$215: Interesting use of the min. bet

[Irieguy]

You don't see a min. bet into a large pot on the turn very often in a $215. I didn't know this player and it was the third hand or so of the SNG.

(Preflop note; I don't like to let players min-raise from early position when I'm in late position... so I was calling with any two here.)

Maybe this hand isn't interesting... but I had to think quite a bit while I was playing it, so I thought it might be worth posting. I'm sure that just about everybody would play every street differently than I did.


***** Hand History for Game 2708601656 *****
15/30 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) (Tournament 15722432) - Wed Sep 14 02:51:57 EDT 2005
Table Table 10899 (Real Money) -- Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Ritschi (700)
Seat 2: this2shalpas (990)
Seat 3: shannon210 (975)
Seat 4: clcmillion (1310)
Seat 5: Twostepping (1000)
Seat 6: freeway99 (1040)
Seat 7: HoytCorkins5 (1000)
Seat 8: madpete (1000)
Seat 9: CrazyyGramps (1000)
Seat 10: KleemannCLK (985)
clcmillion posts small blind (10)
Twostepping posts big blind (15)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to this2shalpas [ Qd, Js ]
freeway99 raises (30) to 30
HoytCorkins5 folds.
madpete folds.
CrazyyGramps folds.
KleemannCLK calls (30)
Ritschi folds.
this2shalpas calls (30)
shannon210 folds.
clcmillion calls (20)
Twostepping folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 2h, 3c, Jh ]
clcmillion checks.
freeway99 bets (135)
KleemannCLK folds.
this2shalpas calls (135)
clcmillion folds.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 4d ]
freeway99 bets (15)
this2shalpas calls (15)
** Dealing River ** : [ 8s ]
freeway99 bets (250)
this2shalpas calls (250)


Irieguy

[bluefeet]

Assuming he was setting you up for a c/r, or strong river move, what would you suspect is the difference between the min-bet and a check on the turn?

Is CALLING a min-bet on your part somehow a weaker "tell" vs. CHECKING behind?

Put another way...

Is NOT raising a min-bet weaker than NOT leading behind a check?


...or is this some psychological "blocking move", having feared your cold-call on the flop some? But min?!


Question for you: Was your call on the river swaded at all by this bizzare bet? Would you have called if he continued his pot'ish assertion on the turn?

(I play at the $22s and $11s)

Thats a really weird turn bet, and it gets pretty suspicous when he turns up the juice on the river.

I'd like to know why you called the river, was it to gain information for future SnGs, or did you believe you had the best hand...because I think your behind.

I'd really like to hear what you think is so interesting about this. Is turn min-bet blocking? I doubt that could be very successful at the 215s, although at the 11s I think that may actually work. Is turn min-bet an attempt to encourage a raise? That sounds like it may be reasonable on some boards, but the flop now has a heart draw and a straight draw out, so unless he has Ah5h, I don't like it here, and even then, another shot of 135 looks pretty weak.

My diagnosis is that it's likely he A) is very unfamiliar with poker and his bet amounts on the other two streets just happened to be normal or B) meant to bet a different amount.

[Smockstack]

Did he hit the straight on the turn, bet small hoping to look like a blocking bet so that you'd come over the top? I could also see this as an attempted blocking bet with a missed A,K or A,Q, but if so, why the min bet pre-flop. The only other option I could see is pocket 8s and he hit the set on the river.....Really none of the bet sizes make a whole lot of sense to me, but I'm basically a betting retard......to much push/fold moreean for me.

[ChuckNorris]

Interesting hand. I only play the $55's, so I'm unfamiliar with the context. But anyways, I like preflop and flop, and I think that I would most of the time play them like you did, no matter what the buy-in. On the turn however, in the games I've played at, I usually raise whenever someone minibets. Especially when it's heads up. It's just almost always a sign of weakness, and raising takes the pot. You had a hand here though, so calling might be better.

On the river I first thought that this looks like a pretty tough call, which I guess it is, but then I started thinking: do you think that villain is considering your just calling the turn minibet as a sign of weakness, and thus is very likely to be bluffing?

I wanna ask.. Did you call the turn hoping for a cheap showdown or to induce a bluff [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[lorinda]

I think the turn bet is to turn players into guessers.

Looking at the replies so far, it might not be too bad [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Lori

[vexvelour]

This seems insane for a $215.

I'm thinking maybe a missed flush draw he's trying to scare you out of on the river?

If you guys think I'm wrong, please indulge me in why. I'm curious.

[bluefeet]

[ QUOTE ]
...or B) meant to bet a different amount.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm starting to like this one. Meant to slow down a tad, bet t150 - forgot the "0"...you didn't raise - led hard on the river [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Heh, I think I do play every street differently but the whole sequence is so strange that I find it hard to say you did anything wrong. Still, if I had to pick one spot to do something differently then I would raise the flop.