Live & loose, KTs in SB

[belloc]

This is a hand I played tonight at my local dinky SoCal card club. It's a very loose 4/8 game, but typical in aggression. This hour has been 6-8 to most flops, about a third of them get raised, but everybody comes anyway. Postflop can get a little aggressive, but nothing crazy.

Villain is loose-goofy. He plays most hands, raises weird, calls weirder, checks in strange spots, and is basically totally unpredictable. I've been playing with him for four hours and he has me baffled.

The whole table limps to me, with K/images/graemlins/club.gifT/images/graemlins/club.gif in the SB. I call, Villain in the BB raises, everbody calls, I call. It's 8 to the flop for 2 bets each.

Flop: Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gifJ/images/graemlins/club.gif6/images/graemlins/heart.gif

I bet, Goofy calls, about 3 more callers come for the turn.

Turn: 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif

I check, Goofy bets, one caller, I call.

River: 9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif

I check, Goofy bets, caller folds, I raise.

Every street open for discussion.

[Piiop]

I'd check the flop hoping to checkraise the field. I'd bet the river so it doesn't get checked thru.

[Jake (The Snake)]

Defenetely try to c/r the flop. You have great relative position to the PFR.

[belloc]

[ QUOTE ]
Defenetely try to c/r the flop. You have great relative position to the PFR.

[/ QUOTE ]

Normally, yes. But this guy may or may not have continued his aggression. I'd seen him check flops all night where he was the PFR.

[Jake (The Snake)]

With a queen and a jack on board, and a whole bunch of people on the flop, there is only a very small chance it gets checked through. Somebody is likely going to bet it, and it doesn't have to be you. Depedning on who bets, you can decide whether to just call (and there will be about the same # of bets as if you had bet yourself) or raise and get more value.

[belloc]

Thinking about it, you're right. I wanted to make sure to get money into the pot, and I had seen flops checked around eight ways before, but it was more likely that somebody would bet.

Here's the real reason I thought the hand was interesting: I had the button on either a flush draw or just a pair. (I should have included this read: he got aggressive with hands like two pair, but called all the way down with draws and single pairs.)

So checking the river lets the BB bet (he seemed to wake up on the turn and looked like he was going to bet the river). If the button just calls, I probably just overcall (he might have a baby flush). If the button folds, I raise, because I really don't think BB has a flush. This way I get most value out of my straight, and can get away from it if the button is on a flush draw and raises in front of me.

[bobhalford]

I wouldn't be too afraid of the flush here on the river. If it was raised in front of me on the river I would feel obligated to call with my straight. The raiser could be raising with a lone Ten, and then you would feel really bad for folding your nut straight.

Also, check raise the flop as others have said. The only problem with this is that it puts you in an awkward position on the turn acting first. If you don't hit it on the turn, you might have to check, basically telling everyone you are on a draw.

[belloc]

As I said, it's an easy checkraise on the flop if I'm confident that the bet is coming from the preflop raiser. But he's been checking here all night long, and I want to be sure bets are going in on this street.

Jake is right, though, somebody will bet, and depending on who it is, I can either call or raise to get the most money in from the field on the flop.

As for the flush, I really don't think I can call a bet and a raise in front of me even with the nut straight. With the button calling all the way, given the way he's played, I think my read is right: either a flush draw or something like top pair.

Again, these plays are read-dependent, and I thought this hand was interesting because the reads made me want to play it different than I might have played it online or against more straightforward opponents.