A Couple of 5/10 Hands...

[Nick C]

Hand 1: Turn checks like Villain's in this hand sure are popular these days. A lot of times it seems like the action in a hand either takes place on the flop or the turn, but not both.

I'm tempted to look Villain up, closing the action on the river. But he's not very aggressive, and what probably happened on the turn is that he was worried a jack was out there and didn't feel like finding out where it was. Or maybe Villain has a jack and decided to trap once he caught trips.

Anyway, I doubt this guy is firing with QT or KT or ace-high on the river versus two opponents, but who knows?

Hand 2: I might've just kept calling down on the river, because I want to show down against this donk. Still, he probably doesn't have a 7. One difficulty is that he also probably won't pay off with a busted wheel draw or busted flush draw. He may pay off with a 5, though. He also might pay off with a worse pocket pair, but it also seems like there's a good chance he would've raised any of those preflop. (Well, maybe not. 100+ hands isn't a whole lot.)

What I might've done in this hand is pop the turn. I'm not really sure what's best, actually.

Hand 1: I'd bet the flop and if raised I call. Turn is a lot harder. With what hand could i have raised preflop, not capped the flop and now being helped by a jack? AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 99, AJ, KJ? All those hands would have capped the flop I think. My most probable holding must be AK, AQ, QT, TT and then I'm not happy about the turn card.
My opponent could still be behind. QT and T8 are two possible hands but no hand he could have raised the flop with would he lay down now to a bet. My chances of taking down the pot on the turn are microscopic and besides I'm out of position. Since I caught neither a A, Q or a club I guess it's a check/fold. Don't believe the pot is big enough to waste two big bets to hunt a showdown of 6 outs where I could already be drawing dead.

Hand 2. Flop is fine, but I think I'm calling down from turn and on.