Overplayed? Underplayed? Both?

[Azhrarn]

Tighter than usual Party 5/10 6-max game. I'm the bb with Jh5h. It's folded to the button, seemingly a decent player, who raises. SB drops, I defend. Anyone toss it? I think it's borderline.

Anyway, the flop's a nice-looking 5d Ah Qh. I check, he bets, I checkraise, he 3-bets, I cap.

Turn's Kd. I lead, he raises. Okay then. I call and hope for a heart.

River's 5c. I check, he bets, I... call.

Results in white below (I hope):

<font color="white"> He has AKo for top two pair, and I take it down. </font>

[Paul Talbot]

I'd toss it PF. J5 suited does not seem borderline to me against a decent player. About the only hand he could have that you are ahead of PF is T9 or 98 (maybe he'd go lower with connected or one gappers?). You are surely behind, there will be lots of scare cards on most flops and you do not have position.

Maybe you can outplay a decent opponent in this situation. I'm pretty confident that I cannot. I would have to really know the guys tendencies to play here.

On another matter, I'm curious why you didn't check raise the river. He has to have JT (very unlikely given the flop action), AA, KK, QQ or A5, K5, Q5 to beat you (only 18 ways total). He is much more likely to have AK-AX here.

Regards,

Paul

[DaveB]

totally agree with everything you said.

[ZeeJustin]

[ QUOTE ]
On another matter, I'm curious why you didn't check raise the river. He has to have JT (very unlikely given the flop action), AA, KK, QQ or A5, K5, Q5 to beat you (only 18 ways total). He is much more likely to have AK-AX here.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is an issue that I have been thinking about a lot recently. The problem is, if J5 is a favorite, you win an extra bet (assuming he calls), and if it's not a favorite, you lose 2 extra bets.

If he doesn't at least have an ace, he will most likely fold, and the check raise gains nothing. Let's say he could have A2 - AK or KQ (although I would fold it) to make the check raise profitable. Unless I'm missing any hands, I think a check raise is not profitable.

[James282]

I think most aces would call here just because the pot is large enough to justify calling simply because this person could be bluffing a missed heart draw(or even value raising an AK?). I think most suckers would call you down with plenty of hands that you beat, and some exceptional dummies may even three-bet you with AK or AQ. Also, people with big pairs generally don't open-raise from the button because the last thing they want is for the blinds to fold. In fact I can't remember ever seeing AA-QQ open-raised from the the button in these six-max games. J5s is an easy toss for 1 SB with no one in the pot, though, especially out of position. Pick your battles.
-James

[Azhrarn]

About my pf call: I think defending your blinds against steal-raises is an important part of these shorthanded games, and I would expect a decent player to openraise on the button with quite a wide range of hands. It's not whether I was ahead pf that I was worried about, it's whether I was a small enough dog to make calling worthwhile. That being said, J5 suited is right on the margin of what I consider playable here, so I was interested in getting other opinions.

About the river: Based on the flop and turn action, I thought his likely hands were AA, QQ, AK, AQ, or A5. I didn't want to pay two extra bets if he had one of the boats, so I just callled. Then I immediately felt like a big wimp, so I posted this hand.

No one has commented on the flop and turn play. I'm trying to be more aggressive headsup, but I thought I might have overdone it here. Maybe not though, since it hasn't elicited any remarks.

[ZeeJustin]

I didn't comment on this because I think my opinion is in the minority. Honostly, I don't really understand why many people like to cap flush draws when it's heads up. Is it just a hardcore semi-bluff strategy, or does the value lie in the fact that you are also drawing to 5 additional outs (J or 5)?

[Brian462]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't really understand why many people like to cap flush draws when it's heads up. Is it just a hardcore semi-bluff strategy, or does the value lie in the fact that you are also drawing to 5 additional outs (J or 5)?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think it is a bit of both. You are not losing much if any value here by capping and he only has to fold the better hand once in a blue moon for it to be profitable. It also has the added benefit of disguising what you are holding, which can result in more action those times that you do hit the flush.

[Azhrarn]

Hm. I can't recall if I've seen other people do it, but I always openraise with big pairs on the button. From what I've seen, the times when the blinds just fold pf are made up for by the times I get extra action because people put me on a steal raise. I hate openlimping on the button. The only time I ever do it is when the blinds have shown me there's almost no chance they'll fold to a button openraise.