This hand is haunting me

[burningyen]

$2/4 NLHE at Mandalay yesterday:

Pre-flop everyone folds to me in late position. I limp with 56s. The rest fold to the BB, who checks. Up to now he has been playing quietly, seldom raising and folding to every raise.

Flop comes J85 rainbow. BB checks, I bet $15, BB calls quickly. Turn is 6 rainbow. BB checks, I bet $50, BB calls quickly again. River is another 6. BB bets $50. What should I have done?

[ML4L]

Hey yen

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River is another 6. BB bets $50. What should I have done?

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You should have raised. A quick call often means a draw. 76 is a very likely holding here. He also could have turned a straight, as 97 would have given him a double-gutter on the flop. He probably couldn't have 86. Maybe J6? Or maybe a slowplayed set? Stack sizes would be VERY helpful, because if they're very deep, it might affect the play. But, I'd say that you should raise under most all circumstances.

Hope it worked out.

ML4L

[SpiderMnkE]

I think I would just call this river. It is unlikely that he has Jacks. He could very easily have 88 or 55. The bet out of 50 on the end makes me think he filled up and wants to make sure he gets some money. Because you are destroyed by 88 or destroying 55 (and straights) I think I just call. I don't think a straight would just bet out all of a sudden when the board pairs... that would be insane for a thinking player to do given that you have shown strength the whole way.

There is no way to know if you have a better boat or not.. so it depends on how much you want to risk. My personal plan would be to just call

[dmk]

?! he has 65, 6s full. only 4 hands beat him, 88/jj/j6/86. i would put villian on something like 67, missed his draw but picked up trips. jj seems improbable due to a check from the BB w/ one limper. he could have a poorly played 88, but would he really just check/call on such a draw-ridden board? J6/86 are possible since he got a free look, but i think he'd play these a bit harder as well. 67 seems like a good guess to me.

[burningyen]

I believe both our stacks were about $170 ($200 max/min buy-in).

[burningyen]

Thanks for the feedback, all. It looks like opinions differ, which is comforting. The story ends with me trying to read the guy, calling, showing my hand, and him showing a J and mucking his hand. Looking back, I probably could have demanded to see his other card since he was 1st to act. I guess I was too relieved to care. A few of the better players at the table shook their heads and asked me why I didn't raise. I told them I put the other guy on a pocket pair, but I truly felt like an idiot. I couldn't stop thinking about the extra $ I could have extracted. But there are worse things than calling with the winning hand.

[bogey]

I go all in here I think. If he has a set prior to the river and he was trying to slowplay he probably would have checkraised the turn.

[Matt Flynn]

$190 pot, $50 to you, short stack behind and you rivered a full house. unless your spidey sense was tingling, you should raise.

matt

[AJo Go All In]

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It looks like opinions differ, which is comforting.

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just so you know.. this is not a close decision. you should raise. and did opinions differ? only one guy out of 7 or 8 said you should call, if i read the responses right. too relieved to care? dude, you have a full house.

sounds like you are playing scared. whether it's due to financial reasons, or just that you're a pussy in general, you need to fix that. either play a smaller game or toughen up. get used to losing money, it will happen. this sounds like i'm being a jerk, which i might be, but in my opinion it's probably the best advice you've gotten in this thread.

also, hand-wise, this check-call check-call bet-small-on-the-river pattern is NOT the sign of a big hand. why would he play a big hand like this? he wants your stack with a big hand. he plays a small hand like this. he wants to get to showdown with a small hand. it's pretty common to see top pair no kicker played like this. it's sort of a freeze bet-- if he had checked, you would probably bet closer to the pot size-- your whole stack, maybe.. and then having shown so much weakness, he might think that he has to call with top pair. by betting into you he effectively is only spending $50 on a showdown rather than $150. he can be fairly confident that you are not raising him with a worse hand. also, the bet is small enough and out-of-nowhere (since he checked the flop and turn) that it looks like it could be a missed draw, and you might pay him off with a worse hand.

[fsuplayer]

You need to push on this river absolutely 100% of the time with these stack sizes. If I had $500 left behind, well, then I would just raise and then wet myself if he pushed, but I think i would still call.

Stop looking for the monsters under the bed.

BTW how was the game at MB? I am going there in less than a week and will play mostly NL. thanks

fsuplayer