Hand...

[Catt]

[ QUOTE ]
It took me a long time to analyze this, but now that I've thought this through I think you are almost always screwed and reraising is out of the question.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you're off here, Stellar. There are a wide variety of hands that a wide variety of Villain's could play like this. An aggressive stealer could open any 2, continue on the flop, pick up a FD on the turn, and C/R bluff the river as a last chance to win the hand. An aggressive player could play a PP like this. An aggressive player could play a 5 like this, or a hand with a J in it like this. A neutral-ish player (aggression-wise) could play until the river like this -- on the river we should be more concerned, but he could still be playing a variety of Ax hands like this as well as a J, sometimes a PP, sometimes a desperation bluff-raise. A passive player is cause for greater concern. I don't think a passive player ever plays a 9 like this, but the improbable JJ, a weirdly played AJ, a J5 (if such a player could raise this pre-flop), etc. Even among passive players, you're going to see Ax played like this quite a bit from those who think they're tricky poker experts.

We don't have a read on the player, so we don't know what sort of player he is, but on balance most guys in this game are going to fall on the neutral-to-aggressive side of the line. And Krishan's play gives no indication whatsoever that Villain should need a monster to C/R the river -- Krishan called the raise pre, called the flop, and bet when checked to on the turn. I think, if Krishan is unknwon to Villain, Villain could reasonably assume that Krishan has air here (which makes Villain's turn and river play very bad). This sort of betting pattern between SB and BB happens all the time, and until the river C/R there is nothing especially informative about the betting patterns -- now the C/R gives us the the best actionable information on Villain's holding, but I think his range (as an unknown sitting at a PP 10/20 table) is more than wide enough that a 3-bet is the best on this river, even when we know we're always calling a cap.