getting beat up
 

ok i have Js9s in the bb 3 handed live 20-40 3am game. sb strong pro decent short player openraises, i 3 bet, he calls.

the flop is A73 two spades. he checks, i bet, he checkraises, i 3 bet, he 4 bets. i call.

the turn is 5h. he bets, i call.

the river is a T. he checks, i check. he has 87o. i lose.

5 bet the flop, wait till the turn to show aggression? raise the turn? what? nothing? i lose no matter what?

Re: getting beat up
 

Slow down on the flop! Your only gonna make your flush 1 out of 3 times. Your bet on the flop is alright as a semi-bluff, but reraising his checkraise? Your not getting those odds heads up.

Now that I think about it more, I probably wouldn't have 3bet preflop. J9s is a speculative hand, and I would want to see the flop cheaply with it, especially since he open raised you.

Re: getting beat up
 

I would just call him down after his CR, and raise if I hit my flush. Probably not triple bet it preflop either.

Re: getting beat up
 

Mike,

Based upon the play of this one hand, the sb does appear to be a pretty good short player.

I may have flat called his raise preflop but the rest of the way you played was fine.

Bob Lewis

Re: getting beat up
 

I like your preflop 3-bet. Let the strong pro know you wont be pushed around. Often you'll win it right on the flop when a high cards hit and you'll hit a lot of connected medium card flops.

Don't like your flop play. He's a strong pro, as you said. You gave too much away on the flop IMO. You were supposed to win on this flop after you 3-bet preflop with a check from the pro, a bet from you, and a fold by him. Typically that would have happened. But it didnt.

Often that means he just has something, with a slim chance that he's pushiing you, but I really think that chance is quite small. Also, fearing a bigger ace from you, he might prefer to rope and dope weak aces. His check-raise typically seems medium pair trying to figure out where he is and protecting it, or a draw that wants to make you fold. Since you have a draw, my read would be a medium pair.

Now you made a big mistake by 3-betting IMO, but maybe our styles differ a lot. Often, if I had a good ace, I would just call here. Make him guess, pop him on turn or river if you like. If I were the SB and I assumed you were a typical 20/40 Paradise player I would often put you on a draw here.

The SB 4-bet and turnbet is simply excellent. The only way you could have won this hand was by calling flop and raising turn. If you think there was a good chance he could release a medium pair then that should have been your play. Otherwise you should have just played it out passively. Even a turncall could still give you some bluffing potential on the river, although less.

I really think you gave this one away on the flop and gave your opponent an excellent read on you.

Regards