did I misapply the "way ahead or way behind" play?

[Rico Suave]

Table has been loose, with occassional fits of aggressiveness. My limp was probably borderline at this table due to the aggressiveness. EP1 has been fairly aggressive, raising a decent amount of time, but nothing maniacal.

Party Poker 2/4 (10 handed)
Rico has A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and is UTG

Rico limps, EP1 raises, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds, Rico calls (Not exactly what I was looking for with my limp [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img])

Flop(5 1/2 SB): T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Rico checks, EP1 bets, Rico calls

Turn(3 3/4 BB): 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

Rico checks, EP1 bets, Rico calls

River(5 3/4 BB): 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

Rico checks, EP1 checks

--Rico

[Clarkmeister]

"did I misapply the "way ahead or way behind" play?"

Yes, sorta. The correct line in this instance against a generic opponent is to check-call the flop, check-call the turn, bet the river.

And there are worse fates than being headsup with an ace and dead money in the pot from the blinds.

[sfer]

Why is betting the river SOP? If your opponent bet the turn it's still unclear whether you're outkicked or not.

[steveyz]

Because if your opponent has a hand like KK, QQ, JJ he will likely check through on the river, but will likely call your bet. AA will raise your river bet while AK/AQ/AJ may or may not. However, given that you have an ace and there is another ace on the board, it is less likely that he has one of these hands.

Basically, I think this is the case where your opponent will call with more hands than he would bet with.

[Nottom]

Because if he doesn't have an A he will likely check behind on the river but will call a bet, if he does have you outkicked it's going to be hard for him to raise with just one pair. Your going to call a bet, so you need to get a bet out of those hands he will check behind to make up for the times he does have you beat.

You don't want to bet before the river because not only will a big A be more likely to pop you, but you also don't really want a hand like JJ to stop putting money in the pot.

[Schmed]

Generally I would have raised the flop. When checked to on the turn I bet, if he raises I call, and then call down.

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
Generally I would have raised the flop. When checked to on the turn I bet, if he raises I call, and then call down.

[/ QUOTE ]

So you take a line that loses you the absolute maximum when behind and totally scares your opponent away and wins you the minimum when you are ahead?

[MarkD]

And if a third player is in the pot behind the raiser how does this change the default line?

ie. Flop action is: Hero checks, EP1 bets, LP calls, hero does what?

Same line on the turn - Hero does what with the third player in the pot?

And if there were 4 players in the pot on the flop - how does it change the default line?

I'm asking because this default line is different than mine and I think it's probably better. If the raiser was in early position I would usually bet into him with multiple opponents. I would usually check raise him if he was in late position and we had multiple opponents.

[sfer]

Thanks steveyz and Nottom. This makes a lot of sense.

[steveyz]

In this case, I might bet out on the flop hoping that EP1 raises and knocks LP out. But whatever happens, I'd check-call the turn and perhaps bet the river depending on who is left.