Heads Up Home Game - Advice

Ok, playing a pickup tourney of three people $1,000 in chips. After 1/2 hr it was down to two people. I, Hero, had about 58% of the chips, approx. $1750, to Villain's $1250. Villain is a good player and will raise/all-in with 88-JJ, and just raise with any high cards. Oh, and blinds were at $50/$100 Here's the hand:

Preflop: Hero is BB with K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] , 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] .
Villain calls, Hero checks.

Flop: K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] , 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] , A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
Villain checks, Hero checks.

Turn: 3 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
Villain checks, Hero bets $300, Villain raises all-in, Hero calls.

River: J [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)

Villain showed 5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] . We discussed the hand afterwards and he said that he had a read that I had TP or Two Pair and nothing to do with the flush. I knew he didn't have the flush because he would have bet the flop with a draw.

Should I have made a strong bet on the flop and taken down the blinds?

Or was my slow playing to make more correct and just a victim of a bad beat?

I'm trying to improve my game and any advice is appreciated.

[Lottery Larry]

"Preflop: Hero is BB with K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] , 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] .
Villain calls, Hero checks.

Flop: K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] , 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] , A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
Villain checks, Hero checks."

How did the Villain check in front of you, if he was on the button? Does the BB get the button in yours heads-up rule? I'd change that if I were you- the button should be the SB preflop.

Assuming you did check behind him, that was a mistake IMHO. First, e didn't raise preflop, so what could he have here? At best a pair of nines or a flush draw. Make him pay for the draw or blast him out of there. On a monochrome board, getting tricky by slow-playing seems more cost than gain, unless he's really really loose.

You do have a strong hand with the two pair, but you don't want it to cost you all of your chips.

If he's tricky enough to move on a gutshot and weak flush draw on the turn, why isn't he tricky enough to slow-play his own monster on the flop? You called that all-in check-raise pretty quickly, it seems. We need to know more about how he plays, in order to accurately evaluate YOUR play here.

"We discussed the hand afterwards and he said that he had a read that I had TP or Two Pair and nothing to do with the flush. I knew he didn't have the flush because he would have bet the flop with a draw. "

He's THAT predictible? Then your slow play on the flop might make sense- giving infinite odds may not, as you saw.

Or is this the WPT-effect, when it's easy to say what your read was having already seen his cards?

[trigeek08]

Raise pf. K-high is favored against a random hand, and you have much better than just a plain K-high. You should also take advantage of having position.

That being said, bet the flop. As larry mentioned, you are giving villain infinite odds to draw to his hand. Ignoring the results, if he were to have an A, and you bet the flop, you may get him to move-in on you.

If you bet the flop, and the blank comes on the turn, make another pot-sized bet and call the all-in. If he happens to have you beat, yuo simply tell yourself, "thats poker." You will be ahead here more often than not, so get him to commit his chips with the worst of it.

[ QUOTE ]
How did the Villain check in front of you, if he was on the button? Does the BB get the button in yours heads-up rule? I'd change that if I were you- the button should be the SB preflop.

[/ QUOTE ]
Since I'm the villain in question here, I'm going to post my two cents and clarify a few things. I was the BB, not the SB...we play with the dealer as SB heads up. Preflop, the Hero called and I (Villain) checked. Generally, I would not have called w/a 5-2 offsuit heads up, unless I was making an offbeat play of some sort (hence why I was the BB).

As for my playing style, it really varies. The Hero is my old college roommate, we've played poker against each other MANY times (heads up, ring games, tournaments) and we discuss poker constantly. Because we both know (generally) how the other thinks, I have to constantly switch my game up to confuse him. I might go from tight/aggressive to loose/aggressive or even passive in order to lull him into the sense that I'm feeling weak during a game. The fact that I'm willing to admit this for him to read isn't very smart, but oh well. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

This game (and day for that matter) I was playing loose/aggressive (not that the Hero knew that at the time). When the Hero checked the flop and bet the turn fairly aggressively, it gave me a sign (based on past history) that he didn't have a spade. I don't know what the odds were for a spade to fall on the river, but I calculated that I was probably a 3.5-1 underdog. I had 12 outs in my mind, spades and 4's. I felt a call would be a terrible play and might not work in my favor. Instead, I wanted to put the pressure right back on him, especially if he only had a single pair. Hence my move all in. It was a calculated gamble that luckily worked in my favor. His call was correct and I wouldn't be surprised if he knew I wasn't slow playing...generally he's good at smelling out my traps.

[Lottery Larry]

I knew the reads had to be wrong- his implied 100% read of you didn't match the action

[bravos1]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know what the odds were for a spade to fall on the river, but I calculated that I was probably a 3.5-1 underdog. I had 12 outs in my mind, spades and 4's.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYI, you had about an 19.6% chance (9 spades/46 unseen cards) of a space falling on the river and about a 26% chance to catch either a spade or the other 3 fours (12/46). In reality, it was 27.3% to catch that card if you assume that he had no spade or 4 which you did (correctly). So you were close in the fact that you were a bit under a 3-1 dog (2.66 or 2.85 to 1 depending on which way you calculate it) I don't understand the call though in reality. You were only getting 1.5-1 odds on your call 450-300. Think this should have been folded as you needed to be around 40% instead of 27%.

That being said, the hero here should have raised pre-flop and bet the flop, as there is no reason to believe the villian would have 2 spades, assuming that the villian could easily be on a draw given that the hero has no spade and the board is coordinated fairly well.