How often to fold facing a check raise

Typical Foxwoods 10-20 hold'em game, ten handed.


UTG folds to me. I raise. Two cold callers. Big blind calls.


Flop is 5-4-2 three suits. BB checks. I bet. One of the cold-callers folds, the other calls, BB calls.


Turn: 4. BB checks. I bet. Cold-caller calls. BB raises.


Question: Given the action so far, what fraction of the time should I fold here? For example, assume that I would only have acted this way with half my AAs, 5/6 of my KKs, all my QQs, and half the time I'm dealt ten-nine of spades. With which of those hands should I call that check-raise in a typical 10-20 game?


The general point that I want to be forced to consider is when to finally lay down those big damn pairs when someone beats me over the head with the "you've been cracked" stick.


--JMike

First off, if you're pushing T9 this hard fully half of the time, I think you've got bigger problems than what to do when check/raised. In fact, it might be a reason you're getting check/raised. IMO-


I'm a little more inclined to call a check/raise when heads-up (assuming I've got a hand and/or draw). With other players in, the pot becomes somewhat protected, meaning the check/raiser should have the hand he is representing more times than not. Of course, this won't always be the case, but I think it's at least somewhat made up for by the times you'll be drawing 100% stone cold dead with your big overpair.


You should also consider the likelihood of having to face another bet on the river. I recently called a check/raise in a similar situation with KK, but my call got me a free showdown. I think this can be important.


I think you also have to assess the player. I've recently been playing with someone who is capable of check/raising the turn with almost any two cards. More than once, I've called him down with very little and won. So the standard "it depends" applies here as well.

Another important factor is how likely you are to have outs. If you can easily put your opponent on two-pair giving you 8 outs, of course you'd call if the pot justifies it. The other day, I faced this dilemna:


One early limper and I raised with AKs. The sb and limper called. 3-way.


The flop came As,8s,2d (none of my suit). They checked it to me and I bet. They both called.


The turn was an off 3. It was checked to me, I bet, the sb called and now the limper check/raised.


I folded. I agonized over this fold until I saw the end result. I didn't think he'd semi-bluff raise a flush draw and there was no likely two-pair other than A8s which left me drawing to 3 cards max (A king of spades might not be any good). Other hands (such as a set) had me drawing dead. I breathed a sigh of relief when he turned over A8s at the showdown.

Sorry if I'm sounding nuts with this. But I thought alot about this (business of getting chec,/raised) and I'm just typing to myself here.


Had (my above hand) been heads-up, I probably would've called and maybe even called him down on the river. Heads-up I don't think it's right for me to fold AK here too often, or it will become correct for him to start check/raising me with hands like 98s, 77, etc. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? Or do I have it wrong? Thanks.

As stated it is very important to make these laydowns against the solid players and of course do not show or tell what you are laying down

for obvious reasons.

Careful, note that I said "half the time I was dealt ten-nine OF SPADES", not "half the time I was dealt ten-nine". The hand distribution I posted in the original message comes from the assumption that I'd


- have gone for the limp-reraise with some of my AA and some (but fewer) of my KK


- have tried for the bluff-raise with some subset of my suited connecters, pounded the flop with some fraction of those, and bet the turn with a smaller fraction of those. So at this point in the narrative we're down to half the times I was specifically dealt Ts-9s.


I took this problem from an actual hand and just realized that there's a problem with treating it as theoretically pure -- if I'm on AA, I may have these weird gutshot wheel outs. Maybe I should have made the board 7 4 2, 4 instead. Anyone who answers the question from here on out is welcome to choose this formulation instead, if it makes for a cleaner answer.