Me,You and Bobby McGee !

Once a week I play low-limit on Paradise with my good friend Bobby McGee.


Sometimes we have some 'heavy fights' about what is the right play. Here is a hand. What do You think ?


We are in the CutOff w/ AcKh. UTG (7 off the button) open-raises - we call. Everybody else is folding. 2 players see the flop:


[ 5c Jd 3h ]


UTG bets - we call. 2 players see the turn:


[ 5c Jd 3h ] [ 9c ]


UTG bets ...


Q1: Now what ?


FOLD ?


CALL ? ... trying to hit our 6-outer. (drawing)


CALL ? ... and calling the river more or less no matter what. (calling-down)


Q2: Is it a big decision ? ... ie is it possible to make a big mistake here or is it close.


Q3: How do You like our play so far ?


Q4: Would it make any difference if You knew that UTG is pretty tight but usually not very aggressive ?


Any comments appreciated !

1) i would have 3-bet pre-flop...

2) since i would have 3-bet pre-flop, he would stop bluffing his probable AQ and I wouldnt have such a hard decision on the turn.


although the fact that you have the Ac makes it less likely he is following through on the turn after picking up a 4-flush semi-bluff bet, and more likely he has maybe QQ or AJs.


as it is I would call him down. he may not be that aggressive, but heads-up is not the usual low limit paradise situation.


would he usually check two overcards heads up? i wouldnt.

you should not have called the flop. you should either raise or fold.


Calling is weak play in this situation. By raising you put him in a tough position.

If he re-raises, you know exactly where he stands. Since he is a tight non-aggressive player a re-raise would put him on a over pair. a call would mean he is either on AK, or AQ or smaller

pocket.

I think a decision is made much easier in this case.

Another thing to think about is that he raised first one in, you have to respect this much less. A good player would smooth call a large pocket.


In a nut shell you should have re-raised, knocking out other players, then bet the turn, and if you did not hit your 6 outs you can either bet the river or check it, depending on the kind of player you are.

Calling the turn means you made a mistake. That mistake was either calling the turn against a WT player who is almost sure to have a pair, OR the mistake was not 3-betting the aggressive player before the flop who is very likely NOT to have a pair. In other words if you don't like AK enough to 3-bet before the flop than folding is pretty easy on the turn.


Note that the J is a bad card for you since it makes a pair of many of the hands AK had beat. If the J was a Q its much worse.


- Louie