a bad laydown and a good calldown

[creedofhubris]

2-5 NL

Hand #1: I'm ($500) sitting on AA in the BB. Limped to me, I make it $30 to go. Villain ($1200), a tricky/loose opponent who knows me very well, calls from UTG, one other caller.

Flop is: 267 2 hearts.

I bet out $80, villain minraises to $160. (He won't do this to me with a draw, or with an overpair; he will just call me down.) I call.

Turn is a blank. I check, he bets $200, I fold, he shows 44.

Oops, outplayed.

I don't like this situation a-tall. The problem is that my raise from the BB defines my hand (big pair). If I move in on the flop, he folds his bluff or calls with a winner. I think I just have to fold most of the time he plays like this, and maybe game-theoretically call him down one in seven or so. I mean, 90% of the time he does this to me, and certainly the next several times he does, he is going to have me beat.

(The laydown was also influenced by the fact that I'd just [correctly] laid down AA in a _limit_ game on the flop to a 972r board...)

Hand #2

Same game.

I'm ($500) in EP with AKo. One limper, one LP poster, so I raise to $25. MP ($425) calls (no real read on him), everyone else folds.

Flop comes AJ4 rainbow.

I check, opponent bets $50, I call.

Turn is 6.

I check, opponent bets $100, I call.

River is 3.

I check, opponent goes all-in for 250, I call.

Villain shows 98.

(I just didn't see a flopped 2p or better playing like this; all I could put him on was turned or rivered set/2 pair and that seemed unlikely.)

[woostah]

Hand #1, If you are going to give up on the hand, why call the raise on the flop?

[creedofhubris]

Given that villain in hand #1 is either bluffing with nothing, or raising a monster (remember, villain doesn't raise his draws against me), there are two ways for me to play the hand: Way #1, I decide he is bluffing, and I just call him down (let him keep firing at me). Way #2, I decide he is not bluffing, and fold.

Way #3, reraising him, is just a bad play, since he's probably drawing to 2 outs at best.

I didn't think this through sufficiently at the time; I can't remember the last time he played back at me on the flop. He usually just calls. His play threw me for a loop, hence the call/fold, which is an awful line.

[kagame]

any strategy or logical progression of thought that would require calling the min raise on the flop would require calling on the turn also.

[Popinjay]

[ QUOTE ]
Way #3, reraising him, is just a bad play, since he's probably drawing to 2 outs at best.


[/ QUOTE ]

Villain could very easily have an OESD here.

This hand is tough, on the flop you need to decide how you will play the turn. If you take a card off, you cannot fold on the turn if it comes a rag, that's just bad poker.

[creedofhubris]

This villain doesn't raise his draws.

You're correct, my call reraise, then fold turn is terrible poker. I have no defense, other than that he had never, NEVER played back at me on a flop when I'd been the raiser before (he waits for the turn or the river to raise, though he might bet if I check the flop), and so I was thrown for a loop.