Battling heads up in the blinds vs good player
 

I was playing in a good party 6-max 10/20 game. Two players were basically donating their stacks to the game. There was, however, one player that was a solid, good player, which is who I played this hand against. I pick up A,Ko in the SB. It is then folded to me and I raise. The BB, which is the good player 3-bets it and I call.

Flop- K,8,4 (rainbow)

I check he bets and I call, planning to raise the turn.

Turn-6 (completing the rainbow)

I check and he checks behind. Well that didn't go as planned.

River- 10 (Final Board K,10,8,6,4)

I bet out, and he raises. What is your action now? Call, fold, or raise???? Comments on any other street are apprecited too. Thanks in advance.

SGS

Re: Battling heads up in the blinds vs good player
 

i'd raise. He may possibly have 2 pair, but more than likely he either has AK as well, or K with a lower kicker.

Re: Battling heads up in the blinds vs good player
 

SGS,

I would have played this hand differently.

Consider 4-betting preflop. You have a very strong holding and should try to take control of the hand.

I prefer to bet the flop rather than slowplay here. If you bet and the BB raises then you can slow down and consider check-raising the turn.

On the river I like your bet. When the BB raises I would call. Although you are most likely beat there is a chance that the BB has AK or KQ.

-- Manzanita

Re: Battling heads up in the blinds vs good player
 

I think any K would have bet this turn. I'd call the river raise.

i would have been more aggressive on that flop and made sure a bet got in on the turn.

Re: Battling heads up in the blinds vs good player
 

He has pocket tens.

Re: Battling heads up in the blinds vs good player
 

SGS:
It's true that you could be beat, but look at your betting from his point of view. Your pre-flop raise looks like a steal. You call his flop bet and then check the turn. Check the turn and then bet the river --- this doesn't look strong. Why shouldn't he think that any ten in his hand is good?

Should you re-raise on the river? I'd be less inclined to do so if I thought his river raise was the product of trickiness rather than the product of a judgment (by him) that your hand was weaker than his (which is what your betting showed).

Gino

Re: Battling heads up in the blinds vs good player
 

I specialize in heads up.

The 100% correct thing to do here is to call. But the funny thing is that no matter what hand he had in this situation, he misplayed it. 10 10 and 10 k he should of bet on the turn (also reraising with K10 preflop should not be done very often (less than 20% of the time and only if the guy always raises preflop but then gets scared easily postflop).

I like the way you played your hand here. I usually only call a 3bet with my AK and then I checkraise the flop blindly. In this case, the flop is soo good for you that it is correct for you to checkraise the turn, however your opponent is less likely to put u on AK if you checkraise the flop. And is then less likely to fold with a medium pocket pair or a lower king.

Good play,

-Eugene

Re: Battling heads up in the blinds vs good player
 

heads up in the blinds in this game you really need to factor in the history - does this guy always defend the blind ? - have i raised heads up a lot previously and seen him fold ? etc etc

capping pre-flop looks auto to me - what can he have that scares you ? - i raise heads up as the small blind in this school most of the time i have a king and some of the time i have a queen - if the BB knows this (as a good BB would) then the pre-flop 3 bet could be stuff like a small pair or A10o - it might even be a complete bluff with the intention of creating an image for future hands (such a bluff will have a good success rate too if you do raise from the SB with the marginal type hands i referred to before)

having not raised pre-flop i would check/raise the flop against most opponents - whilst i think the BB is a big favourite to bet the turn i dont like slowplaying my hand for 2 betting rounds

as for the river i would guess that there is a good chance that the BB is on a complete bluff - if he is a good player then he knows that he has all but sent you a written invitation to bet the river - a good player is unlikely to look at a river 3 bet with a hand you beat so i think raise is wrong - i think you are an underdog to win the pot because i think a good player would be unlikely to raise if he couldnt beat your hand (unless of-course he is bluffing) - if the BB has KQo i'm not sure he is such a good player - i doubted your description after he checked the turn because i would think that a good player would bet the turn most of the time - calling the river is auto

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

Results and my thinking
 

Before the flop I did not cap it, because I figured if I did not cap it, the array of hands my opponent could put me on would be much higher. As many of you pointed out when he raised the river he could do this with a wide variety of hands, taking this into account I decided to 3-bet figuring I may get a call from a 10 or possibly just a couriousity call. As it turned out he called my 3-bet and my hand was good.