200/400 HU

[Ikke]

Havent posted in quite some time, so here's a hand I played recently.

It's HU (SB is button) against a really aggro player. There's a lot of aggression going on to take initiative (so lots of 3-betting preflop, and frequent fast play on the flop). My opponent doesnt back off easily and will not give you credit for a good hand too easily. When he's the SB he will raise about 100% of the times preflop.

He raises in the SB and I 3-bet in the BB with Kh9h.

Flop is 6s6c9s

I bet, he calls.

Turn is an offsuit 8. I bet, he raises. I 3-bet.

What do you think of the 3-bet? What if I get 4-bet? On what river cards should I bet the river if he just calls the turn 3-bet?

All comments welcome.

Regards

[Nikla]

Good 3-bet pre and I like the 3-bet on turn. Assuming he calls the 3-bet the Ts is your worst rivercard followed by the 5s. So I'd check those. I do think I'd check an ace aswell seeing as your king nolonger plays and you'd be hardpressed to fold if he raises again on river.

If he 4-bets turn you're most likely in trouble. But it really depends on just how aggressive the current status of the game is. Could he make this play with 87 intending to check behind on the end if he misses? How about x7 of spades? Is it conceivable that he would slowplay an overpair pre by just calling your 3-bet?

Without knowing more about how he plays I think you need to call the 4-bet and see what the river brings.

Which site was this played on?

PS: This is an interesting hand and I enjoy reading your posts. Hope you'll keep it up.
-Nikla

[joker122]

[ QUOTE ]
What do you think of the 3-bet? What if I get 4-bet? On what river cards should I bet the river if he just calls the turn 3-bet?

[/ QUOTE ]

3bet = good because his turn raise means so many things and rarely means that you're behind. 3bet it for value and to punish him for semibluff raising or raising for a free showdown.

if he 4bets i call and check call the river and expect to lose almost everytime. you have a few meager outs but more important is the meta game stuff.

i'd bet any river.

[bugstud]

ever get to many turns with action like this?

[stripsqueez]

i like the turn 3 bet - your plenty entitled to think your in front and dont really need a bigger excuse

if 4 bet i would call him down

my first reaction is to bet all rivers because he is calling down with an 8 - a big part of liking the turn 3 bet was that he had a draw so i'm unhappy if one of those hit - cant say i have played high limit heads up but if one of the horrible draw cards hits the river i normally talk myself into bet in this spot playing short handed and being heads up

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

[Robk]

i agree with the others on the 3 bet. i assumed he would play his good hands fast a high percentage of the time on the flop giving your reraise on the turn has a nice edge. (fwiw my assumptions leave you with the best hand ~80% of the time on the turn. of course your assumptions are likely different, and more accurate.)

humbly disagreeing with nikla, i submit that the 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] is the worst card for you on the river by a good margin. it and the other two eights are the only cards i believe should be checked.

[kurosh]

This is a fairly standard hand and 3-bet. Call if he 4-bets and check/call river. Lead if he doesn't.

[helpmeout]

I dont like it you are already committed to seeing a showdown.

Plenty of hands he could have here that beats you any 6, A9, T7, 75, an overpair.

If he is semibluffing so be it, those guys will usually fire one more barrel on the river when they miss. While if you 3bet they give up unimproved.

[Ikke]

Wow..threads get buried fast around here!

Anyways, I don't consider the play of this hand standard, as some of the posters seem to suggest. Against a typical opponent I would probably not have chosen this line as default and also against this player I wouldnt do it too frequently.

Helpmeout raises an excellent point that by 3-betting the turn, you probably make about the same off the draws as you make by calling down. However, this assumes that my opponent will indeed continue to bluff on the river AND will not play his draws even more aggressively (for instance by 4-betting the turn or raising the river when he misses as a last attempt to pick up the pot). The last point might seem irrelevant, but I assure you, against some players it is not.

But, if these assumptions are met, 3-betting the turn loses a lot of its value if I'm up against a draw. It will probably even hurt me, since there is a chance he will hit with me still betting out on the river and paying off a raise.

If I'm up against an 8 or 9 it's obvious 3-betting has a lot of merit, since I will likely be paid off. So lets do some handreading.

I don't think I'm up against an overpair, since we have been playing so aggresively, and he knows that even a 4-bet preflop is fairly common and would not necesarrily causes me to back down. So, from his point of view I would see no point in slowplaying pocket pairs preflop.

A 9 would IMO more likely raise to flop, to try to maximize winnings when I have a big ace, and minimize when up against a bigger hand. He could wait till the turn to raise it, but I think it's less likely he would do so.

A 6 certainly is a possibility, but I would expect him to raise that on the flop also a percentage of the times (I even think raising the flop if he held a 6 would probably even be better than raising the turn).

A big candidate for his hand seems an 8, most likely something like 87, 8T, A8, 85. With these hands he either has a pair good kicker, or pair+draw. Raising with these makes a lot of sense, especially with position and the fact that we both have been raising light preflop.

And this is the reason why I think, in this case, 3-betting is preferable over calling. Because an 8 makes the most sense. But I really think this is dependend on this opponent; a lot of people will just call down with these types of hands, especially if they have the added outs of a gutshot/open-ender. And if that's the case, 3-betting loses a lot of it's value, EVEN if you figure to have the best hand after being raised.

With this read, I would say betting any 8 on the river would be insane. I think whether to bet or check/call a A, 7 or T river would be very close.

There's probably even more to ponder, but I'm tired now ;-)

Regards

[bicyclekick]

Thanks so much for your thoughts, Ikke. I'm guessing you were playing against corretja by the explanation. If indeed it was, 3 bet his ass with impunity. He's a major donk and you're way ahead almost every time...and he'll call down so light.