Blind steal gone bezerk

[Nate tha' Great]

$5/$10 hand. I'm looking for analysis both of my play and the SB's play.

I'm dealt 2 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 2 /images/graemlins/club.gif on the Button. It's folded to me and I raise. The SB is a reasonable player who will defend his blinds, but can become a little bit passive in the face of postflop aggression. I also put a borderline bad beat on him a few orbits before when I check-raised semi-bluffed with a four flush when the board paired on the turn (the flush hit on the river), so I'm sure he reads me as a pretty aggressive player.

Back to the hand. SB 3-bets, I call, and the flop comes:

8 /images/graemlins/spade.gif J /images/graemlins/heart.gif 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif. He bets, I raise, and he calls. I raised because I put him on like AQ, and I think there's a reasonable chance that the flop didn't hit him. I would have folded to a 3-bet.

Turn is 8 /images/graemlins/club.gif. He checks, I bet, he calls.

The river is a miraculous 2 /images/graemlins/heart.gif. He checks, I bet, he calls. I take it down.

Reckless play on my part or a good read? I will post the SB's holding in a separate message.

NOTE: Edited to reflect the fact that I'm a moron.

[Nate tha' Great]

The SB indeed had a Q in his hand. Two of them, in fact.

[tj00]

I do not understand the aciton you have him acting before you.

[Dylan Wade]

WOW. I figured your twos would hold up unimproved. I can't believe he would play his hand that way! Maybe he felt his hand was strong enough to slow play heads up, but he got scared when a 3rd heart fell because he somehow put you on a flush draw.

[Nate tha' Great]

I screwed that up. I am on the Button here, and the other player is in the SB. The BB folded preflop.

[Nate tha' Great]

I think he might have put me on a flush draw because of the action on a previous hand (described in the header message of this thread). But yeah, a raise on either the flop or the turn and I'm folding.

[lil']

You won the hand because of your opponents post-flop wimpiness.
Did you suck out big time? Yes.
Would you have had the chance to suck out if he played like he should have? No.

[TheRake]

Maybe I don't understand the dynamics of 5/10, but I don't see how his opponent played so badly. He 3-bet pre-flop and led out betting post flop only to be raised. With a pair of 8's and a flush draw on the board. And with only 2 outs (in his mind) How many raises should he put in the pot? Without the "miracle" duck on the end he still wins this pot. I might consider a c/r on the flop, but if my opponent is willing to 3-bet a pair of 2's then what?

Flame away /images/graemlins/grin.gif

TheRake

[lil']

There are many times when Nate will open raise from the button with less than superior hands. Furthermore, there are many times when Nate will raise the flop with a hand that is behind to the pocket queens.

The flop is a relatively safe one for Q-Q, even moreso heads up. If Nate had a jack or flush draw, it is important that his opponent play back at him to charge him for drawing.

In this particular case, Nate would have folded at the first sign of post-flop resistance.

And with only 2 outs (in his mind)
Also, if Nate's opponent truly believed he only had two outs, then calling is terrible. What is more likely is that he got scared by all the post-flop aggression, and decided to play it safe and check-call down, which ended up costing him.

[TheRake]

I guess it comes down to knowing your opponent. But it is very difficult for Nate's opponent to get a hand read in this situation. He could be playing anything from a very good hand to a very poor hand. I can just see arguments for playing both ways.

Just out of curiousity...If he check raises the flop does this show sufficient enough aggression for Nate to lay his hand down or at least cause enough hesitation on Nate's part to give him a decent read on this hand? This has definately peaked my interest because I can see myself playing exacly the way this guy played. It is obvious that better players than myself disagree with this course of action.

BTW..Good hand post Nate.

TheRake

[lil']

Just out of curiousity...If he check raises the flop does this show sufficient enough aggression for Nate to lay his hand down or at least cause enough hesitation on Nate's part to give him a decent read on this hand?

Nate said he would have folded to a raise, and rightly so.

[Guido]

When I had QQ in the SB I would always 3-bet or cap this flop, especially heads-up.

Nice suck out Nate tha' Great!!!