A heads-up situation that I'm sure many people here run into...

[unome]

Ok, this is a fairly basic play that happened last night in a 5/10 game, but it got me thinking that maybe I should have played it differently:

I'm in LP with JJ (suits unimportant.) Everyone folds to me and I rasie. The button calls and blinds fold for a heads-up hand. Flop comes 9-5-3. I bet, button calls. Turn is an Ace (here on out is where I wonder if it should be played any differently.) Board is now 9-5-3-A. I bet and get raised by the button. I call. Turn comes the lucky Jack. I check he bets, I raise, he 3 bets and I cap.

My trip Jacks are good and he doesn't show. With all the river action, I'm pretty sure he had me beat after the turn. Here's the questions:

1. How often, if ever, should I fold the Jacks after the Ace comes on the turn and I get raised?

2. Should I always bet on the turn when the Ace appears in this situation?

3. If I got raised in the same situation except there were two overcards (A, K or Q) on the board how often, if ever, do you bother calling the raise?

Thank you for your help.

[LetsRock]

I'd play it jut like you did. You can't cower to every over card that hits the board.

You probably got lucky and hit your 2 outer on the river (based on his river action-probably Aces up), but I've seen many players try his turn c/r play as a bluff.

I'll call the turn raise and call the river if I don't catch the 2 outer.

If there's several over-cards, and more players in the hunt, I'm more likely to lay it down, but this is pretty player specific.

[sthief09]

I don't think you can play it any differently, except maybe betting the river. but I check raise the river 100% of the time.

[Nick B.]

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I'd play it jut like you did. You can't cower to every over card that hits the board.

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No you can't cower to every overcard. I would have bet and folded to the raise on the Turn. Most LL players will call a raise on the button with an Ace, so when it hits on the turn and you bet and he raises, what do you think he has? He doesn't have any indication that you have a pocket pair, so he isn't making a play at you to try and get you to lay it down. His raise on the turn screams "HEY I HAVE AN ACE". Maybe a king of queen overcard would be safe, but usually not an ace. There are too many players that will call a flop bet with just an ace.

[J.R.]

"You can't cower to every over card that hits the board."

He didn't, he bet. The issue is whether he should cower facing a turn raise when the most oft-chased low limit overcard reared its head. I would fold the turn against many opponents, especially live where I could be more certain about my decision.

[unome]

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No you can't cower to every overcard. I would have bet and folded to the raise on the Turn. Most LL players will call a raise on the button with an Ace, so when it hits on the turn and you bet and he raises, what do you think he has? He doesn't have any indication that you have a pocket pair, so he isn't making a play at you to try and get you to lay it down. His raise on the turn screams "HEY I HAVE AN ACE". Maybe a king of queen overcard would be safe, but usually not an ace. There are too many players that will call a flop bet with just an ace.


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I don't know about this Nick. People at 5/10 certainly aren't the Iveys and Helmuths, but I think some od them are smarter players then the typical A-xo fishes.

It's a matter of how often will I catch a bluff in a heads-up situation like that. If there are 3 or more people in the hand, then it's a different story, but I think I can take down the pot maybe 20%-30% of the time when heads up. (Just a guess) But then again, that's why I am asking this question here /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[J.R.]

"It's a matter of how often will I catch a bluff in a heads-up situation like that."

I agree. Tell us about your opponent.

[unome]

Don't know much about this opponent. I will say this: He appeared to be steaming a bit.

[J.R.]

That weighs more towards calling him down, IMO.

When he raises the turn there are 6.5 big bets in the pot (assumign the sb = the rake) and you have to call 2 more bets (assuming he bluffs the river) to win 7.5. So its 2:7.5 or 1:3.75. You do have two outs to the jacks, so do you win this like 18-19% (maybe less since you win mulitple river bets when you hit a J) of the time you call down?