Gift horse?

[Bob T.]

Live 6-12 game. Good player limps UTG, followed by three others, Small blind folds, I check with T /images/graemlins/spade.gif9 /images/graemlins/club.gif

flop, T /images/graemlins/diamond.gif6 /images/graemlins/heart.gif3 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif

I check to see what develops, UTG bets, and everyone folds back to me.

6 small bets in the pot, what is your plan for the rest of the hand?

[slavic]

Check call it down, if he will bet every street with AK. If he will pass on the turn bet, then check raise the flop and bet the turn.

[ElSapo]

Wouldn't a good player raise AK UTG?

[JohnShaft]

Hmmm. OK, lets do a little bit of assuming and try and narrow a good players hands down. Let's assume he doesn't play too loose, at all.

He could have:
SET
TT (reduced possibility if he ever raises this first in UTG)
66 (limping perfectly possible)
33 (most good players fold this UTG? Unless it's the right type of game. Much reduced chance)

So while the set doesn't look too likely he could have 66, and even TT.

PAIR
ATs. Top pair. VERY Likely flop bet.

UNDERPAIR
Underpair 77-88-99. Possible/probable flop bet.

DRAW
Two Diamonds. Likely flop bet. Headsup likely Turn bet?

OVERCARDS
AJ/KQs etc.
If he'll bet these then you could CR the Turn and lead out. I'm not sure I expect a bet here in this spot though...

There's 6 small bets.
If you call down all streets and lose you'll drop 5 small bets.
If you call down and are ahead and he checks the river you win 8 small bets.

I think it's pretty close, but I'd err towards calling if he was aggressive postflop, and you would expect him to push draws and underpairs.
If you don't think he would play AT UTG (or if he'd for sure only play it suited) then I think it makes it a good calling down spot.
I guess you could CR him on the flop, lead out the Turn. But I'm not sure which hands he may have this would work against. And it depends if he'll just go limp on the Turn (I don't think there's much most would do that with headsup?)

I call the Flop bet.
If it isn't a diamond I call the Turn.
If the flush didn't hit and he wouldn't bluff the river (and there's no overcard - particularly the A) then I maybe bet out on the river. Else check-call.

[slavic]

I'm sorry Bob I missread the action.

Raise the flop and bet the turn, check the river when his flush doesn't hit.

[ElSapo]

I'd checkraise the flop and see where it goes.

If he three-bets, I'd suspect I'm looking at a bigger kicker, a set, or maybe diamonds. Either way, I think I'm betting the turn.

Bet the turn. If he raises the turn I have to think about folding, unless I improved. If he calls the turn bet I might check-call the river for fear of a slowplayed set, or to try and get him to take a shot with overcards or a smaller pair. Again, a hand like ATo/s is possible.

You said he's a good player, so I'd rule out two pair and put him on a hand like ATs, a set, 99 or a lower pair if he'd limp with that.

I'd say you're ahead of 77, 88 and 99, and otherwise losing.
You're also ahead of diamonds. If he's capable of raising the turn heads up with an overcard-diamond draw then it becomes even trickier.

I don't think this post contains a clear train of thought. I hate hands like these.

[lil']

I'd raise if it's heads up, then bet out. I think if he's smart he would 3-bet you if he has a 10 or flush draw, and that would suck for you.

[Clarkmeister]

I checkraise and bet the rest of the way.

[Bob T.]

Everyone who responded, would have continued with this hand, and most were looking to make a raise somewhere.

When UTG made his bet on the flop, I immediately thought that he had either missed a limp reraise preflop, or had limped with a pocket pair and flopped a set.

When it was on me, I took a second to reconcile the thought that I should continue, and in fact, my choice of plays if I was going to continue was to checkraise, and the sense, that if my first impression was correct, I was playing with no more than 5 outs, and possibly less.

After a couple of seconds, I decided to muck, and my opponent flashed pocket 6s (a set of 6s) as he mucked.

What I based my decision on, was that it was hard for me to come up with hands that my opponent would limp UTG, except for small pocket pairs, and maybe big pocket pairs, if he thought that there would be a raise behind him. At the same time, I am not really sure that this play is right in the long run, because it was certainly possible that my opponent had limped with two diamonds, and was now value betting/semibluffing his diamond draw.

So I guess my question is, did I make a good read here, or was it more likely a lucky guess.

Thanks for the responses so far, and thanks again for any further thoughts.

[Mike]

I am a big fan of bet or call when I have the biggest pair on a small raggedy board and I'm not sure of the standards of the player I am in the hand with. Especially without a lot of action preflop. In this hand, I would have called the flop bet, If it was checked on the turn I would have put out a bet, and folded to a checkraise. If it went to the river, same play.

Even with a third diamond, I usually don't give credit for a flush.

Something can be said for folding in your spot though. After all my rambling, you are playing for a small pot and all the dead money is all ready in the pot preflop. There are worse situations in which to throw your hand away. Good call!