Three $100/200 hands vs same opponent

[LarsVegas]

Online $100/200, max-6 table, full or fivehanded during these hands.

Villain in all hands is the same guy, regular well-known mid/high-limit American player. During this session and those I've played with him before he is a tough player who "always" seem to have it, but at the same time is very aggressive whenever he plays a pot, so I guess he must have some well-timed and very correct bluffing frequency in there too. He coldcalls a few hands from the sb and defends some big blinds, but other than that usually gets involved in pots w/ a raise. Rarely seems to get out-of-line preflop, except for a few weird cold-calling hands from the SB.

Hand 1 (this one is basically to get flamed for a lousy play on my part):

I openraise A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]6 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] on the button. Villain coldcalls from the small blind, big blind folds.

Flop: 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. He checks, I bet, he checkraises, I call. He has pushed me of in at least one similar spot just prior to this, actually I think this is the third pot which is played very similar to this.

Turn: 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. He bets, I call, intending to call at least any non-spade river?!?

Hand 2:

I open-raise A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] from the cutoff, villain coldcalls from the small blind (yes, I was sat in another seat), the two of us to the flop.

Flop: A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. He check-calls.

Turn: T [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. He checks. What should my plan for the rest of the hand be, and is it close?

Hand 3:

He open-raises from the hi-jack, folded to me in the small blind with 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I three-bet. Big blind folds, and he calls.

Flop: T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. I bet, he raises, I call.

Turn: J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I check, he checks.

River: Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I check, he checks.

Comments welcome.

Lars

[1800GAMBLER]

Hand 1, i don't know why you are beating yourself up about it, even a player who rarely gets out of line yet plays aggressively will c/r without it a lot, most of those hands being flush draws. Turn is a must call even if you want to fold the river due to outs + implied + chance of winning w/o calling a river bet. Seems like you can safely fold to a flush card river.

Hand 2, bet and call a c/r. He may have a ace no playing kicker knowning that his c/r is sometimes 'freerolling' against your ace no kicker too. River play needs a huge read to be anything other than a standard call. He could def be legit here too though. He will have a very nice balance of bluffing frequnecy here, but i imagine most would weight this with more bluffs.

Hand 3, with my chance of being ahead + equity if behind + chance of giving free cards i would have 3 bet the flop. As it played out if i lead the turn i just get pissed off at myself for putting myself into another decision in which he will use his 'good bluffing frequnecy' to [censored] me up, so i'd rather check with the hopes he doesn't want to give my range of hands a free card. I would check the river too.

[DeeJ]

I'll put in my hand guesses too.

Hand 1 is yuk, I think if it's been done to you before you have to see it through. He may be simply catching cards, of course. The only silver lining here is that you could catch your gutshot, so it seems a decent time to take a stand and see what he's coldcalling from the SB with. You may even win! (I guess he has K5)

Hand 2: bet and call a raise. I don't think it's close.
(I guess he has A9)

Hand 3: I'd like to think I'd bet the river, but that's probably unlikely [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] and it makes too many hands (flush, straight, top pair). (I guess he has 77)

[Paluka]

Hand 3 this seems like an easy 3 bet on the flop.

[w_alloy]

I decided to come up with my plays blind, then read the thread, and I independently agree with all the advice gambler gives.

[LarsVegas]

Nice responses so far I think, thanks for not being so harsh on me. ;-) As for hand three, I agree that 3-betting the flop w/a view to get to a showdown very often is probably where I went wrong. Apart from that, Gambler reads my mind with regards to the turn and river play. I didn't want to lead the turn and have him put me in a hellish spot w/another raise. I would bet most river cards except A, K or Q (even if it fills a backdoor flush). My opponent is so selective preflop that combined with his flop raise which also means something, his most likely hand by far looks to be a pocket pair, probably Fives, but possibly even Eights.

In hand one, I called a "blank" river, and opponent showed 5 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] for a turned two pair. A bit surprised by the preflop call to say the least, and possibly highlights the need I had to get a showdown with him "at any cost" sooner rather than later.

In hand two, I bet the turn, he checkraised and I called down. He showed Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]T [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] for a pretty bad suckout and trips. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] Turn and river play seems like a no-brainer against most opponents...against this one I am not sure. Maybe I should just weakly check the turn behind and make sure one bet goes in on the river? Or am I being result-orientated here? Even raising a river bet after my turn check behind seems viable (then I feel I can more safely fold to a 3-bet).

In hand 3, I tabled my Nines and they were good.

Lars

[1800GAMBLER]

Also, hand 1. Sometimes i would flop 3 bet, turn bet. The cheap showdown method. Just mix it up and throw him on the backfoot.

I think you would be missing too much value to check the AQ hand.

Your read of 5s seems correct for hand 1. I thought 78s ish at first but not so if he is selective preflop

[LarsVegas]

"I think you would be missing too much value to check the AQ hand."

I am not so sure. First of all, my read on this guys is that there are preciously few Ax combinations he would just cold-call with from the small blind here, actually I think that would HAVE to be some kind of suited Ace. It leaves just specifically A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]x [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] or A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]x [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].

Also, his flop line is more consistent with a Ten (although this starting hand would also usually have to be suited I think) or a draw. What if he would fire the river almost every time I hand him a free card here? If I bet the turn and I am just called, do I fire again on a diamond, a king or an eight? I think in many situations, I will only be very comfortable with the first bet that goes in on the turn and river, and I am in a position to make sure this happens on the river and lose the minimum to a better.

I also have the option of just checking and raising a blank river. Who knows, maybe he will fear the boat and just call w/a Ten. I also think a case can be made for more safely folding to a three-bet here (I don't have to worry about folding myself out of a chance to improve, for starters).

"Your read of 5s seems correct for hand 1. I thought 78s ish at first but not so if he is selective preflop"

I take it you mean Hand 3. I was being a bit messy by starting with some comments on Hand 3 there.

lars

[J.A.Sucker]

I would consider folding Hand 1 on the flop. If not, I would consider raising it and checking behind. If this won't work against this guy (and it might not), then consider calling his flop bet and seeing what develops on the turn. You got a great card to raise on. Pop it. Of course, this all would be moot if you folded, and I don't see anything wrong with it.

Hand 2 is an easy bet. If raised, call him down.

Hand 3 I would 3 bet the flop and lead the turn.

This guy sounds like an excellent player.

I'd fold to the C'r in the first hand, but I'd do it on the turn. This spot is often a spew for me and a lot of other players who call down w/ A high and end up losing to a small pair.


The second hand I think the turn is a must bet, and I dont think it's close. If he raises, I call/call.


In the last hand, I like your call on the flop, and I would lean almost towards three betting the flop. As played, I would check the turn, and, with a horrible river card like that, you can't bet, so, your hands are tied IMO.



Tex