common turn dilemma

A friend of mine played an online low limit hand and came across a difficult yet common problem. He was headsup (out of position), had shown strength preflop, held top pair (aces), yet got raised on the turn. There were no draws at all on board. He ended up folding, and asked for my opinion on it.


All I could say was "it depends". If you open raise preflop, and an ace falls, who is going to smooth call until the turn and then decide to bluff raise you? No one. So his opponent has something. He's either raising for the free showdown with a weak ace or pocket pair, or he's made 2 pair or a set. The stronger the player, the more it's the former and the more likely calling is right. The weaker the player, the more likely it's 2 pair or a set and the more likely folding is right. But where's the baseline for this?


IMO the standard play, unknown opponent, you call. I don't think you're favored, but you should win enough to make calling profitable. What's your experience say on that?


The hand specifics:

4th to act, Hero has AhQc. He open raises, and the player to his immediate left calls. It's headsup before the flop.


Flop: A, 8, 5 rainbow.

Hero bets, call.


Turn: 3, putting a 4th suit on board.

Hero bets, and is raised.


Dan

A similar turn happened to me last night. I raised 1st in pot MP pos w/ AKo, I get 1 LP call and the blinds call. 2-5-K rainbow flop. Blinds check and I bet and all call. Turn was a 6, blinds check, I bet and get raised by LP. The river was K. I would have never put him on 34s, but that is what he showed me. I called the turn raise and the river bet thinking he was on crack, but the fact it - if you show pre-flop power and you get raised on the turn, you are likely way behind.


I often showdown here if I have any kind of hand and there are players who might raise the turn for a free showdown. All-in-all, I hope he gets dealt 34 a bunch vs. my raises. /images/smile.gif

Heads up, top pair is a monster, he should have reraised, not folded.

<BLOCKQUOTE>Heads up, top pair is a monster, he should have reraised, not folded. </BLOCKQUOTE>


I strongly disagree. The reraise, while it does say "I won't be pushed around", is just not necessary at a lower limit. Plus I don't think it makes sense.


Unless your opponent is pushing 98 or some other 8, you've got him drawing to a 2 or 3 outer. This is the time to trap while out of position. If he's bluffing, you want him to continue; you don't want him to fold a dominated ace or lower pocket pair. On the other hand, if you are behind then you're the one drawing to 2 or 3 outs -- at best. Your call saves while behind, but extracts the most while ahead.

You're friend make an extremely weak play folding here. It could be that his opponent knows he is a weak player and folds too easily and was taking a shot with a worse hand. His hand reading needs to go beyond "He must have me beat".


KJS

Well said. I agree.

i agree with KJS...sometimes ya just gotta call it down HU.


i was in a hand...unknown UTG raised....

all folded to me in sb with AKo i reraised to get it HU.


flop suited...i bet, UTG raised, i called


turn K same suit...check, bet call


while im calling i say "ill call your flush"


river blank...check bet call


i won, pair of Ks


its less likely HU that he would have flopped a flush here. if it was multiway, i wouldve probably folded the turn. but the most youll lose is 2-3BB to keep him honest a little...


im not saying call him down every time, but with a good enough hand, he still has to prove it to me at times...


b

I'd be tempted to call him and then check/call the river just to get a better read on his play. If you find out that he's the type that would semi-bluff raise or even bluff-raise in this situation that's valuable info.


Of course, you could also make an argument for folding and letting someone else pay for that info.

The worst thing you can probably do is call the turn and then fold on the river when you don't improve, because that's just what he wants you to do if he's semi-bluffing.