6M, bet-fold or check-fold river?

#1 10-06-2005, 07:08 PM

Villain is your typical extremely loose player going to showdown with marginal hands too often (50+ VP$IP, 50+ WtSD). Neither majorly aggressive or passive.

Party Poker 0.50/1 Hold'em (6 max, 5 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
2 folds, Hero raises, BB calls.

Flop: (4 SB) K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (3 players)
Hero bets, BB calls.

Turn: (3 BB) 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (3 players)
Hero bets, BB calls.

River: (5 BB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero folds.

Final Pot: 6 BB

PF: Here I know it'll only be heads-up and he'd call with anything. Is this a bad raise since I'm out of position? I know my hand beats a little more than half the crap he plays. Maybe I should just complete and play from there? I have nearly 0% chance of stealing his blind.

Flop: Nothing too scary. His call tells me absolutely nothing (he either has a pair, has a good draw, a runner-runner draw, or overcards - nothing significant).

Turn: Completes a possible flush and straight draw. His call once again tells me nothing except he probably doesn't have the flush yet.

River: Fills another straight possibility. Bet-fold?

I'm awful playing against these calling stations in these situations. I feel like I'm giving away money by betting A-high, K-high, and Q-high all the way to the river heads-up. They call (pre-flop and flop) with anything and everything and I never know where I stand. It's only when they raise that I know I'm beat.

#2 10-06-2005, 07:13 PM

If there is zero chance that you steal the blind I think you should fold.

When you have taken the bluff so far, just bet the river imo. I think you will get a fold 1/5. If not; a little advertising isnt bad for a TAG(which I assume you are).

Roadstar · #3 10-06-2005, 08:01 PM

Fold preflop. A steal is worthwhile if there is a good chance the steal will work (i.e. BB folds).

Consider your fold equity against this guy. If he calls everything, you lose considerable fold equity every bet. Be patient and wait for a better hand to value bet him to death [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

#4 10-06-2005, 08:08 PM

Where is the "good enough hand" line drawn? I'm never sure against players who call nearly 100% of your PF raises. Strictly speaking Q7o beats 50% of the opponents hands. So Q8 probably beats little more than 50%. Would Q9s or QTo be good enough? JTo? JTs?

I know I'd raise all these hands from the button, but here the situation is slightly different. On the positive side, I know this will be heads-up. On the negative side, I'm out of position.

thesharpie · #5 10-06-2005, 08:13 PM

Nothing wrong with completing PF. You avoid putting yourself in the position where you feel you have to bluff, plus you're out of position and your hand is only 1 pip above average anyway, so it's not much of a value raise when there's not going to be hardly any fold equity postflop. Check fold the river, he's calling with any better hand (except maybe ace high but I suspect he calls that alot) and never calling with a worse hand.