Anything wrong with this?

[iceman5]

$2/$4 NL...6 max

Cutoff min raises to $8. He does this about every 4th hand. I reraised to $24 in the BB with AQ and he calls. Last time I reraised him, he folded.

I have a full $400 stack and he has me covered.

Pot $50. Flop A82. I bet $35 and he calls.
Pot $120. Turn 3 putting 2 clubs out there. I check, he bets $40 and I check raise to $160.

Any problem there? If he calls, whats your plan for the river?

[hit_the_set]

Any hand ranges for villain? If you think he is calling you with a weaker ace, ALL IN. I really dont think there is any other option.

Decent line. If he calls, value bet this river.

[Riverman]

I like this line, but I would raise just a little less than you chose to.

[TheWorstPlayer]

If he calls, I'm obviously pushing the river. Hand is fine, but I would make the preflop raise bigger.

[iceman5]

[ QUOTE ]
If he calls, I'm obviously pushing the river. Hand is fine, but I would make the preflop raise bigger.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you pushing the river even if the back door flush hits?
What if its a J or Ten?

[HoldEmKillah]

I like it alot against a miniraising donkey. Push the river.

[TheWorstPlayer]

Yeah, I'm probably pushing no matter what because otherwise I'm in a guessing game and I'm too short to use a blocking bet and if I check I'm not laying down to this donkey.

[Slappz]

Reraise more preflop.

I've got mixed feelings about pushing and value betting this river. Usually when someone calls a big checkraise on the turn it means your one pair is beat or they have a good draw. Which one this is i dont know?

With his draw your paying him off by pushing and he can easily fold if he doesnt hit. This guy is an idiot if hes still calling you down with a weak ace. The only benefit i can see from pushing that river would to be to represent a better hand and make him laydown a weak 2pr or sometihng.

[iceman5]

I agree the preflop reraise couldve been a bit more. I just made the switch from $1/$2 to $2/$4 and I didnt think long enough about the correct amount. I think $32 is better.

So, he called the turn check raise. The river was a 3rd club. I pushed and he called with 86 of clubs. UGH!

With a guy who min raises preflop 25% of his hands, theres no way to put him on a hand. He can have any ace, any pair, any broadway cards, any suited cards.

I bet the flop like I would any flop after reraising. I checked the turn so he would think i didnt have an ace and was just making a continuation bet.

I knew he would bet the turn no matter what he had so I wanted to make the big check raise. It just so happened that he had about the only hand (other than a set) that he could call that with I guess.

[Phaedrus]

[ QUOTE ]
With a guy who min raises preflop 25% of his hands, theres no way to put him on a hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not initially but you gain information as the hand progresses assuming he isn't a total maniac.

He didn't call your re-raise last time but he did this time. Thus he has one of his better hands of the 25% that he will raise with.

You showed strength preflop and he called your bet on the flop. There is no draw on the board so he either hit at least a pair on the flop or he has a pocket pair.

You show weakness on the turn and he bets out. Either A. you were behind on the flop, B. he picked up the club draw or two pair (we know he had at least a pair on the flop), or C. you were ahead on the flop and he didn't improve.

You checkraise him and he calls. Therefore C. is extremely unlikely unless you think he is a player who will go broke with just a pair of aces and a bad kicker.

The backdoor flush is a bit "unlucky" maybe but it takes away the only chance you had of being ahead in the hand.

I would lead the turn and check-call a reasonable bet on the river to keep the pot smallish. The check-raise on the turn is overrepresenting your hand which is not a great idea against an opponent who calls too much (as you must think he does to have made that value bet on the river).

btw, this was my thinking before I read the results. I couldn't believe everyone was saying "push".

Am I wrong here? I guess it depends on your image as well. I have a TAG image so would not expect anyone to pay me off with a bad ace. Maybe if I had a LAG image they would routinely call me down with that.

[iceman5]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
With a guy who min raises preflop 25% of his hands, theres no way to put him on a hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not initially but you gain information as the hand progresses assuming he isn't a total maniac.

He didn't call your re-raise last time but he did this time. Thus he has one of his better hands of the 25% that he will raise with.

You showed strength preflop and he called your bet on the flop. There is no draw on the board so he either hit at least a pair on the flop or he has a pocket pair.

You show weakness on the turn and he bets out. Either A. you were behind on the flop, B. he picked up the club draw or two pair (we know he had at least a pair on the flop), or C. you were ahead on the flop and he didn't improve.

You checkraise him and he calls. Therefore C. is extremely unlikely unless you think he is a player who will go broke with just a pair of aces and a bad kicker.

The backdoor flush is a bit "unlucky" maybe but it takes away the only chance you had of being ahead in the hand.

I would lead the turn and check-call a reasonable bet on the river to keep the pot smallish. The check-raise on the turn is overrepresenting your hand which is not a great idea against an opponent who calls too much (as you must think he does to have made that value bet on the river).

btw, this was my thinking before I read the results. I couldn't believe everyone was saying "push".

Am I wrong here? I guess it depends on your image as well. I have a TAG image so would not expect anyone to pay me off with a bad ace. Maybe if I had a LAG image they would routinely call me down with that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Playing how you suggest is how I almost always play a hand like this.

Bet the flop because I have the best hand
Bet the turn because Im still confident
River play would be read dependant between check/call and block bet.

I played it this way this time because I really didnt think he had much. I bet the flop, but less than pot so he might call with any pair. Now I check the turn which tells him I really dont have an ace and he can steal it with a bet. I know he will bet. Then I check raise and he will fold most of the time. Unfortunatley, he had just enough each time to keep calling and caught his cards.

[SmackinYaUp]

I see a lot of advice on these forums about pushing the river in situations like this. I personally don't do that in spots similar to this, but maybe I've been over estimating my opponents. Considering my home at 5max 100NL, I could easily be wrong.

It scares me when people call large turn checkraises, so I try to keep it small on the river barring a strong read.

Maybe I'm missing out on easy money?

[Phaedrus]

[ QUOTE ]
Then I check raise and he will fold most of the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been thinking more about this hand and I think the check-raise is good if done say 1/3 of the time. The value here is mostly to prevent opponents from automatically stealing from me when I check the turn.

As you say most of the time he will fold and you win a small pot. This is all I'm hoping to win with TP2K out of position so I'm happy for him to fold.

The trouble comes when he calls the checkraise. This tells me that I'm beat and I think I should be done with the hand.

I earlier suggested check-calling a resonable bet on the river but the more I think about it the worse that sounds. I do that but think it is probably a leak in my game because they never show me anything I can beat (except a pure bluff and this board doesn't suggest he would be bluffing since we're pretty sure he got a piece of the flop).

If the opponent has a bad ace, middle pair, or a pocket pair (the only hands I can beat) I would expect him to check behind on the river. If the flop had draws on it that missed I might have to call the river because of the increased liklihood that he's bluffing a missed draw.

Now I'm thinking check-fold the river against most opponents.

Ultimately the problem is that your hand has no deception and you're out of position. Very dangerous situation.

Too weak?