KK 15-30

[AJo Go All In]

UTG+1, dealt KK, i raise.

everyone folds to the unknown-to-me button who makes it 3 bets, blinds fold and i call. heads up to the flop.

flop comes Q43, 2 diamonds.
i check, he bets, i raise, he 3-bets, i call.
turn is a J, now 2 diamonds and 2 hearts up. i check with the intention of check-raising, he checks behind.
river is an offsuit T, i bet, he calls.

comments?

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi All In:

I'm not so sure I bet the river. He probably has AK or a pair smaller than jacks, but still strong enough to make it three bets. Notice that a pair of tens qulifies. There is also some chance he slow played a set on the turn, and if you check twice, he might bluff with a pair smaller than tens.

On the other hand, if you bet, and your hand is best, there isn't much that he can call with that you will beat.

best wishes,
Mason

[Lee Jones]

Looks to me like you saved money on the turn (or gave the TT a free card to hit a set). I can't imagine what you plan to beat on the river.

Regards, Lee

[punkass]

I've read Mason's and Lee's responses, and they both say to check the river. Maybe I'm missing something.

After he 3 bets you, you call preflop. The flop is 2 diamonds, with a Q. You check raise him, and he 3 bets, you call. He could do with Ad Qd ( you don't say if the Q was a diamond). He could do this with AQo.

The turn is Jh, giving two diamonds and two hearts. He checks behind you.

The river is a T, no flush.

Our hero beats top pair. The only thing he would logically lose to is the straight or two pair, and I don't think it follows with how the opponent bet.

I'm thinking you're up against AQ, who got scared on the turn (he may think you have a set or overpair, and wised up). I think you won.

Or I could totally be in the dark. Please help me.

[astroglide]

queens, jacks, tens, and ace king all got there, and aces still beat you. assuming he's a reasonable player, there are many more hands he could hold that beat you than those that don't.

i would check.

[John Ho]

The turn was checked here. This is an easy value bet in my book. I doubt a set checks in last position on the turn with multiple draws on the board and having shown so much strength on the flop.

I can see a rationale for checking to induce a bluff but if the guy was bluffing he probably would have bet the turn. But there are plenty of hands that will call the river that won't beat kings simply because of the checked turn.

[Tekari]

Punkass, it's possible your up against AQs or AQo, but any other hand such as AK, AA, QQ, JJ, TT you lose to all these. About the only hand that they would call with would be AQs or AQo. Therefore your last bet would have -EVa

[Mackie]

Now I'm having trouble putting him on a hand. He did something unusual somewhere. With AK he raises the river. With AA or QQ how could he not bet the turn. With JJ that's a tough 3 bet on the flop, but I suppose if he thinks you have AK it makes sense. Well I guess he has JJ and puts you on AK so no river raise?

[leon]

The others have elaborated on reasons to check the river so I'll leave that to them. I'll deal with the thinking behind this opponent having AQ.

The turn check from the opponent almost rules out AQo, and makes AQ suited in diamonds or hearts even less likely, assuming this is a decent player. AQo is exactly the kind of hand which needs protecting with a board like this, and I find it hard to imagine an opponent who would 3 bet preflop and 3 bet the flop with AQ, and then CHECK the turn. With AQ suited all the same comments apply and the opponent also has the added equity of a flush draw which makes a check even less likely.

I think the opponent's aggressiveness is key. Logically, he's not checking AQ on the turn.

Leon

[GOODBEATGUY2001]

The series of betting sequence up to the turn suggests he may have 9 [img]/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif[/img] K [img]/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif[/img] on the button. He was probably scared off by your having AK and may explain his non-raise on the river.