interesting river bet?

[mike l.]

i have AhQh on the button. i openraise and the sb a semi-nitty player calls. heads up.

the flop is J66 w/ two spades. he checks, i bet, he calls.

the turn is 4s. check, check.

the river is 6h. he checks and i bet.

comments?

[Dov]

You are only going to get called if you cant win. (Unless he is the type of player who will call you down with any Ace)

I think you are better off checking. You will catch him bluffing if he does, and you will lose less if he has a hand. Otherwise, you will gain nothing more when you win (not even info about his hand) and lose 2 bets instead of 0 when you lose. (He (bluff?) raises and you call).

Since the only thing you can beat is a bluff, and the betting is over, I think you are making a mistake by 'bluffing' even if you are doing it with the best hand.

Good Luck Everyone

Dov
/images/graemlins/spade.gif /images/graemlins/diamond.gif /images/graemlins/heart.gif /images/graemlins/club.gif

[Dov]

BTW, what happenned in the end?

Dov
/images/graemlins/spade.gif /images/graemlins/diamond.gif /images/graemlins/heart.gif /images/graemlins/club.gif

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
I think you are better off checking. You will catch him bluffing if he does, and you will lose less if he has a hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, the ol' underused and underappreciated bluff-check. I love snapping those off.

[Ulysses]

Does this guy think you are FOS?

I think this is one of those that doesn't really matter that much. It probably goes something like this:

1) Most times: he folds
2) Some times: he calls you w/ worse Ace or even worse
3) Some times: he calls w/ small full house or flush
4) Other times: he checkraises you as a bluff or w/ a Jack

For most players I suspect 2) and 3) will more or less balance out. So, unless you expect this guy to bluff-raise you a lot (putting you on AK), I think it's pretty close. The more I think of it, wouldn't he expect you to fire again w/ a pair on the turn even when the flush comes? So, if he puts you on something high-cardish at that point, the river does set up a nice bluff checkraise opportunity. But how many semi-nitty players really think like that? Not that many. So, I go back to it doesn't matter all that much.

I think I'd check behind more times than not, though, unless this was one of those guys that just has to see what I have.

[bad beetz]

my favorite is the "call and immediately muck." I have yet to do this, but sounds like a fun way to through away a big bet.

[mike l.]

he did something very surprising on the river after i bet. im glad i had my glasses on because my eyes definitely bugged out. he folded face up into the muck the KsTS for the king high flush. someone said "woah nice laydown" and he smiled and said something like thanks, im not going to pay off w/ the worst hand. i mucked face down which im pretty proud of. i wouldve auto-shown about a year ago.

i value bet the river because i figured he would call w/ a worse A and i wanted to charge him $40 for hanging around w/ one.

[mikelow]

Really now, was your opponent drunk or something? I would have squeezed out a call with his hand because there's some chance he could win since so many bet an ace in this spot. Nice bluff.

[Diplomat]

Woah. Talk about setting fire to money. Work that image young man. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

-Diplomat

[Dov]

You are right, I suppose. I should reword it. If he was going to raise you, you will lose 2 bets. If he won't call, you gain 0.

Sorry Ulysses, I'll be more careful next time.

Thanks for pointing it out, though.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
Nice bluff.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm, what's more enjoyable? The value bet that turns out to be a nice bluff or the bluff that turns out to be a nice value bet?

I dunno, both are a blast.