Can I call here?

I limp in the cutoff with As6s after two limpers. SB calls, BB raises, all call.


Flop is A-rag-rag, where both rags are spades. SB checks, BB bets, first limper folds, second calls, I raise. SB folds and the other two players (BB and second limper) call my raise.


Turn pairs one of the rags. It's checked to me. I check.


River is a T (not a spade). BB checks, limper bets. Can I call here?

Anytime you make a play which might induce a bluff, you have to strongly consider calling. Hope there was no trips and the ten played.

You're getting 10:1. He might also have a weak ace. Who knows, maybe he had two spades and paired the ten. You don't have to win very often for this call to be profitable.

Of coarse you have to call. Why do you check the turn? obviuosly bb would reriase flop with an ace. The other guy probably would raise the bb blind with an ace. Why give free cards on the turn? I know your worried about the other guy having hit trips or something. And even if he does have an ace you have alot of outs to catch him on the river 9 spades and possibly 3 6's. Not that likely. You definately have to call the river becaus eyour raisning the flop now checking the turn looks like a draw and peple will be more inclined to bluff now.

I called, thinking my turn check was likely to lead to a bet from hands worse than mine. The fact that if the bettor had a hand like A9 I had improved on the river to a chop was another factor.


The bettor won with AT. The BB overcalled on the river but did not show.


I don't think this call is as easy as pokerguy implies. Had the river action involved a bet from the BB rather than from the middle player (MP), I would see it as a clear call. However, the action is coming from MP. We haven't heard from him the entire hand, and now he suddenly springs to life on the river. That looks strongly to me like he either improved on the river or had tried to check raise on the turn when he hit trips, but I didn't bet.


I called due to pot size, but I think it is very unlikely that MP would bluff here, given that with the strength me and BB have shown he has to expect at least one call, despite the turn check. Similarly, I didn't think it was very likely he would bet with only a paired ten.


Again, had BB been the bettor, I wouldn't have put as much thought into the call (he seems likely to have a hand like KK or QQ, at least likely enough to justify calling), but I since it was MP who bet the river, I thought that made it much trickier.

Bobby,


I agree with pokerguy, checking the turn has likely cost you a bet when you make your hand on the river or when any callers with worse hands call and miss the river; since MP did not "speak up" on flop he was probably very unlikely to make a move on the turn (but you would know better than I, you play with them). Don't be too result oriented, the pot's too big to give up on and there are too many ways that you will usually win or chop the pot in this situation. Don't lament the lost bet on the river; me and pokerguy would have lost that bet on the turn and maybe another on the river (I can't speak for pokerguy). As I write this I can't remember who pointed it out above, but a check on the turn in this spot should be made EXACTLY to protect against check-raise, take a free card if you're beat or even drawing dead to aces full AND to induce a bluff--I would almost always call except for in extremely unusual circumstances.


Mike

Well,


The one thing I learned from reading alot of the different books, the biggest mistake players make, is "Kicker Trouble".


This is the situation you found yourself in and you should learn that when you play a A x, the kicker needs to be big enough that it allows you to sieze control of the hand, when the flop is favorable. You didn't have that, you had a four flush, with diminishing odds after the turn. While it did not cost you but one more bet, You were an underdog with A6 after the turn,and no flush or pair of kicker and even though pot odds justified a call, you knew deep down you were probably beat, especially when your Aces did not improve and another player came out betting.


I have saved myself a lot of lost bets by throwing away my hand on the turn when the best results doesn't happen. I have save more money that way, and maybe one in 12 hands, I wish I had kept it, but I come out better in the long run. I never would have raised with that hand on the flop, unless I had a bigger kicker.