QQ Decision Time

[fireitup123]

"thoughts?

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What about calling the flop raise, and reevaluating on the turn. You are in position. If he checks, just check behind on the turn. If he makes a big bet on the turn, then it's "decision time". Calling, folding, or raising all seem reasonable on the turn if he follows up with another bet. I think you have to make a guess and go with it. The way it played out up to the turn seems consistent with him having a big hand or an overpair.

[MTBlue]

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I think a reraise pf would have been useful here, then you know more about his hand and he knows a lil more about yours. As the way it played out, i think you have to fold/ raise big. I dont like the call here because it basically tells him that you have a big pair and does'nt tell you anything about him.

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The on the flop raise only accomplishes the villain folding worse hands and defines Bruiser's hand range to big pocket pair. The smooth call I think is a better option because in this hand is either way ahead or way behind and a call on the turn and maybe the river depending on bet sizes and physical cues. So a passive line allows the villain to bluff off the most money or Bruiser to lose the least with his pair. The best option here may be a fold unless Bruiser knows that the villain likes to bluff at these type of boards, some people love too.

[coltrane]

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well in the hand i folded and he told me he had pocket nines. in retrospect i think i should have called and gone all in on the turn when he bet. because... TAG pfr could have something and with this line viffer is trying to shut him out. the board is 288, maybe he has pocket deuces but it's hard to put him on an 8 calling all that money preflop, 1/20 or whatever of his stack preflop. if he happens to have an 8, maybe i should make him show it to me.

thoughts?

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first off, he was already in for $20, it's only $60 more to him, stacks are 200BB+ deep, and you said he's slightly loose preflop - he could very easily have an 8 here (87s, 98s, etc.).....

secondly, I think if you're going to go with the "well, if he outflopped me, he's just gonna have to show me his three 8's" philosophy, then you should've reraised preflop....given that you didn't (which again, I think is absolutely fine and will discuss later), I don't think you can automatically go broke in this type of situation - it's just not good poker to me......

one other option that I believe someone else touched on is that it's very possible viffer is making a "feeler" raise on the flop.....if you call the extra 3 bills, he might just shut down on the turn - so fine, you check it back at him and get to showdown...

as for this idea of reraising vs. just calling preflop, here are my thoughts....with these stack sizes and the button, I believe calling is the far superior play with two queens here.....in order to make a reraise profitable, it has to be big (to like $320+) but the hand is just too weak to stand any kind of heat - TAG could have AA or KK very easily, or he might just fold.....you could take that same raise money and probably get to showdown for not much more if he does have AA or KK...or, you could make a good read (or the board gets scary) and lose less....or if he doesn't have AA or KK (or if you flop a set) you've got a well disquised hand in position and stand to win some money postflop......in general, for the poker player who plays well and makes good decisions postflop, it's a much bigger advantage to smooth-call a raise on the button with two queens and a pot of 10% the remaining stacks.....