20-40 KTs Steal Hand

[Diplomat]

Loose 20-40 game early saturday morning. I've been in the game for all of five minutes, so I don't know much about the players. I have played with the button before and he leans towards the loose-aggressive side, particularily in somewhat marginal situations, but that's about all I know.

I pick up K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]T [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] in the CO+1 and open for a raise. The CO, the button, and both blinds call. So much for stealing the blinds.

The flop comes A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. Checked around.

Turn is the T [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. The small blind hesitantly bets. The big blind folds, I raise, the CO calls 2 cold, the button three-bets, the small blinds folds, I call.

The river is the 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] Checked to the button who bets, I call, CO folds.

How did I do? Three specific questions: What do people think of my turn raise? My turn call? My river call?

Thanks in advance

-Diplomat

[elysium]

hi diplomat
call the turn. the problem of course is the possible reraise by the button. but i'm not sure here diplomat, and you may have played it better than i would have. it looks pretty good except for the dang button. replace the button with an avg. non-loose, and the raise is sweeter.

by the way, you might be ahead of the button on the flop and you should have bet it diplomat. his raise would likely get you heads up or close to it and if he drops, you might be able to out-play the remaining opponent if there is one.

the river's fine.

this looks like an expert play here diplomat. if the button were a little more solid, and not liable to reraise as all loose opponents are, i'd say perfect expert play.

no, you didn't play this one. this looks a lot like diamond dave's style or even something from mason. it's not yours diplomat. you wouldn't raise the turn in a million years with that. i don't know where you got this from, but if the button was loose, the guy who played this made a mistake in raising the turn. KTs wins here. but no, never make that play against a loose button and for that reason tend to bet the flop.

[mike l.]

on the river you have to call. i think you can let go on the turn. it's very close because the pot is so big. betting the flop and folding to any aggression wouldve helped define your hand, but checking the flop has it's advantages too. i guess this is one of the hands where after spraying just so many chips you start to wonder, gee where could i have gotten off this hand. it's really hard to say. you couldve just called on the turn instead of raising perhaps, but that seems a bit weak. even if you won this hand it certainly wasnt an easy one to play.

[gavrilo]

I like the turn raise to try and knock out the players behind you, but the Button waking up on the turn with a 3 Bet has to be trouble. Assuming the Button isn't a maniac, what hand can you really beat here?

Tough hand. If I took a guess, I would say you were shown 55.

[Diplomat]

I'll give you a hint. You got one card right.

-Diplomat

[Diplomat]

When I saw the flop, I was done with the hand. But when it was checked around, I figured no one had an ace. And so when the ten hit, I thought I was good.

The time to let go was the turn, but I'm not sure I could based on the flop action.

-Diplomat

[Diplomat]

I do not think the button can re-raise his own raise on the turn. At least, that's the rule at my card barn.

Betting the flop may have gotten me out of this problem.

-Diplomat

[mike l.]

"The time to let go was the turn, but I'm not sure I could based on the flop action."

it seems reasonable to just accept that the button has aces up or a straight on the turn, maybe tens up if he's loose enough, maybe a set. baby two pair and tens up are the only hands you can catch up against right and even then you have few outs. the pot is pretty big, but how often is he pushing diamond draw or pair of tens worse kicker to 3 bets on the turn? that's a mighty aggressive play, you usually dont run into often enough to make calling down here worthwhile.

[Ginogino]

Diplomat:
I forget who the poker writer is, but I've read someone who is of the opinion that you should fold everything but the very best hands in the first orbit around the table, and instead use the opportunity to get a preliminary "working" read on the other players at the table. I think maybe easing into play like this to give your eyes and ears a chance to do their stuff is worth it -- how much easier this hand would be if you had even a small anount of knowledge of the players to help.

That said, I'd probably play the hand like you.

Gino

[Gabe]

I like the turn raise. To most people, the turn raise, after checking the Ace high flop, looks like you may have a monster. Therefore, I think your turn call is bad.