what a mess

[vkotlyar]

7 handed 10-20 w 1/2 kill. There is one good player in the game. He has the kill in the small blind. I open raise in the cutoff w AQo. He 3-bets me out of the SB and its heads up. Flop comes 228. He bets, i call. Turn is the 3 of hearts, putting a flush draw out there. He bets, i raise, he thinks and calls. River is a black 6. he checks, i bet (hoping to get him to fold AK or AQ) and he checkraises me. Now i have a prob. I think i might have the best hand, and he thinks i have 2 big hearts. What do you do. Should i have folded on the flop considering that he is the only tough spot?
I mucked. He claims to have had 66, but somehow i dont believe him.
vitaly

[bobgreen]

If he bets the flop and wins, will he have to post a kill again? If so, he has a better hand than AQ.

Here's how I'd play it: Think "poop" when the good player reraises me. Think "yippee" when I miss the flop and can fold early.

[astroglide]

i hate the river bet. people do not fold ak/aq that often in bloated pots like this, and there's no guarantee that he even has it. you made a play for the pot on the turn, and it didn't work. take the showdown.

[Gabe]

By trying to get too tricky, I think you created a quagmire. The more you struggled to get free the deeper you sunk.

“i bet (hoping to get him to fold AK or AQ)”

I don’t think this is going to happen at any point in the hand, certainly not on the river with the pot this big. I would have folded or raised the flop. That’s about it. I think you were just trying to hard.

[elysium]

hi vkot
when you raise against a possible AK on the turn, and your opponent calls, he won't likely fold if you bet into him on the river.

the decision to three bet the river actually accompanies your bet. it is a standard question that you must ask from LP everytime you bet into your opponent after he checks, especially when there has been a raise on the turn. if you are not willing to 3 bet, then you should not bet. you also should not bluff an opponent on the river who calls a turn bluff raise. there are exceptions, but each one of those exceptions allowing you to bluff the river when he checks, require that you 3 bet if he check-raises.

your best and only chance vkot is to check the river down. that doesn't seem correct unless you consider what happens when you won't 3 bet the check-raise, something that your opponent is more likely to do in this specific type heads-up situation. if you fold, opponents will take shots at you all night, and you will not be able to make marginal bets on the river as confidently because now, your opponent who also has a marginal hand, but one slightly stronger, who will check it down if you check, but who won't raise if you bet but may occasionally fold if you bet, well now this opponent won't fold if you bet. instead, this opponent will now raise. you'll often call an average opponent, but you lose when he doesn't fold, and when he raises you break even or more likely lose a little more. it gets worse. the tight player who considers hands slightly stronger than what you're betting a bluff, and who never bluffs, well now you've got the tight raising the river only against you. against this opponent who you've dragged into the marginal arena kicking and screaming, you lose the most because before, when this opponent bet, you could safely fold, but you've folded too many times and suspect he's bluffing. no, you won't find out right away. it'll take a week and a lot of losses. but when you ask him, 'why, why are you picking on me?', he will say, 'it's simple sonny. you're a fish.'.

take it from grandpa. you must 3 bet the river to avoid being a fish.