[pzhon]

[ QUOTE ]

Preflop:
UTG posts 1 BB. UTG checks, Villain limps, Hero limps with Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], Button limps, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop (6 players, 6 BB): T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
SB folds, 2 checks, Villain bets 2 BB, Hero calls 2 BB, 3 folds.

Turn (2 players, 10 BB): K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Villain bets 3 BB, Hero raises to 12 BB, Villain calls 9 BB.

River (2 players, 34 BB): 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Villain checks, Hero?


[/ QUOTE ]
Hero quickly pushes for 257 BB, Villain takes less than 1 second to call 173 BB with 98.

Hero wins 380 BB-rake.

I believe making a proportionate bet is not just wrong, but wrong by a lot, and most SSNL players would get this wrong.

I had represented a lot of strength by calling on the flop and then making a substantial raise on the turn. The call of my turn raise suggested either a decent made hand or a draw. A set seemed unlikely, and two pair might not pay off much. A busted flush draw won't pay anything, but a 1-card straight draw just hit. So, even though the Villain checked to me, I thought that if he had anything, there was a decent chance that he had an 8. People don't like to draw to a hand and then fold when their draw hits. I thought he would probably call a push with an 8.

By the way, in the villain's position after checking and a huge overbet by a non-maniac, I'd fold an 8, but I would call with J8. (At the table, I thought it might be right to call 1/3-1/2 of the time, but in retrospect I think calling is just wrong.) With just an 8, I might check-raise over a very small bet, then fold to a push. I would just call a medium-sized bet. I probably would not have checked the river with an 8, though.

It is often right to push in situations like this where there is a big second-best hand which seems likely and with which many players will call a push but not raise a smaller bet, and it seems unlikely that worse hands will call much. I get paid off frequently. Many players would make a normal value bet without thinking, and don't realize how much money they would leave on the table. I only need to get called a small fraction of the time to make these pushes more profitable than pot-sized or smaller bets, and when the pushes are not called, they seem to induce later tilt-calls.

Another reason to push was that it looked very different from what I had done with the (2 card) royal flush earlier. Some people make really bad calls when I vary the sizes of my river bets. I could imagine someone with a bluff-catcher hand calling, convinced that he knew I wasn't making a value bet, and that I must be bluffing the scare card after his check.