early blind steal gets isolated
 

Fairly tight table. BB was a rock and only 1 person had a VP$IP above 30, most were 20. Reraiser is SLAP over not many hands. She reraised a tight raiser preflop with KJs in the SB. Her play is strange but I don't think she'd bluff this, although I don't have many hands on her and I have seen passives make crazy plays heads up in a raised pot.. What do you think about the flop lead? I was worried she wouldn't bet if she missed.

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (10 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP2 3-bets</font>, <font color="#666666">5 folds</font>, Hero calls.

Flop: (7.50 SB) 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP2 raises</font>, Hero calls.

Turn: (5.75 BB) 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, MP2 checks.

River: (5.75 BB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP2 raises</font>, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 9.75 BB

Re: early blind steal gets isolated
 

[ QUOTE ]
What do you think about the flop lead? I was worried she wouldn't bet if she missed.


[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't worry about her not betting too much. She'll probably bet. Most people do and are right to do so.

Before you led the flop, did you think about how you would respond to a raise? If you feel confident a flop raise means she has a better hand, I like it enough. If she can raise with overs or a draw, it makes it tricky for you, as you have to put in 2 bets but gain no information.

The turn and river plays by her are weird enough that I would have called the river raise too. If she has a flush draw, why would she check the turn when she hits it? If she has an overpair, why would she give a free card when it seems obvious you have a good piece of this board? J-J and 8-8 are highly unlikely.

Re: early blind steal gets isolated
 

I think a flop check raise for value is in order here.

A good thing to notice about the flop play on this hand is that you cannot protect your hand, really. Most opponent's three-betting standards include hands already beating you (the big pairs and maybe AJ or a hand like 88), hands with basically very few outs (like 99 or TT), or hands with two overcards (like AK). Therefore, there are basically no hands villain could have that have multiple live outs that he would simply fold to a single flop bet. Missing the flop sucks for value reasons, but it's not a total disaster like some missed check-raises are which have a high likelihood of causing you to lose a hand you would've won had you bet.

I also think a flop check-raise will make the rest of the hand much easier to play. I don't necessarily want to commit to having to three-bet the flop here. Without at least a flop check-raise or a flop three-bet, I don't feel we can define villain's range of hands with enough precision to be confident in many later folds.

As played, I'm calling the river too just because the action is so bizarre that I can't confidently say villain isn't bluffing. His line here is basically inconsistent with most all logical hands, and I'm not ruling out a river bluff with missed AK or something like that.

Re: early blind steal gets isolated
 

I'd fold preflop. You really shouldn't be thinking about stealing blinds with QJo from MP1.

Once in the hand ...

I'd check raise the flop fer sure. Preflop raisers will lead the flop when checked to more than not.

Why not 3-bet the flop and lead the turn? TPGK plus Q flush draw at that point.

The river is pretty strange. Could the board pairing have helped? I'm very curious to know what she held. Slowplayed JJ?

Re: early blind steal gets isolated
 

She had the the A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]