A pair and the river

[brian0729]

I am not a big fan of the check raise, I havent used it that much or that well. I am trying to add it to my game a little more now. However Im finding that most times C/R'ing leaves you with some tough decisions on the turn and river.

MP3 is has made some loose preflop calls. Called a few raises with pocket pairs and suited cards. Has not raised much.

Party Poker 3/6 (10 handed)
Hero has 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 8/images/graemlins/club.gif and is SB

UTG limps, EP1 limps, MP1 limps, MP3 limps, Button limps, Hero limps, BB checks

Flop(7 SB): 4/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif, Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif

Hero checks, BB checks, UTG folds, EP1 checks, MP1 checks, MP3 bets, Button folds, Hero raises, BB folds, EP1 folds, MP1 folds, MP3 calls

Turn(5 1/2 BB): K/images/graemlins/spade.gif

Hero bets, MP3 calls

River(7 1/2 BB): 9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif

Should I have bet the flop?...What is my river action?

[crockpot]

i think your actual play is better than the alternatives, assuming the bettor is aggressive enough to bet without a pair a good amount of the time here.

tough play on the river, actually. this is close enough that i would use whatever i knew about the player to sway me.

[Brian]

Hi Brian,

You say that MP3 has made some loose pre-Flop calls, but how does he play on the Flop? Most Party players will bet when checked to, but I am not so sure if I am a fan of your play here. If anyone between you and MP3 calls your check-raise, you are screwed. And it's not like you are in the best situation if everything goes according to plan. The pot is pretty small and not worth fighting over IMO. I would check and fold.

Once you've come this far, though, I would check and call the River. I am assuming that you made this play on the Flop because your opponent was aggressive. Against aggressive players, I tend to check the River and hope to induce a bluff. They're usually much more apt to bet Ace-high than call with it. Theres just not much value in betting the River here anyways, and you'd hate to be raised, because a scare card DID hit. And theres no way you can check and fold. So check-call seems best.

-Brian

[brian0729]

Hey Brian,

His post flop play was fairly st8 forward. Once he bet the flop I considered one of his holdings could be a flush draw. When the action gets back to me I decided this is the best way for me to try and win this pot.

As I stated in the original post, the flop C/R is a new tool for me(atleast without a monster anyway), Im a little dangerous with it. I realized after I did it that if he was on a draw he isnt going to fold the turn anyway, thinking i may have a 4. I liked my play a lot less.

[Bob T.]

If the flop was QQ4, i think your play might have been reasonable, but as it is, I think you picked a bad spot to get frisky. I would check/fold the flop. A second choice would be to bet out on the flop. I expect that you lost to a pair of queens here.