AJo - Flopped straight, Bet the river?

[JoshuaD]

Absolutely no reads on this player. He sat down this hand, and he wasn't in my DB.

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (7 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is SB with J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. MP1 posts a blind of $2.
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP1 (poster) checks, <font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP1 calls.

Flop: (5 SB) Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP1 calls.

Turn: (3.50 BB) T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP1 calls.

River: (5.50 BB) Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>


Bet or check?

[lu_hawk]

Bet and fold to a raise.

[Smasharoo]

Bet it, fold to a raise. I think you're good here enough of the time and get called by Kx and not raised by Tx that it's worth the value bet.

[elwoodblues]

[ QUOTE ]
Bet and fold to a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why is this a better option than check-call? Who is going to call who doesn't either beat you or chop? Check-call seems to be a better option to me.

[chief444]

[ QUOTE ]
Check-call seems to be a better option to me.

[/ QUOTE ]
Me too.

[lu_hawk]

[ QUOTE ]
Who is going to call who doesn't either beat you or chop?

[/ QUOTE ]

A chop is pretty unlikely. A King will call 100% of the time here.

[colgin]

On this board I check-call hoping to induce a bluff from a worse hand that otherwise likely won't call a bet.

[MoreWineII]

This is a pretty easy value bet, imo. A king will almost always call here and you have an EASY fold to a raise.

[holman3rd]

[ QUOTE ]
This is a pretty easy value bet, imo. A king will almost always call here and you have an EASY fold to a raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Value bet? Making a bet here and folding to a raise here hardly qualifies as a 'value' bet. Assuming you do lead out and get raised, why on earth would you fold to one bet, given the pot odds?? Sure, maybe you're up against a full house, but a lot of players would raise the river here with a set or 2 pair.

IMO, the best play here is check call. I worried about a full house, so I won't lead and give him the chance to raise me, costing me one more bet. If you lead out, you're probably only going to get called (or raised) if you're beat. Now don't go saying that I just contradicted myself. First, I wouldn't lead out, so I wouldn't be faced with a raise. HOWEVER, if I chose this approach, as some think should be the case, I can't see folding to one more bet, given the pot odds.

Whichever approach to take, I think folding should not even be considered. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in poker is losing a big pot when you lay down the winner.

[kendal14]

I check/call. I would not consider this a value bet because the ONLY hand that would call and lose is Kx (x not being a 10). Every other hand folds and any hand that raises would make you fold. Check to get the showdown cheaply. The pot isn't big enough for you to take the risk here IMO.