Vague Question, but a situation I find myself in frequently..

[Colombo]

I find myself in these situations very frequently, especially during the later stages of tournaments. They come up all the time, such as in SB v BB or steals gone bad.

For my example here, I am going to use a steal that gets called.

Say you are in LP with Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and you open-raise 3x the BB as a steal. The BB calls you.

The flop comes K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] You make a continuation bet of about half the pot, and your opponent calls.

The turn comes 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] he checks and you check behind.

The river comes 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and he bets out at you. What do you do?

This example isn't perfect, but I hope you understand my point. Basically, you start with a semi-weak hand, and you either flop middle pair and make a continuation bet, or flop nothing, make a continuation bet, and turn or river a middle pair etc.

When this happens to me and my opponent bets to me after i checked, I am often very confused. Sometimes they will slowplay a King, in the example provided above, yet other times they will call the flop bet with total garbage in hopes that you will check the hand down, and they can steal the pot from you on the river. I am often very confused whether to call or fold because of this.

[Pepsquad]

When you are stealing in the latter stages of a tourney, you need to make it uncomfortable for anyone who isn't dead serious about possibly having to commit their stack on this hand. I like the 3X BB raise pre-flop, but on this flop you need to be firing a pot sized bet. Now if this is the latter stages of a multi tourney and you both don't have HUGE stacks then that pot sized bet will make him start thinking about if he likes his hand enough to commit his entire stack. He CALLED your flop-bet for one of two reasons. #1) He has you totally crushed or #2) He isn't really thrilled about his hand - i.e. mid PP, K with crappy kicker and is desperately seeking a cheap showdown.
If you have him covered by a good margin, push the issue. Most opponents are folding any underpair or any king with a questionable kicker on this flop.
I guess what I'm rambling on about here is that it seems like you quite pushing your steals at the first sign of resistance. You getting called on the flop and your opponent actually liking his hand enough to go broke right now are two entirely different things. Keep pressing the issue on the turn if your stack can handle it.

Pep.

[AceofSpades]

What your opponent did is also a great tactic to pick off possible (missed) continuation bets.

Cold calling a weak bet on the flop. And then seeing what you do on the turn. Then betting river if you look weak, which also oddly enough can look like a slow play of the nuts.

When you check behind it telegraphs you really don't like your hand, and that you probably fold if he bets on river.

of course it's also the same way some ppl would play trips in this case.

I'm betting the turn here, since you didn't "sell" that you had a pair of kings on the flop and check/folding river if called.