Aggressive with 44 in the BB

[LAGmaniac]

My read on the button is that he is a decent ABC player.

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO folds, Button calls, SB folds, Hero raises, Button 3-bets, Hero calls.

The raise was because I figured I had the best hand pf since he just limped from the button. Given his play earlier I figured he would fold for one bet on the flop if he didn't hit top pair. His limp reraise screamed big PP though so I backed off and just called.

Flop: (6.50 SB) 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players) </font>
Hero bets, Button calls.

So here I'm hoping he has a pocket pair lower than Kings, and I can represent a high Ace. He just calls which is good, but he could be waiting to pop me on the turn. I decide I'll put in one more bet.

Turn: (4.25 BB) A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players) </font>
Hero bets, Button calls.

He thought for quite a bit before calling. Now I'm convinced he doesn't have an Ace, if he did he would most likely raise here considering the 3 flush on board, and I'm sure I would have heard from pocket Kings by now. Now I'm thinking he has QQ-TT, but I decide that he's probably not gonna lay down anything at this point so I need
to give it up on the river.

River: (6.25 BB) Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players) </font>
Hero bets, Button folds.

He took a loooong time to lay this one down, and I was quite proud of him. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I was gonna give it up on the river but that fourth club was just too tempting. Of course if he had Queens or the J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] or 10 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] he's calling but I'm getting 6 to 1 on my bet that he doesn't hold any of those hands.
Final Pot: 7.25 BB

Does anybody else play this hand this way? Did I just get extremely lucky? I was almost auto-betting the whole way which I think helped sell it, and my image at the table was pretty tight as I hadn't been getting too many playable hands.

He told me after the hand he had Jacks [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] It would have been fun to tell him about my two little red fours but I bit my tongoue. I just said good laydown.

[Homer]

Preflop - When a decent player limps in on the button when you, a tight player, are in the BB, you should be suspicious. I would not have raised preflop, I simply would have checked, planning to either check-fold or bet out on the flop if I didn't improve, depending on the specific board texture.

Flop - Check-fold. For every time he has red QQ/JJ/TT, he going to have QQ/JJ/TT with a club or a K/A X times, where X is a big number that makes it unprofitable for you to bluff. Also, a lot of players that seem solid will prove you wrong by calling down with red QQ/JJ/TT, making your bet even worse.

Turn - Again, I'd check-fold. The second Ace is a bad card for you. It makes it more likely that you don't have an Ace, and were betting a draw on the flop.

River - Only part of the hand I like. The Qc is a perfect river card for a bluff attempt.

-- Homer

[Bob T.]

I am going to second Homer's comments. I think what he said about the ABC player limp reraise is important though. If he had JJ, he had about the worst hand you could expect there.

Good luck,
play well,

Bob T.