8-16 at the Bike...Semi-Bluff??

[Six_of_One]

Playing 8-16 at the Bike last night. I've been playing extremely tight for the past 2 hours, getting hardly anything to play, down about a rack. Because of a few people walking, the table is currently playing 5-handed.

UTG I see A /images/graemlins/spade.gifJ /images/graemlins/heart.gif and I raise. SB and BB call. Flop comes T /images/graemlins/spade.gif9 /images/graemlins/spade.gif7 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif

Checked to me, I bet, SB raises and BB folds. I call. SB is somewhat loose, mildly aggressive, having recently won a couple racks after being down about $800.

Turn: 4 /images/graemlins/spade.gif

SB bets, I raise. He thinks for about 5 seconds then calls.

River: 5 /images/graemlins/club.gif

SB checks, I bet. He thinks this time for a good 15-20 seconds, then mucks his hand.

Any comments on how I played it?

[haakee]

Looks like good play to me on every street.

[Nightwish]

I can't imagine that SB mucked a pair here. If so, he had something like A8, and you were bluffing with the best hand on the river.

[astroglide]

bad river bet. you have an ace to show down, and it's highly unlikely that he called a raise on the turn with 1 pair and folded when an offsuit five showed up.

[elysium]

hi six
that's fine. you need to be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking that the UTg position in a 5 way, is the same as MP or CO- in a full. there's a lot of difference. the MP has a good many checks into him giving his hand a little more clout. also, when played back at, he has reason to believe that his position is inducing the action, and not his opponent's strength. even though this is a 5 way, your opponents still respect your UTG raise more than they do a raise from MP into the same number of opponents. it doesn't necessarily mean though that you'll have a great chance to fold out raising from UTG in a 5. you'll just likely not get reraised. when your called, it's nearly the same as the MP position in a full game. there's something about it though, that i don't want to get into because it's not really that significant, but i don't know. i still muck the AJ in a 5 way from UTG against the better competition; but it started as a full? well, that's a mitigating factor. i should like your raise in. doggonnit i just don't. i'm looking for more than a hunch as to why not, but dang it i can't find a good reason.

bunching factor, say what you will. 4 way. i don't like it for the 5.

rest of the hand is pretty basic. could you have screwed this one up six? nah. i'll give you the raise in pre. at the very least, it's raise or fold.

[Six_of_One]

From the way he thought before mucking, I put him on something like 98 or 87...middle pair with a straight draw. I doubt he would spend that long thinking as just an act, if he didn't have at least something.

I could be wrong of course, it's been known to happen.

[Six_of_One]

I didn't hesitate to raise this hand, but I have very little experience playing 5-handed, so what do I know. I do know that the competition wasn't particularly tough...perhaps a little tougher than usual for this 8-16 game, but I don't think that compares to higher limits (based on what I read here, I haven't played higher).

[Diplomat]

This hand was played well except for the river bet. I agree with Astro, it's unlikely that you will fold a pair that called the turn...unless you have fantastic control of your opponent.

Elysium raised some interesting points but folding AJo utg in a 5-handed game is clearly wrong, imo.

-Diplomat