Turning Top 2, Monotone flop

private joker · #1 02-01-2005, 09:53 PM

My only read is that Villain is an idiot and he's getting low on chips. I haven't seen enough to determine if said idiocy results in spewing or FPS or weakness. He just makes weird plays. Because of that I wasn't as scared of the flush, even though this is a line many people take when they flop a flush (or a set) -- slowplay the flop, check-raise the turn, etc.

Does everyone like the turn 3-bet?

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (7 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
Hero raises, 4 folds, SB calls, 1 fold.

Flop: (5 SB) 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB calls.

Turn: (3.50 BB) Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB raises, Hero 3-bets...

CPA · #2 02-01-2005, 09:59 PM

Based on your description of villian, this looks good to me. I think you are right...how often is this type of player going to have a flush.

When this happens to me, I usually think villian must of had success previously getting a weak tight player to make a "great" fold.

me454555 · #3 02-01-2005, 10:03 PM

I just call the turn. Pop him agian on the river if a nonflush card hits. He may be an idiot but he also may be an idiot on a semibluff who might bet the river. However, unless I had a specific read on him, I'd just call down.

Nick C · #4 02-01-2005, 11:40 PM

Sometimes I also kind of go on instinct against erratic players. (To be honest, though, for me that "instinct" against such players sometimes comes closer to complete confusion, and I either put in a lot of bets or call down -- whichever happens to be worse. Well, all right, hopefully that's an exaggeration, but sometimes it seems like that's how it works.)

Anyway, versus an unknown opponent in the posted hand who was not short-stacked, I'd probably just call down (unless I boated up on the river, of course). But the short-stack does strengthen the case for the turn 3-bet, as does your read.

Some other thoughts:

Pushing SB off a pure bluff wouldn't be good, unless he'll give it up anyway once his turn checkraise is called, in which case it wouldn't matter. But I'm not sure how much any of that applies here -- if his stack is really close to the felt, he may keep pushing anyway.

Against a semi-bluff he won't persist with on the river, a turn 3-bet is good, as it makes him pay an extra bet to draw. If he would bet again on the river though (but won't after you 3-bet the turn), on a semi-bluff that became a pure bluff, then the turn 3-bet could actually cost you money over the long run, unless you feel you can safely fold to a bet on the river if a fourth heart falls (and I don't think you can, against this particular opponent), since in this scenario Villain will only put in a bet the river (after you've 3-bet the turn) if he improves. Then again, I suppose he might whiff on a checkraise instead.

One other thing: I think the fact that something like Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] is possible does also strengthen the case for a turn 3-bet, as Villain might call a bet on the river with that, unimproved or not. But this isn't a factor, if your plan was to take the free showdown.

And now that I'm done typing, I wonder if all of that confused you as much as it did me.

Anyway, I don't think the turn decision is easy at all, especially against an erratic player, because you don't know who's drawing. Whatever I decided to do against this opponent, though, it wouldn't involve folding.

Edit: I changed "raise" to "3-bet," in the appropriate places.