[W. Deranged]

Hey folks,

So the Unknown folded, the Nut called with Q3, and MHIG.

I played the hand passively on the early streets for a bunch of reasons: I'm not vulnerable to many overcards, the nut will likely continue to put in single bets incorrectly, I have gutshot and possible trips/two pair outs that I don't want to pay to dearly for, etc... I actually might have had a pretty hard time overcalling this river if the Unknown had continued to bet, and I may well have folded in that spot.

Needless to say, I was surprised when the Unknown checked the river. I was not planning on check-raising, but rather planning on having to make a marginal "gut" decision on whether to toss in a bet on the river (I think I would have folded). But I knew that the Nut would basically bet any piece of the board he had once he was checked to. Since I was easily far enough ahead of his range to merit seeing a showdown, and indeed since I was far enough ahead to merit putting in 2 bets for a showdown, I determined that raising was the correct play. It worked as a perfect kind of "value-bluff," as I knew I probably had a value raise against the Nut and had the added advantage of possibly promoting my hand to a winner if the Unknown folded AQ or KT or something like that. (I imagine, in fact, that it was more likely he folded something like AJ or JJ, but who knows...)

Thanks for the comments.