Heads Up in the blinds
 

Today was my first attempt into 1/2 which ended up quite well (~50BB in 300 hands - yes I know it won't be this easy). I've done fairly well at .5/1 (~3 BB/100) over about 10k hands so I thought I'd take a stab at the next level.

I'm sure I did not play this hand but I'm not positive what I did wrong. My read of his hand was definitely wrong. I think I slam on the brakes to soon sometimes. How should I have played this?

Read: (based only on 25 hands) - seemed fairly solid and aggressive, had only shown 72s out of the blinds so far but had picked up a few small pots with betting the flop



Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (10 handed) http://216.119.70.224/converter/hhconverter.pl

Preflop: Hero is BB with T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">8 folds</font>, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: (2 SB) J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">SB bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#CC3333">SB 3-bets</font>, Hero calls.

Turn: (4 BB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
SB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">SB raises</font>, Hero calls.

River: (8 BB) 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">SB bets</font>, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 10 BB

Re: Heads Up in the blinds
 

I like your flop play. I would cap the turn though, heads up I would be willing to go a little gonzo here.

If he bets into you again on the river I would call. If he checks I would bet/call the river.

He did not raise you pre-flop. I don't think he has the A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] because of it. He would almost positively have tried to steal your blind if he did.

Re: Heads Up in the blinds
 

I think you played this pretty well. The only comment I would make is that if you didn't cap the flop, I'm assuming you think you are behind to a higher flush. Therefore, you might just want to check/call down the turn and the river to eliminate check-raise possibilities.

Re: Heads Up in the blinds
 

I think I would cap the flop, and I'd think long and hard before I didn't 3bet or cap the turn. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a pair and a heart or something. People tend to overplay hands out of the blinds.

Re: Heads Up in the blinds
 

I would at least cap the flop and turn without another heart showing up. There's MANY hands Villain could play here, especially because it's a blind-on-blind situation.

Re: Heads Up in the blinds
 

I think that I would cap the flop and 3 bet the turn. I think that SB is more likely to have a set, two pair, or a pair and a heart than a made flush. However, when the river pairs the board you have to slow down as now you have to worry about the possibility of a full house added to the chance that he has a flush bigger than yours.

Re: Heads Up in the blinds
 

I think this is fine as long as you plan on raising a non-heart turn bet.
It might sound/look weak-tight but honestly - the flop 3-bet/turn check just doesn't happen when you don't cap the flop - at least not often enough so that it matters what your "standard line" is in this spot. I would be thoroughly confused by the turn C/R as well, play it cautiously, and take notes at the end of the hand.

Re: Heads Up in the blinds
 

My initial read when he bet the flop was most likely a big [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. So with that read I should not have slowed down until another heart hit. His check-raise on the turn confused me, but I agree I should have 3bet here. I think most likely we are ahead (but will not win) &gt;90% here. Only a higher flush is ahead which he should have only about 1% of the time (assuming my math is right which is as unlikely as him having a higher flush). When the river pairs the board, this brings the percentage down some but I think most people would raise from the SB preflop with pockets. So there probably is still some EV to bet this as well. He ended up having a smaller flush.

Re: Heads Up in the blinds
 

Just want to point out that SB doesn't have to have pocket pair to make the boat. He could've completed with J3s or 93s (43s is unlikely given his flop play).