45s 200-400 hand

[Luke]

Preflop and river seem good to me.

I like checking the flop and then raising if UTG bets.
With the button betting, I like calling a little better than checkraising:

1) UTG could be going for a CR with a big ace
2) You stand to gain a lot if you hit your straight or flush because they are both well disguised so let's keep some people in.
3) Getting it HU with the button isn't that desirable since there's a reasonable chance he has at least a pair given the lack of draws on the board and you hitting a 5 or 4 probably won't give you the lead
4) I don't think the chance you have of winning the pot with a turn follow through bet is that great.

As for the turn, I probably wouldn't CR there if these are the real loose types but it can't be that bad given your strong draw.

Luke

[Pensive Gerbil]

The only play that seems like a mistake to me is your three-bet on the river. IMO, the most salient possible holdings represented by your turn check-raise are two pair (e.g., T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]) or one pair with a flush draw (e.g., 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]). The button's failure to three-bet the turn suggests that he could not yet beat two pair. When the button raises your river bet, I put him on a higher flush, such as K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. I would call the raise in case I was mistaken!

-PG