9-18 hand

i have 54s in late position. it's capped to me and i, of course, call.


haha, just kidding. let's start over:


i have red KK on the button 7 handed in an easy 9-18 game. everyone folds to the cutoff, a very bad player and he limps. i raise, sb folds, and the big blind calls.


the flop os Jc2c5d. it's cehcked to me, i bet, they both call.


the turn is the 5s. it's checked to me and i check.


the river is the 6h. bb checks, bad player bets, i call, bb folds.


any comments on how i played this hand? my main concern is the turn: should i have bet the turn to charge flush draws?

Bet for value and to charge overcard type hands and flush draws. Checking here is pretty bad.

I'd be curious to hear what dynamics you think are at work with this hand that distinguish it from the AK hand we were discussing on the low limit forum.


Guy

I probably bet on the turn. I would be more inclined to check if I were heads up or against 4+ preflop limpers/blinds. Against only 2 opponents, I think you may be giving up too much by checking here when it's unlikely a 5 is out, and the chance of at least 1 call should be pretty high.


Depending on what you know of the bad player in the cutoff, I would at least consider raising on the river. If he's somewhat passive, he might have checked a jack on the flop, and is now betting after you indicated no pair by checking the turn. Or if he's aggressive he might be bluffing or betting any pair. The BB is unlikely to overcall you on the river after he checked both turn and river, but the very bad player should call your raise as long as he wasn't bluffing without a pair. If he wouldn't reraise with a 5 (or would only reraise with at least a 5), this bet is even better.

First let me state that I agree with you that betting was correct in the AK hand.


The difference is that in the AK hand he is either way ahead or way behind. In this hand he is marginally ahead at best, and must charge draws and overcards.

This situation is completely different from the one discussed on the low limit forum. Remember that I said I thought the situation was unique and that it might call for an unusual play- Mason responded to it in case you didn't know so you might want to go and read his response- I was a little unclear as to wether he liked my idea or not, but anyway just letting you know a real expert put in his two cents over there.

Okay on with this hand. This seems straightforward to me. On the flop I think we can all agree on a bet being correct so no need to discuss that. On the turn why shouldn't he bet? There are no clues to alert Mike of being in trouble in this hand. There was no 3bet before the flop no raising on the flop, just calling. This usually is a good sign that you are in good shape with a big overpair. Like with any hand that is probably best you want to make the maximum with it and protect it the only way possible- by betting. One other thing that makes this different too is that there are more free cards that can beat you here then with the other hand discussed in the low limit forum, AND those hands will be more likely to fold in a small pot. It's a huge difference compared to that AK hand where there were only a few free cards that might hurt you but they wouldn't fold in the big pot anyway.


Kris

I would have bet the turn. Since you describe the players as being bad, they (or at least one of them) will call you with a lot of hands that better players wouldn't, so you should collect that money.

You must bet the turn here against typical loose players. You not only don't want to give a free card, but just as much you want to bet your hand for value.


-ActionBob