Final Table Blind Battle

[dankhank]

so, long time lurker finally starting to post here. this is a hand played earlier today in a $30 pacific multi that's been sort of driving me nuts:

three players left with prizes paying (1.4k, 990, 495). I've got about 35k and the other two stacks have ~60k each. blinds are 1000/2000. both players seem pretty solid and we spent a lot of time eliminating two fishy big stacks before it got down to us three.

folded to me in the SB. i've got J8 and I just limp because I've been coming in for raises a lot here and I want to see what the villain does with a limp; plus i dont want to raise this hand. villain checks the BB. flop comes J53. i min-bet 2000 and he raises to 8k. he's done a few trap raises (mostly pre-flop) in the past but this overbet screams steal to me. i consider raising all-in but don't love my hand (and/or i want to get more chips from him) so i just call to see what he does from here.

turn comes 10, putting a second heart on the board (no hearts for me). i check, he bets 10k. i call again to see what he does on the river. river comes 7h. i check, he puts me all-in.

i think about it and fold. i called on the flop (and then the turn) to check his strength, and he's showing me strength. he has to know i have something, and he still wants to bet it. i fold and have 15k left. go out a few hands later when i re-raise with 99 and get called by AJ.

i feel like i either made a really nice read and made a tough laydown, or i played ridiculously passive and cost myself a ton of chips. thoughts? what do you think is the optimal line here?

[tiger7210]

I think before you call his reraise on the flop, you need to decide what you're going to do if he bets the turn and the river. It seems like a waste to call off over 1/2 your stack with top pair and then fold before the showdown.

If you think you're better off waiting for a better spot then throw the hand away on the flop. If you decide you're going to play the hand I think you're better off reraising the flop here to show him that you are strong. If he just calls then a semi-bluff push on the turn could get him to lay down his hand. If he really has a big hand here he'll probably push all in to ur reraise where you can then decide if you want to fold. I would only flat call his bets here if you were looking to trap him which you're not. The way you played it, unless you have a big hand, you're giving him the opporunity to bluff you out of the pot.