Heads Up Hand from WPT

[Georgia Peach]

I was watching the Foxwoods WPT final (rerun) and noted this heads up hand between H. Lederer and L. Flack.

Howard is the button:

HL, AcJd
LF, Kd7h (I don't know what level the blinds were)

Pre-flop ----------------HL raises 18K LF calls
Flop 9d3h4h-----------LF bets 25K HL calls
Turn 9d3h4h Qh------LF checks HL checks
River 9d3h4h Qh 3s--LF bets 35K HL calls

Is there anyway Lederer makes the call on the flop or the river unless he has a read on Flack? Otherwise, isn't this a hand that should be folded by one or the other, Flack pre-flop or Lederer on the flop?

It just seems like a hand where reading your opponent outweighs all other factors.

I was just wondering what anyone thought about how this was played and how it turned out. If Howard thought he had the best hand as Mike Sexton said, why not a raise on the flop?

[tewall]

At the river there's something like a little over 100 in the pot, so Layne's bet of 35 is a small bet and laying Howard odds of 4 to 1. This was a strange bet by Layne, which I didn't understand. Maybe it was a small value bet, and Layne thought he had the best hand and could get a little more out of Howard. It certainly doesn't take much of a hand to call here. The announcers were off base in touting Howard as having a great read on Layne IMO. If Layne had made a normal sized bet (between half the pot and the pot), then it would have taken a good read, but at 4 to 1 odds he just has to think he has a 20% of his hand being good to make the call. With the check at the turn and the small bet at the river, his hand has to have a better chance than that, regardless of his read on Layne.

As to why he didn't raise on the flop, there are a couple of reasons. First of all, it is not at all clear that he thought his hand was good. He was getting 4 to 1 odds, so he could still think he was beat and be making a good call, as long as he thought his chances of being good were better than 1 in 5. Secondly, even if he thought his hand was good on the flop, raising wouldn't necessarily be better. If he thought Layne would keep betting if he just called, but fold if he raised, then calling could well be better.

Finally you might want to post hands like these on the Pot, No-Limit forum as that forum has more traffic and would also be an appropriate spot.