Should I have bet the river

[Rich P.]

3-6 game with a couple loose agressive players to my right. I have AJo in late position. I raise and isolate the two loosies. The flop comes 29J rainbow. Check, check, bet, call, fold. The turn brings a 9. Loosey bets.

A few hands before I had played a similar hand against this very same loosey. I raised preflop, bet the flop when I made top pair, but when I made trips on the turn he bet into me. I put him on trips but figured my kicker was good. Then when I bet the river he folded, which meant he didn't have trips at all. Had he, he definately would have at least called.

Back to the current hand. He bet into me when the board paired nines on the turn. I figured he was bluffing again and wasn't thinking about the earlier hand, so I reraised him and he called. I concluded that if he had trips he may be afraid his kicker is weak and just call and I could buy a free showdown. If he three-bet, I probably would have folded.

On the river he checked to me. I thought first that he would only call my bet if he had be beat. Just like the last time he would fold if I bet unless he actually had trips. Mathematically, therefore, simply showing my top pair was correct.

Psychologically, however, I considered betting in order to cause him to fold leaving him not knowing what hand I actually held. Showing him top pair after reraising him on the turn would reveal that I was on his trick. If I had bet and he folded, he probably would have thought that I had hit a big hand again and would probably try his play against me again sometime in the future which I would read and respond accordingly. Now that he knows I'm on to him, he is less likely to bluff like that against me in the future and may even figure me for top pair when I reraise his bluff and re-raise bluff me back putting me in the difficult position of having to call a possible big hand because I know he knows that I know he is likely to bluff when the board pairs.

So now I think that it may have been correct to bet the river just to keep him in dark. What do you think?

[Vehn]

uh you should bet the river because you have the best hand and would like to win more money from it.

[Rich P.]

But the situation I feel I'm in is that he only calls if he can beat me. He's on a pure bluff unless he has the nine. Now, you have a point. He could have called me with much less, but I really felt he would fold unless he had the nine.

[CMangano]

I agree with vehn, bet the river. I bet the river almost everytime unless an absolute scare card comes off (4 suits, 4 straight, etc.).

BTW, I noticed your location is Southern Cally. Do you play live games at all or just online? If you play live games, what casinos do you play at?

[Homer]

Bet. Any Jack will call.

-- Homer

[Bob T.]

I think that you should bet the river, because a lot of worse hands will call.

If he was semibluffing some draw, letting him fold, will also let him continue his tricks, because he didn't have to showdown his hand, and you didn't have to showdown that you are on to him.

[Robk]

"He's on a pure bluff unless he has the nine"

The thing is many players don't have nothing when they bet into you here, they're much more likely to have a piece of the board, ie it's probably not the pure bluff you think it is. He could easily make this play with a jack or any pair, figuring you likely have overs. It's actually not a bad play if he's going to call down anyway since the paired nine generally makes it hard for you to raise him, in addition he could easily have 5 outs. That raise is tough poker, and a good defense against the play he made. Note that if you thought he was on a pure bluff, just calling twice would probably be a better play.

[Rich P.]

I play on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday nights at Club Caribe in Cudahy just west of Bell Gardens. Otherwise, I play mostly at the Bicycle Club and Hollywood Park.

[Rich P.]

thanks everyone for the replys.

I should have bet for two reasons: First, because he is more likely to call with a worse hand, and second, to keep in dark about the fact that I was on to him. Incidently, he probably could figure out that I was on to him by the way I played the hand.