Stop-n-go-o-rama

[tardigrade]

This hand sort of disturbed me. Did I play it right?

Party Poker 0.50/1 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is Button with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
UTG calls, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, MP2 calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, CO calls, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, UTG calls, MP2 calls, CO calls.

Flop: (9.50 SB) J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">UTG bets</font>, MP2 calls, CO calls, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, UTG calls, MP2 calls, CO calls.

Turn: (8.75 BB) 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">UTG bets</font>, MP2 folds, CO folds, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, &lt;SNIP&gt;

[cold_cash]

What's disturbing? I'm not getting it.

[tardigrade]

Yeah ... I guess I chopped out the weirdest part. There wouldn't be any doubt about my play if I left it in, though, and I wanted to keep the advice a little less results-oriented. I guess the dilemma is how to play the turn given the lack of a cap on the flop, then betting out on the turn. My default reaction is to keep raising and calldown after a 3-bet, because I'm unable to match that behavior with a hand.

[cold_cash]

I've found it usually means a made hand that doesn't want to give you any free cards, or a total boner that just can't make up his mind. (Or both.)

In most cases it could mean almost anything, depending on who's doing the stopping and going.

I would play this one the same way you did, and not slow down until he pushes back a little harder. If he bets the river when a blank falls I would probably just call. (In this particular hand, KT wouldn't surprise me.)

[SofaCoach]

I like the way you played it (so far). I agree with the turn raise. I'd slow down if he 3-bet, worrying about KT. But if he doesn't 3-bet I'd exclude KT from my mind and also raise if he bets into you on the river.

At this point I'd assume he has either KT, two pair (AJ,QJ,A7) or maybe just a paired ace. Keep raising til his 3-bet indicates the KT.

[tardigrade]

I was worried about the KT, but it seemed a strange way to play it, so I just raised again on the turn with the intention of calling down a 3-bet. However my opponent just folded outright to the raise. Not even a calldown. I like to be able to put myself in my opponent's shoes to get a feel of how their mind works, but that one really threw me. The best I could think was that maybe she got a 2-pair on the turn, but figured that my continued raising indicated I had the KT, trips or a higher 2-pair and just bailed out. Or maybe she had top pair or a one-sided straight draw and took one more stab at it. I don't know. It just weirded me out ... calling the flop raise, betting out on the turn, then immediately folding to another raise. I couldn't figure it out! [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Malarky]

Maybe he just had some trash like JT and figured he could LAG you into getting scared at the concept of him having you beat.