live $1/2 nl hand: AA

[BuddahShark]

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I like it. You're in position against an aggressive player with really deep stacks. I don't think you want to play a really huge pot in this case and I think your play so far controls the size.

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You should bet the flop to get some info though right? And if so, how much do you think hero should bet here. Pot, half pot, what? I think villain might have hit that Q and seeing your check of the flop thinks his TPTK is good on the turn. But without gauging his interest in that flop by betting, can you be sure he wouldn't make this move with JJ, QQ or QJ (doubtful) IMO. I wouldnt leave those diamonds hanging either, im happy taking this pot down on the flop with these stacks. Am I way off base here? I dont play much with stack sizes this large in relation to the blind, so flame away if you disagree.

[Fairless]

My thoughts on raising the turn are that any raise that I make is a raise that if he calls he will be pot commited. On the turn there is $100 in the pot he bet $100 I called $100 making the pot $300 leaving the villan with only $350 behind. So if I raise the turn bet to say $350 total he only calls W/QQ or JJ and folds a bluff. These are only my thoughts they could be very misguided. I know I played this like a wuss.

Thanks for the replies.

[bigt439]

Checking the flop is fine, but it would be good if you provided your reasoning as to why. Without a specific reason not to you should be potting the flop. What are you trying to represent by checking, AK, JJ? Are you worried he setted up or something? How do you feel if a K or a J hits, probably not great, but you'll likely want to continue and run the risk of getting bluffed out. You should really be betting this flop. If you get check-raised its time to go to your reads as to whether or not you play this to the felt. Bah, the turn is really hard to play now. I think folding is a bad play so let's rule that out. Smooth calling leaves you with about 350 behind, but if he's got you beat he'll make a bet on the river for most of that anyways and you'll probably have to fold. I think this is very read dependant as you need to know how he'd play, two-pair, a set, a bluff, and tptk. I don't think you can get a good answer without a read. Especially without a read you have to pot the flop. I'm sorry to keep mentioning that but it's made the hand nearly impossible to play. Against an opponent with no read smooth-call the turn and make your decision on the river, but this hand has lost alot of its EV already.

EDIT: Sorry just to elaborate on my reason for smooth calling the turn: Hopefully he checks whatever hands he was betting with and you check off behind him. He's likely betting anything that beats you so if he comes out firing you can probably fold, but again this is why you need to know how he plays tptk and a bluff. Unfortunately fold to a pot bet or allin on the river.

[Fairless]

The reason that I checked the flop was to fake weakness. However the turn genuinely worried me. If the Jack had not hit I would raise that turn bet almost 100% of the time. And when I raised it would be for the rest of his chips. By the way the opponent had $350 left not me I had villan covered. A majority of the time I would auto-bet this flop.

[bigt439]

Okay and that's definitely a legitimate, good play. Don't get me wrong, I am not bashing your play at all. I'm just saying the way the hand played out your flop check makes it very difficult. Okay so you wanted to feign weakness and you did. The j hurts, but I don't think you can shut down because of it. Like I said I think calling is good because raising doesn't accomplish much. If you're ahead he's drawing to 3-5 outs (maybe a flush draw, but not incredibly likely), so just call as a free card won't kill you. If he decides to push with this hand then you can call and extract maximum value out of a hand that might've folded if you pushed the turn. If he's ahead of you he'll obviously call your raise on the turn, and probably push the river (or bet significantly). You can try and sniff this out and fold. The problem with this strategy is when you get the two plans crossed and make the wrong move on the wrong hand (e.g. fold against tptk, and call a set). However I think it's your strongest option against a no read opponent. Check the river if you can and trust your instincts if he bets.

EDIT: Sorry again but I keep having after thoughts. The strength of your flop check diminishes the worse your read on him. It is a good play if you have a good handle on the player and will know how to play tricky situations precisely like the on that came up. It's too dangerous against a random opponent. I don't know if you had a read or not, but consider this when trying to get tricky.

[Fairless]

The river was the A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. The villan let out a sigh and checked. I bet $210. He thinks for a long time and says outloud how he played this hand weird finally he calls and shows...

KK

I couldn't believe that he would call $210 on the river with an Ace on board. However the river bet might have looked strange to him after checking the flop and smooth calling on the turn. Overall I thought the whole hand was weird. I would have suspected this particular player to re-reraise pre-flop w/KK. Any other thoughts or comments would be appreciated.