Final stab at the pot?

Paradise 1/2. Terrible loose player limps in EP, I raise with AcQc in LP, "heater guy" (HG) in the small blind calls. Heater guy is one of those extremely annoying types - not only he has been on a huge heater, but he flashes his cards after his frequent successful bluffs and of course only gets called down when he has it.


Flop: Td 9c 2c


HG bets, EP calls, I raise, HG 3 bets, EP calls, I cap, all call.


Turn: 4h


Checked to me and I bet, all call.


River: 3s [4h Td 9c 2c]


Checked to me, 12 bb in pot. Now what?


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I had some hope that HG was on the same draw I was and maybe EP would drop whatever in god's name it had. I bet (and I almost never do this even heads up), HG did fold, EP called and showed As2h. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I should have known better since EP will call with anything, but I figured I was getting 12:1 on my bluff and only need it to work 8% of the time to break even on it. In this situation with a calling station in EP, do you think its best to take the free card on the turn, and then when you miss, expect HG to bet and EP to call and save myself 2 bets? How would you have played it? Thankfully HG whined up a storm which means of course he did muck the winning hand, so it wasn't a total loss.


Now that I think about it though I think I'd do it again. I was getting some cold cards for a while and hadn't been in many pots or got much action. After this hand I got some good cards and did get paid off a lot, and picked up probably another 10 bets or so before leaving the table. So maybe it was worth it?

EP limps, calls a pre-flop raise. Then calls a bet on the flop, and then also calls two bets cold. If you had a baseball bat and beat him repeatedly, he's not going anywhere -- there just no big card on the board that scares him -- and he's an optimist. In this situation, I'm taking the free card on the turn -- especially with a dependable heater/bluffer leading out.


If the river comes with the flush, I'm certain the Heater is betting and EP is calling that bet and your raise. So, I think you get the same by waiting to see if you hit the river, but risk less by taking the free card.


If you don't take the free card on the turn, then I think the bet on the river is a must. Sure, you're likely tossing away 1 BB -- I think with these two opponents and with no big scary card on the board it only works 1 in 100 times. The reason I bet is that it's an investment in future pots, as you found out.

If you're willing to put in one more bet here, then the better play is to check the turn and bet the river. There's really no reason to bet the turn, as you have nothing so far and they're obviously not going to fold. You need 4 callers to make a value bet profitable on the turn.


TRLS