getting trapped. The steal wasn't successful, and I see nothing wrong with just cutting your losses at the PF 3 bet.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you are going to invest more, you should do it on the flop, not on the turn. When he checks, you bet, if he calls or raises, you are done investing money on this hand. The flop just might be scary enough that he would let his hand go right then. After the flop is checked through, I don't think it is likely enough that you will win that you should be investing two big bets to try and win the hand.

[W. Deranged]

I don't think this is a good opportunity. The pot isn't that big. Villain's check flop-bet turn scares me quite a bit here. I think villain would often just continue to check with the type of hands that you might hope to fold here (QQ, JJ, maybe AQ with no heart). He's not folding a set or a hand like AK, even to the flush possibility; if he does it might be on the river and committing to a two-street bluff here seems misguided. I think you lose quite a bit of bluffing credibility by not betting the flop.

I'd just cut my losses.

[cold_cash]

I'm with QTip.

You're probably beaten and possibly drawing dead to boot.

I also don't want to spend 2 bets to potentially win only 5 on the rare occasions I'm actually ahead.

I'd just chalk it up to suckiness and fold.

[BigEndian]

I feel that a flop bet is a little too obvious and can get me raised or called by a wide variety of hands. If I raise the turn, this really narrows down what kind of hands he can call with.

On the turn, there's less than a 50% chance by the cards that he has a heart (probably a lot less actually since he checked the flop). And it's very tough to call without a heart unless you have exactly a set or top two. The pot is laying me 2-1 on making the move. I won't be investing any other bets if action occurs.

Still sound like a bad idea?

- Jim

[W. Deranged]

[ QUOTE ]
The pot is laying me 2-1 on making the move.

[/ QUOTE ]

2-1 on anything in limit hold'em are like the worst odds ever. My limit hold'em reflexes generally respond with "fold" whenever I hear "two to one." Honestly, I'd want like 4-1 at the bare minimum to even start thinking about making a move.

[ QUOTE ]
Still sound like a bad idea?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep.