A8o against a SH (ex)-pro. What line do I take?
 

OK guys, first of all, this is SH, but the other player and I get it HU on the flop, so don't worry so much about that. This is mainly to do with my opponent, and the optimal way to play this hand. We discussed it for about five minutes or so after the hand and I'm still not sure about the best line.

The villian in question is, quite simply, way better than I am. He is always changing gears, sometimes raising with very strong hands, sometimes with little at all. He plays very straightfowardly against the other players, but gets tricky against me. He knows I am a 2+2er, and we are in the process of destroying two fish who want to sit with us SH. He used to play Party 10/20 6-max professionally, but has found a new (real) job. I am outmatched.

Borgata 10/20 (4 handed)

I have A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] UTG Opponent is BB.

I raise, button calls, SB folds, BB calls.

Flop:

K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Villian leads out, I raise, button folds, villian 3-bets...

How do I proceed here?

He plays both big hands and trash very quickly, FWIW.

Re: A8o against a SH (ex)-pro. What line do I take?
 

This board is drawless. He either has a K, 8, or PP. If you can't picture him playing a K like this, then I'd call, then raise the turn. If he's capable of playing a K like this then, it might be time to call down.

Re: A8o against a SH (ex)-pro. What line do I take?
 

Amateur thoughts from a 2/4 player:
If he thinks you'd legitimately raise the flop with a K, call the flop 3-bet and raise the turn. If he won't believe you have a K, call down.
Meh? I don't think I'm too interested in getting 3-bet on the turn and/or folding against this player.

Re: A8o against a SH (ex)-pro. What line do I take?
 

He also knows that I rarely fastplay, and definitely hasn't ruled out a K due to my raise.

At this point, he probably thinks I have A8, a PP higher than 8, or a K, if that helps.

Re: A8o against a SH (ex)-pro. What line do I take?
 

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He also knows that I rarely fastplay, and definitely hasn't ruled out a K due to my raise.

At this point, he probably thinks I have A8, a PP higher than 8, or a K, if that helps.

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If the worst hand he'll put you on is A8, then wouldn't he definitely have a better hand than A8 aka a better hand than you? Otherwise he thinks he can push you off, which would be crazy imo.

Re: A8o against a SH (ex)-pro. What line do I take?
 

Well, the next action was that I 4-bet...

Re: A8o against a SH (ex)-pro. What line do I take?
 

Why? If you actually have the king, you're hardly worried about a draw, and you're going to be raising him on the turn instead. The cap screams PP. Its only advantage is if he has something like 99, it may set it up later for him to put you on TT or above, instead of 88. I'd pump the turn instead. (But I am also a 2/4 ring guy, so take that with a grain of salt.)

Re: A8o against a SH (ex)-pro. What line do I take?
 

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:</font><hr />
He also knows that I rarely fastplay

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This is a tragic table image to have. Start fastplaying, it's so good.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:</font><hr />
At this point, he probably thinks I have A8, a PP higher than 8, or a K, if that helps.

[/ QUOTE ]
If your raising range two off the button is this small, again you're in trouble. I'd put villain on any PP, a king, a range of 8s - almost all of which are worse than yours - or a strong ace-high like AQ or AJ with a backdoor flush draw.

Not taking this hand to showdown is a mistake, especially if villain gets tricky. I'm torn between calling down and raising the river. I don't like calling the flop 3-bet and raising the turn because you'd really like to see a showdown, and you aren't attacking a draw for semi-bluffing, you're seeing who has the best made hand. So if he 3-bets you on the turn you have a very tough decision to make against a tricky opponent. I prefer to reserve that situation for my opponents.

Once you 4-bet the flop I'd go for a free showdown after your turn bet unless you improve. I don't really like that play either because savvy opponents are willing to fold to this 4th bet when full of it, or he may peel and check/fold only with the worst hands in his range. But you can't be sure enough that if he continues after you 4-bet that he's better than you, so you still have to showdown with less favourable odds vs his potential handrange.

Re: A8o against a SH (ex)-pro. What line do I take?
 

Crap. I meant I rarely SLOWplay.

Fastplay=the new slowplay.

Re: A8o against a SH (ex)-pro. What line do I take?
 

I hesitated raising the turn because if I do, one of two things happen. Either he has K and 3-bets me, and I'm forced to fold, or he gives up his bluff and folds.

A8 is probably one of the only hands he would have that would involve him paying me off.

I 4-bet the flop planning on folding to a 5-bet, or him leading the turn. If he checks the turn, I bet and fold to a raise.

Any other comments/problems with my line?

My plan was to figure out a solution to see if he had a king with the fewest amount of bets while still getting paid off by a worse 8/PP.