Questionable check/raising - who am I building the pot for?
 

MP3 is a table coach - plays a wierd variant of ABC poker, and has been droning on about the merits of calling down because 'people bluff too much at .5/1'. His pre-flop raising standards are pretty solid - 99-AA and ATs and up.
CO's note says he is a *complete* calling station. Have never seen this guy raise. Not once.

Party Poker 0.50/1 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. CO posts a blind of $0.50.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, <font color="CC3333">MP3 raises</font>, CO (poster) calls, Button calls, SB folds, Hero calls, MP1 calls.

There's a good chance I'm dominated here, but I'm getting like 9:1....they're SOOTED!!


Flop: (10.50 SB) 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
Hero checks, MP1 checks, <font color="CC3333">MP3 bets</font>, CO calls, Button calls, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, MP1 folds, MP3 calls, CO calls, Button calls.

Very *very* strange entrapment scheme here by me....my thinking is I'll know immediately if I'm behind. MP3's bet here is auto after raising pre-flop. If I bet out he might raise with some aces or he might just call, so I don't really get any information. If he has an overpair he'll 3-bet me here I'm almost positive. The other people in the hand are calling stations, and I honestly could not care less what they have. While I was doing this really for information, I realize I'm building a pot with a hand that's extremely vulnerable. How silly is this really? If he has a decent A he's drawing to 3 outs...but with all the other players I'm dodging a bunch of other cards too.

Turn: (9.25 BB) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP3 calls, CO calls, Button folds.

That looks like good times - no raising, pretty sure I'm good vs. MP3.


River: (12.25 BB) Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>

Ok...what should my line be here? bet, fold to a raise? Check/call? Can I count on AK or AJ taking a shot here? I'm pretty sure MP3 will call me with A high, but might not bet it, and he might raise AQ. So he'll call with more hands than he'll bet with, but might raise me if he has AQ. Was pretty stumped here. CO is a calling station - he'll call or check pretty much regardless of what's in his hand. He seriously could be holding A's right now - who knows.

Re: Questionable check/raising - who am I building the pot for?
 

Bet. Fold to a raise, if you're confident that they wouldn't raise you with AK. I'm torn between the fold and the call against a raise, myself.

Re: Questionable check/raising - who am I building the pot for?
 

AXs is a hand that I stink at playing.
I need to learn how to play these AXs to stop not a leak but a torrent in my game.

I would be really torn about what to do here. Table Coach might call with TT because his latest sermon was on calling down. Qh is a really scary card. So you can think about using it to push Table Coach off. If he pushes back I'd call. Calling Station probably has two random cards. If he or you beats Table Coach on this hand you can then take the Coach to school ...

I'm a beginner so I'd appreciate any comments on my analysis.

Derick

Re: Questionable check/raising - who am I building the pot for?
 

Bet and fold to a raise. Well played hand.

Re: Questionable check/raising - who am I building the pot for?
 

Bet the river. Fold to a raise unless you've made a habit of betting/folding and table coach is likely to have picked up on it.

You talked about him calling down bets to keep people honest. Does his bluff o' meter have a "raise this chump" setting too? Most likely not. Folding to a raise is probably best.

Re: Questionable check/raising - who am I building the pot for?
 

Check/Call. You want to show this down, but DON'T want to call a raise.

Re: Questionable check/raising - who am I building the pot for?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Check/Call. You want to show this down, but DON'T want to call a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Right, you don't want to call a raise....and no one is making you. It's an easy fold if there's a raise. Why miss out on a bet or two if it's checked thru?

Re: Questionable check/raising - who am I building the pot for?
 

In the end I thought the fact that they'll *definitely* call, and I'm very unlikely to get raised made the difference. So I bet, and they both folded. My eyes almost burst from their sockets I was so surprised. But I think this entire line was pretty thin, and am not sure how much I should really use it without some great reads.