limit holdem hand; did i play it badly?

[steveyboy229]

Here’s a summary of a limit hand i played yesterday and have since been thinking about, all comments and criticism welcome...


i am playing from the big blind with 66 on a full table on totalpoker. Someone in early position raises there are three callers and i decided to call.

The flop comes JJ6, i bet and get immediately raised by the preflop raiser, everyone else folds and I flat call. The turn brings a K which i check and so does the preflop raiser. The river brings a blank and I bet out, get called and then win the pot.

Did i make a mistake not re-reraising on the flop and missing the bet on the turn? Should I have checked to the preflop raiser on the flop hoping to trap other players behind him? Can I be satisfied with my play?


steveyboy

[BottlesOf]

Did i make a mistake not re-reraising on the flop and missing the bet on the turn? Should I have checked to the preflop raiser on the flop hoping to trap other players behind him? Can I be satisfied with my play?

Yes, Probably not and No.

What do you think this pf raiser had? A jack, maybe an over pair? Either way you're solidly in front.

You could've re-raised the flop, as it's pretty unlikely he'll put you on 66, and he'll end up paying all the way.

Alternatively you could've bet the turn, or check-raised the turn. Either way, you missed some bets.

[TazQ]

Check raise the flop. You're in perfect position.

[Schmed]

yes you did make that mistake.

You have to reraise and take control of that. On top of that you have to bet out and reraise him again on the turn. If he caps then you may want to back off on the river. I imagine the preflop guy had something like q's. He may have even had the J and was stuck in the pot.

[steveyboy229]

my intention was to check raise the turn, unfortunatly my opponent didnt bet. /images/graemlins/frown.gif not suprising really as i had bet out on the flop.

[me454555]

I think your play here was fine. More often then not, I find the flop raiser will bet on the turn and you will have a good chance to c/r. As long as your more than 50% sure he will bet the turn, this is a good play.

I don't like reraising the flop b/c your opponent will put you on at least a J and probobly fold on the turn.

[Brian]

Hi steveboy,

How to correctly slowplay this hand depends entirely on the type of player you are up against. I know players against whom I would check-raise the Flop and bet the Turn, players I would check-call the Flop and bet the Turn, players I would check-call the Flop and check-raise the Turn, etc.

I think that anyone responding to this thread saying that stevey definitely played the hand wrong is mistaken. It's heads-up, and there are lots of different approaches that could be taken. Heads-up is a lot more about playing the player than your hand. You've flopped a monster, so think about how best to trap this player.

If he's any a solid, thinking player, I am probably check-raising the Flop. A solid player would know that I am a solid player, and my check-calling this Flop would seem VERY suspicious to him. He would probably check behind me on the Turn with AA, maybe KK (I think he has to bet QQ there because of how many overcards can come), and then call a bet on the River.

If he's a fishy, I think you can probably extract the maximum by check-calling then check-raising the Turn. Fishies fall into that trap all the time, and pay it off every time. They actually probably won't even be able to let go of AK to a Turn check-raise on this board.

If he's a tricky, aggressive player, I'll probably check-call the Flop and then bet the Turn, hoping that he'll raise me so that I can re-raise.

Etc.

-Brian

[EDIT]: I was under the impression stevey had checked the Flop when I first wrote my response, and was wondering what to do after that. BTW, I would check this Flop every time. By betting, you are probably going to shut out the whole field if the pre-Flop raiser raises. That's not what you want to do when you Flop a monster. Check-raise the Flop, and go from there.

Being that you bet and were raised, I think it depends on the player what to do. As I mentioned above, heads-up play is more art than science, so I think how to play the hand varies depending on whom you are up against. Flat-calling and check-raising the Turn is what I'd do against a fishy; against a good player, I'd re-raise the Flop because it's too likely he'd check the Turn behind me.

-Brian

[dirty_dan]

You probably made an extra big bet by just calling the flop raise. His flop raise could easily have been a blind stab at the pot. When you just called and then checked the turn, you put enough doubt into his mind that he paid off on the river trying to snap off your bluff.