JJ meets half pot river bet

[djoyce003]

[ QUOTE ]
I wasn't sure what to think of his turn call. I felt sure he would check the river since no draws made it. When he bet half the pot on the river, I felt like he had been slowplaying something strong like a set. Or he had made something like two pair with KT. So I folded.

He had A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].

It's hard for me to relate to these bluffs, because I never use them. I can't imagine what kind of junk goes on in people's heads when they want to bluff. It's my general impression that people are more often than not calling down on the river with any piece of the flop, so why bluff with Ace high?

Honestly, what was this guy thinking (so I can better understand these players)? A guy bets into him on the flop and turn, then checks the river. The King didn't scare me, but the Ten does? He really senses enough weakness to believe that I will fold? It obviously worked, but I just didn't think he would be that clairvoyant.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can't check fold this river. He's shown no strength. There is no reason to think he has a hand here. If you check the river you HAVE to call a bet.

Inducing river bluffs from over-aggro opponents that missed their draws is a huge money maker. He won't call a bet from you so the blocker isn't as good here, but he might take a shot at stealing this pot, which is why you check call the river here. Awful awful awful fold.

[Riposte]

How much of a bet do I call? Is there a good cutoff point to gauge whether or not to call in these situations? Say up to half pot, up to 3/4 pot?

If the pot is $30, he bets $15... that's $15 to call for a $45 pot. Is that considered a 1/2 pot call or 1/3 pot call?

[djoyce003]

well if he bets $15 into a $30 pot that's considered a "half-pot" bet...altho really you are getting 3-1 on your call not 2-1.

As to how much you call, it's really judgemental. If I check this river planning to induce a bluff i'm pretty much calling any bet unless it's just a huge ridiculous overbet, but that's relatively unlikely. To me, a full pot bet looks more like a bluff than a half pot bet, because it looks like a bet that doesn't want a call.

One time this is generally different is if you are in position, and you check behind on the TURN with a marginal hand. Sometimes a large river bet in this case is a guy who whiffed a turn checkraise when you checked behind and is now trying to make up for it by making a large river bet. But in a hand like this one where he's just called your flop and turn bets, he's probably not sitting on a very strong hand and probably has something relatively weak like a missed draw or a small pocket pair and he thinks you whiffed.

If I check that river in this hand i'm calling anything up to a full pot bet. If i've seen this opponent overbet the pot on bluffs, i'm even calling an overbet.