Interesting, marginal KTs hand for dicussion

Online low limit game. UTG is aggressive but not unreasonable. UTG+1 I don't know much about.


UTG raises, UTG+1 calls cold, then it's folded to me in the BB with KTh. I call getting 5.5:1. Anyone fold here?


Flop Q T 4 rainbow, with the 4h. I have middle pair, and backdoor flush and straight draws, but I'm out of position against 2 opponents, one of whom is an UTG preflop raiser. Not great, but in retrospect it's pretty good for KTh. If the preflop raiser bets and I expect then I will close the action and I can call for (at least) 7.5:1.


I thought a checkraise is a decent play, but would anyone do it against a aggressive UTG raiser? What do you do if you're 3 bet? On this flop, he has either at least top pair or he has a straight draw with overcards. Either case makes a fine semibluff raise, and he's likely to continue the bluff on the turn. Thus I didn't think I really gain information by raising, and I don't think I'm a favorite with 2 cards to come, and I'm not going to win right away by raising (unless my opponent has a lower pair and is drawing to 2 outs anyway).


Raiser bets, UTG+1 folds, and I call.


Turn is offsuit 9. Now I have a straight draw too (although it might be dominated by AK). Here I am wondering about showing more aggression, but again, I am worried about laying down a winner against an aggressive opponent. Following the "check hands with outs" maxim, I don't want to face raise on the turn so I check call. There's a good chance I'm behind too, so I think this isn't that bad.


River offsuit 3. I checked thinking that my opponent will bet more hands than he will call with, as he is aggressive and he might take one more shot with AK. Plus, there's still a good chance I'm behind.


Comments anyone? I really am not particularly happy with how I played this hand. I would like to have shown more aggression somewhere, but I can't figure out where. I'm reminded of something Tommy Angelo said a couple weeks ago to someone who wanted to win more with marginal holdings out of position. He said there was an inherent contradiction in there. I don't know ... my new revelation is when out of position, trapping is a decent and often overlooked play; on the other hand, giving cheap cards to 6 outers is just ick.

I'm not sure I like the pre-flop call. If the raiser is just a tad aggressive but still fairly sane, he most likely has a quality holding that combined with being out of position the whole hand makes life tough. Combine that with someone that has enough to call two bets cold and its not a good spot to be in.


Tough to find a spot to make a move. Maybe a checkraise on the turn since you have a lot of outs. Especially if the guy can get away from a hand. But that would be aggressive for sure.

Yeah, a preflop fold can't be out of order. As I was thinking about the hand afterwards, I realized the hand went about as best as I could have hoped, aside from flopping a monster. And I still felt like I was against the ropes the whole hand. So a fold probably isn't that bad.


As for the cold caller, I like him in the hand. I suspect he's a weaker player based on a couple calling hands he played, and the fact that he's just calling and not reraising in this situation. I believed money in the pot was going up faster than my chance of winning it was going down.


If it's headsup, I'm not going to play getting 3.5:1 when I'm likely dominated. But getting 5.5:1, 3 way with a suited hand, it's better. WIthout the coldcaller I would fold.

I would fold here. I have learned that hands like k-10 even suited have a high 'misery quotient.' In a limited field, you lose some value in playing if for the flush. You are really probably hoping for a 10 high flop. Even then you have to be cautious with the early raise preflop. The king is easily dominated and any flush or straight is vunerable to an ace-king holding.

He checked behind on the river, and KT was good. Hand history shows he had AJo ... which means he had any Ace, king, or eight for 10 outs on the turn.


Thanks to the other posters who criticized the preflop call. I'm going to think about that more. But regardless, if the preflop call is questionable, then I am more convinced that the /wrong/ way to play this hand postflop is to put a lot of money in with 1 pair.