Heads Up Help: Playing Against a Bluffer

[LuckyStrike]

I recently made the jump to 1/2 6max and while I find it very entertaining I'm not doing too well over my first 8k hands. Specifically, I've been struggling quite a bit with marginal hands, such as AK and being played back at on a T66 flop, for example. Here are a couple of hands where I think I played properly but I'm quite unsure about.

In the first hand, I have JJ and am UTG+1. UTG limps and I raise. Folded back to UTG who calls. Flop comes down a ragged Q high. UTG leads into me.

A few things about UTG: he's new to the table and seems loose but not overly aggressive preflop. After 15 hands he was 40/6. I decided not to read too much into these stats because of the extremely small sample size.

I decide to just call down. He may have a Q, but I think he may also be testing the waters with ace high and seeing how much I like my hand. Turn is a K, river is a brick. He has KJ, so I make a note on him that he will lead into a preflop raiser with just a single overcard heads up.

An orbit later, a similar but slightly different situation came up. Same villain. He open limps and I raise with 88. Folded back to him and he again calls. Flop is a ragged jack high, giving me middle pair better than the middle card on the board. Again, he bets into me. What do I do here? I decided to call down again. Later though, I was thinking I should have raised. I think it's very likely I have the best hand and want him to keep bluffing. However, 88 is much more vulnerable than JJ. Should I have raised, hoping for a safe card on the turn? He may even fold right there if he has nothing. What do you guys think is the best play here?

[Aaron W.]

[ QUOTE ]
I recently made the jump to 1/2 6max and while I find it very entertaining I'm not doing too well over my first 8k hands. Specifically, I've been struggling quite a bit with marginal hands, such as AK and being played back at on a T66 flop, for example. Here are a couple of hands where I think I played properly but I'm quite unsure about.

In the first hand, I have JJ and am UTG+1. UTG limps and I raise. Folded back to UTG who calls. Flop comes down a ragged Q high. UTG leads into me.

A few things about UTG: he's new to the table and seems loose but not overly aggressive preflop. After 15 hands he was 40/6. I decided not to read too much into these stats because of the extremely small sample size.

I decide to just call down. He may have a Q, but I think he may also be testing the waters with ace high and seeing how much I like my hand. Turn is a K, river is a brick. He has KJ, so I make a note on him that he will lead into a preflop raiser with just a single overcard heads up.

An orbit later, a similar but slightly different situation came up. Same villain. He open limps and I raise with 88. Folded back to him and he again calls. Flop is a ragged jack high, giving me middle pair better than the middle card on the board. Again, he bets into me. What do I do here? I decided to call down again. Later though, I was thinking I should have raised. I think it's very likely I have the best hand and want him to keep bluffing. However, 88 is much more vulnerable than JJ. Should I have raised, hoping for a safe card on the turn? He may even fold right there if he has nothing. What do you guys think is the best play here?

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to "feel him out". It's very difficult (impossible?) to give you a standard heads up line. If he is capable of folding the flop (watch how he plays the other players), then raise him right away to knock him off overcards. If he's going to keep coming at you, just call down from the start and play showdown poker.

Whatever you do, you need to understand why you're doing it.

Why are you calling the flop?
- He'll keep betting worse hands than mine.
- My hand has is mediocre
- I'm looking to raise him on the turn because he's almost always going to showdown and I have a good hand.

Why are you raising?
- If he calls, I'm ahead.
- I have a strong enough hand that even when he 3-bets me I still am reasonably sure I'm ahead

Why are you folding?
- I have no showdown value.
- I can't make him fold better hands.

You should try to make a list of other reasons to call/raise/fold. Try to imagine specific situations where a particular play is best.

[LuckyStrike]

Thanks for the input. I'm just now realizing how important reads are after being an autopilot player at the lower limits. I don't do a very good job of paying attention to hands I'm not involved in and I probably could have had a better read on the villain. I'm stuck in the "bet-bet-bet for value!" gear instead of thinking things through a bit more.