Steal Attempt for Mr. Tight-O

Background:


10-20, quite loose for these stakes, no more than average aggressiveness. Very poor starting cards for me during my first 2-3 hours in the game. As a result, I had been doing a lot of folding. My image was very tight and unaggressive. Also, many of my opponents seemed to be aware of this, as this was a time game with time pots and I had so far avoided paying anything for time. I had never played with any of these opponents before.


Pre-flop:


I was dealt A-Jo in the cutoff seat. Surprisingly, all folded to me, so I open raised. The button, a loose passive poor player in over his head called, and both blinds called. The SB was a very loose, aggressive player. He was almost a maniac but not quite, and a poor player IMHO. As he called my raise, he said something to the BB along the lines of,"Let's squeeze Mr. Tight Pants the raiser (me!) out of this pot." The BB, a decent player, didn't really respond. I don't think the SB realized that I heard what he said, but I have bat-like hearing when at the table :-).


Flop: 9s 6s 3s.


I had no spades. SB, BB, checked to me. I bet. The button folded, the SB called, and the BB folded.


Turn: Kd.


The SB checked. I would often bet in this spot, but here the SB's pre-flop threat, very aggressive past play, and body language suggested to me that a checkraise was coming. So I checked behind him.


River: Ks.


Final Board: 9s 6s 3s Kd Ks.


The SB bet out immediately. I had noticed that he had always gone for a checkraise when he had rivered a big hand. Therefore I didn't think he had a big flush or a fullhouse, and actually I thought he might be on a total bluff.


So should I have called here with A-J high, despite the scary board? Also, was my turn check a mistake?


I'll post the results later.


Thanks,


Caddy

Your decision here is based entirely on your assessment of your opponent since you don't have the cards to call.


You've got to decide whether he's got a spade or a King or is on total bluff.


Since you've got your "Mr. Tight Pants" image with this guy, you could bluff raise. It sounds like he would believe your raise and lay down his cards if he doens't have a spade or King himself. And if he reraises and you're ABSOLUTELY SURE he truly has you beat, you can try to alter his perception of you by turning your AJ up and folding while saying "I was just bluffing". He may start calling more often when the flop hits your cards.


It's all about the assessment of your opponent.

"He was almost a maniac but not quite,"


A manic?


"I have bat-like hearing when at the table :-)."


So happens that bat hearing is much like ours in the humanly audible range. But with your gift, at least you'd know the distances betweem you and your opponents. :-) (Fun fact to know and tell. There are 4000 species of mammals, and fully 1/4 of them, yes, 1000, are bats.)


I'd call on the river.


Tommy

I called. SB had 3-4 off, no spades, and took it down with a pair of 3s.


In retrospect, a bluff raise, as Dynasty suggested, might have been worth a shot, but at the time I didn't feel that the SB was very capable of folding to a raise. Also, I may be playing results since a pair of 3s is a bit of an odd hand for the SB to bet here.


Thanks for the responses. Also, thanks for the bat facts, Tommy :).


Caddy