He won't go away, now what?

[davidross]

Online Party WSOP qualifier. 9 seats up for grabs, 3rd level, blinds 15/30. LP(1200) makes a minimum raise to 60 and I'm in the BB(950) with Ks Td, and I call.

FLop Tc 7c 5h

I bet 120 and he calls.

Turn Kc.

I bet 300 and he calls again.

River 6d

Well??

[DougBrennan]

I'm thinking a)set b)flush or c)maniac with an overpair to the flop. With no read, and no feel for how many maniacs at Party are in these tournaments, I think I would, reluctantly, check and pray for c).

I will say this, too. There are times when I am not in the mood to jack around with a short stack and thus would push in this spot, but I would do so with the realization that I'm going to lose more often than win. So if I think there's a chance he's bluffing, that almost 4:1 on the push-in looks tempting.

But having read some of your journal posts I gather you have a more disciplined approach than I sometimes take, and in my opinion the smart, mature play would be to check and fold to pressure.

Doug

[colson10]

Any read on LP? I don't think I want him to go away, it looks like you have the best hand. He's not going to fold any hand that beats you, but from his flop and turn action it seems possible that he'll call you with a hand that you beat, so I would either push in or just bet another 300 hoping for a call.
If you're worried he's slow playing a set or clubs, which seems very unlikely from his actions(a read would be nice to have here though), I don't think you can fold if you check the riv and he puts you all in. But if you check to him and doesn't have you beat he'll likely check behind with a hand that might have called a bet. It's possible that if you checked he would bluff with a hand that would not call a river bet, but to use that strategy you would need to know he is an aggressive player which doesn't look to be the case here.
I think the best option is to either push in or bet another 300.

colson10

[Stoneii]

Yeah - looks maybe like JJ, QQ or AK. he may be reading you for Tens from your first bet and still thinks his pair is winning after your second bet.

stoneii

[Monkeyslacks]

Value bet the river -something he'll have to call with a king. Around 200-300 feels right to me.

I'd put your opponent on a king at least 80% of the time here, probably with a decent club kicker. This mean you'll usually get the crying call, but he might lay it down if you bet much more than 200.

If he was being goofy and called the turn with the ace of clubs or something, you're not inducing a bluff from him often enough to warrant checking in this situation. Too often they'll check after you with a king that would have called your river bet.

A set or a flush played this way is too bizarre, but it's possible. You might even see 89 here. If so... nh.

[davidross]

I'm not very comfortable post-flop yet in No-Limit. Whatever experience I have in ring games seems to be no use to me in these situations, and in fact seems to get me into trouble more often than not. In this particular hand I was worried about the small raise. I've seen this be a big pair lot's of times in this tournament, so when he called my flop bet I was ready to be done with it. THen I made my 2 pair, and I thought I had him. I wondered if he had AA with the Ac. I didn't really think he had AK, but I guess KQ or KJ might be possible. I decided to bet the turn because I didn't want him getting a free shot at a club, and his call worried me some more, but I really thought I was ahead.

I fired 300 more on the river and he called He had 55 for the flopped set and I was in bad shape. I'm thinking checking the river isn't all that bad, I don't know if he'd fire away or not, he can't like that board very much either, and with 500 chips left I'm in much better shape than with the 200 I was left with (although on this night it wouldn't have mattered, just a few hands later in a button vs BB battle I had JJ against AA and was probably going out no matter how many chips I had).

I'm just not good enough yet to survive a 2 pair or better hand losing. I played 3 NL tourneys yesterday and was out before the 1st break in all 3. yuck. Just 7 days before the Vegas trip where I'll get my last chance to qualify in the super sats I won entries to. It's not looking so good right now.

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
So if I think there's a chance he's bluffing, that almost 4:1 on the push-in looks tempting.


[/ QUOTE ]

Hard to bluff when you never initiate any betting/raising. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[DougBrennan]

Hang in there. Not too many survive in tournaments when their two pair or better is beat on a ragged board. One of these tournaments, all your big hands will be good, all your pocket rockets will be raised all-in pre-flop, all of your bluffs and steals will pay off, you'll get the one suck-out you need, and voila, suddently you've got a few hundred thousand in chips and you're thinking "how did that happen?"

And then you're winging your way to Vegas.

Doug