what happens when your opponents know you to well

6-12

i'm UTG+1 and open raise with AKo, only one late position caller (LP). the two of us see the flop which is 6s 10s 3h. i bet LP calls, the turn pairs the 3. i bet again, LP calls, the river pairs the 6, now i check (should i have bet?), he bets and i call, he turns over pocket 4's and takes it down. this guy must have had a really good read on me, how would you guys have played it? if you were the opponent in this case, how often do you guys call someone down when you suspect they have two overcards and you hold a small pair? thanks.

First of all if you thought that your opponents had a good read on you then you probably should have checked to him on the turn or not called the river. When there is a raise, most of the time its with two big cards. The closer a person is to the button the more likely it is that he has two big cards rather than a big pair. Anyway if I knew that there was a good chance that you held two big cards I would certainly call if not three bet you with a pair. Here are the reasons:

1) Headsup a pair is more favourable than two big cards, even more if you have a specific read on your opponent.

2) I would not call an opponent down, instead i would raise him either on the flop or on the turn.

Your opponent probably thought you might have overcards but didn't use this information profitably, he should have raised you on the flop or on the turn and put pressure on you.

3) For him raising the turn would have been better since the board was now paired.

4)These situations often come up when someone tries to steal the BB by raising from middle-late position. The BB can probably play most of his hands profitably since if he hits his hand he can extract maximum money from the overcards and when he hits his hand with two threatning big cards then he can easily fold.....


Ok i am going on too much now,

Hope I helped,

-MJ

i think i'm going to start raising a little more often with little suited connectors from early position just to vary my play a little bit. a question on this though: if i raise, get one or two callers, and the flop is 2 or 3 big cards, should i try to run it through them with a bet on the flop representing large pairs or even a set, or should i just let it go, since the called the raise they most likely have big cards as well and probably won't fold to my bet on the flop. thank you.

sorry i mean they will have big cards i won't

I'd have raised you on the flop. You would have flat called and checked the turn when the blank came, I'd have bet the turn and picked it up there.

Darkone,


In LLHE, I'd be more apt to believe that your one opponent just didn't know any better rather than having a good read on you.


For him to play you headsup with a small pair after a raise for a tiny pot is just unwise at any limit. He just smells like a calling station to me.


Mike

Ok Darky here is my take:

You say that the other guy knows you too well, I have to figure that you all play together pretty much and you know him also? Yes?

Ok then deciede which of you makes better use of the info..if you are better then you play off of the reads of him, if he is better then feed him false info.

As to your idea of raising smaller suited connectors you say that you would have to give up because they would only call you with big cards and yet this goof called with 44 all the way, bad logic chain /images/smile.gif

As to the "vary my play" thing Abdul said it best with " vary the way you play your hands not the hands you play". The reason is that much of our earn comes from better preflop selection and then playing those hands post flop increases that earn. Therefore why give up your first edge with crap cards when you can still play those cards but in different way to make the other guys guess.

Just my thoughts and those of others I have absorbed /images/smile.gif

1 Leg Lance