Outplayed

[J_V]

This hand is against the very good Asian kid from the previous post. Game is very bad and very aggressive.


I raise in a 7 handed game w/ KQo two off the gun. The only semi-spot in the game was cold calls. Great Asian kid calls in the BB (despite appearances I believe he has a fairly strong hand and certainly not total dust).

Flop comes 865 two toned. Asian kid checks, I bet, cold-caller folds.

Turn 8. Board is 8658.

He bets, I raise, he 3 bets, I think about 4 betting and fold. He shows AKo.

I think he played his hand great. In my younger days I may have folded JJ or better. I had a good read on him in this hand, but not good enough to take the pot away.

Who played good, who played bad and why?

[Enon]

Well, if this kid is really good as you say, he obviously has a good read on you and puts you on overcards, he would definitely call a turn 3-bet from you, getting good odds to hit a A or K (assuming they are clean outs) whether or not he now believes he is behind.

Then he would be faced with calling just one more bet from you on the river, that is, if you have the courage to 'fire one more barrel' if he doesn't improve on the river.

But a question still remains, if you you thought he didn't have much and there was a possibility you could wrangle the pot away from him, did you believe he held exactly AK or better (at least a pair) as you indicate in your post? If so, why did you feel you'd be able to wrangle the pot from him? If he indeed is as good as you describe him, he'd be thinking on 3 levels and be aware that you are attempting to resteal because you are smart enough to see that he is trying to steal with a ragged flop.

His play in this spot is excellent because he read you as weak AND he realized that his hand was probably still best here.

You played well too since you read your opponent well for just overcards, but made the mistake of trying to outplay an opponent who is difficult to outplay and one who has a better hand than yours.

[J_V]

The bet out screams to be raise. Usually when people ask me to take the pot away from them, I oblige. This time, I asked and he took.

[Clarkmeister]

Told you the other day there were some serious players in that game.

[andyfox]

" think about 4 betting and fold. He shows AKo."

Did he flash it to just you, or did he show the table? Not important, just curious.

Also, if you 4-bet and he calls, how do you proceed on the river?

[Garland]

[ QUOTE ]
He bets, I raise, he 3 bets, I think about 4 betting and fold. He shows AKo.


[/ QUOTE ]

If he were that great, he should never show that AKo...that is unless he's using the show to set up something for later. Still, it's valuable to keep such things under wrap IMO, Make them pay to see it.

Garland

[turnipmonster]

funny, that was my same initial reaction. if this guy is really good, why is he showing?

[M2d]

If he plays great then he:
1) knows you're in a raising spot given the short game and the "spot" behind you.
2) Knows his AK is good against most of your raising hands here
3) knows he can likely move you off of many better hands with the right flop (as you said, you'd consider mucking up to J here).
4) Probably knows that you know the same things about him, and that he can probably (did) get extra chips off of you by "bluffing" with the better hand then coercing you to make a move at him.

That said, I think you both played well. You can probably move him off of smaller aces (will he call with these against a possible/probable steal raise?-I know many who would), beat any non-ace/non pair hands, and may move him off of some bigger aces at times. Unfortunately for you he had a big ace and this was not one of those times.

[M2d]

I think his showing at the end was more a courtesy than anything else. Kind of a "I wasn't lying-I had you beat" kind of thing to a player whom he (I assume) respects. Not any sign of a weak player by any means.

[sweetzer]

"Game is very bad and very aggressive."

That seems to be the main weakness in how you played this hand. Was this game worthwhile to be in? Sometimes I'm too lazy to move when the game gets bad, and it usually costs me.