$80-$160 Hand

[Ginogino]

Jim:
I think it's unlikely that UTG (the tourist) has open-limped with KK, QQ or JJ, so the question is whether he holds an A or whether he holds something like two big cards (KQ, QJ, etc.).

I think it's improbable that a tourist with an AX would slowplay the flop. If he held AX, his kicker would be almost surely 9 or less (he wouldn't limp UTG with AK or AQ or maybe AJ, and AT is unlikely given the good player's holding), and a tourist would likely want to find out on the cheap street if he was up against an A with a better kicker. (Note: you can't always suppose that a tourist or any unknown player is playing "thoughtfully", or to what extent he's thinking, but you might as well give him credit unless he proves the opposite to be true -- you can't read much into random betting.)

I think I'd be sure enough that UTG didn't hold an A to want to bet the turn. Among other things, if he holds two unpaired cards higher than the good player's tens, you don't want to give him a free draw to a better two pair (or a free draw to a boat if UTG started with a small pocket pair). Sure, you could be beat and drawing very thin -- but 2/3 of the time or better the good player's hand is ahead on the turn, which makes betting mandatory, in my opinion.

Gino

[FishyWhale]

Bet turn, check river if tourist is loose-passive-conservative (wont check-raise with trips for fear of AK).

Check turn, call/bet river if tourist is tricky (don´t want to get check-raised on turn and perhaps be bluffed out).

[mikelow]

BET!! Unless the tourist is especially deceptive, I see no reason to check when a blank hits. He would have bet an ace. Against players of quality, this is an obvious turn check.
And, I would fold to a raise.

One thing that would help is knowing the skill level of the tourist who decided to sit down in the 80-160 game.

[AceHigh]

If the tourist is a solid/decent player I check the turn, if he's a total fish I bet the turn.

I'm not sure how much a typical 80-160 tourist differs from a 20-40 tourist, but in my lower limit experience, a tourist could easily call this flop with no pair. Man, my KT might be good here!
But the typical tourist will wait for the turn to pop the ace, so I agree that a bet is not necessarily automatic.

[Clarkmeister]

I think you are giving too much credit to a tourist by assuming he wouldn't call on the flop with a hand like KQ, KJ, QJ etc.

[Gabe]

I was assuming that the tourist would not check-raise bluff. I was also assuming that the good player, if he had checked the turn, would call a bet from the tourist on the river. However, if there is virtually nothing the tourist could have called with but an A, then I agree with you. Check the turn. If you don’t spike a T, fold to a bet on the river.

[D.J.]

Some other posters made small comments about this, but "tourist" just means does not live in Las Vegas, this guy could be a great player, since when do ALL good players live in Las Vegas? Now, if the unknown player is a fish that's different, but I don't see a fish playing 80-160. A good player might try a check-raise here on the turn, so I don't think betting is best. I think the unknown player has at least 2-pair, and the only hands that the "good player" can beat given this, is a smaller pocket pair than 10's, or an 8. I think the best play here would be to check, or if the good player feels strongly that he is ahead, bet and fold if raised.

-D.J.

[Jim Brier]

The player bet. The tourist called. The river was the Js. The tourist checked. The player checked. The tourist won with the As-3s for trip aces.

Normally, I like to follow through with a bet on fourth in these situations when I have shown strength all along in a heads-up situation. But this hand is an exception. What can the tourist have? We can rule out KK, QQ, and JJ because of the absence of a preflop raise. I think it is highly unlikely that he would call a flop bet with K-Q, K-J, or Q-J since he has no pair, no draw, and no hand against a preflop raiser in a big game like this. He only has six outs when the preflop raiser has specifically T-T or 9-9. If the preflop raiser has AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, AQ, or AJ suited he has virtually no outs. In all likelihood his flop call was based on either having an ace or having a pair. If the tourist has a pair of sixes or a smaller pocket pair, he is playing with two outs. If he has an ace, you are playing with two outs. This is a situation where you are either way ahead or way behind. I would check it back on the turn and call if my opponent bets the river. Maybe I will induce a bet from a worse hand. I am amazed at how many of you would bet here.

[mikelow]

As it turns out, if the tourist bets the river and the other player called, it comes out to the same thing.

I admit I goofed in my analysis, but maybe there are those who call with "undercards."