A6o 20-40 cutoff steal hand

[mike l.]

i openraise in a full good 20-40 game w/ A6o from the cutoff and get it heads up w/ the bb who is combo of loose aggressive and fish.

the flop is J65 rainbow. he checks, i bet, he calls.

the turn is a T rainbow. he checks, i bet, he calls.

the river is a Q. he checks, i bet.

comments?

[Josh W]

mike -

in hands like this, I learn so much from my opponents reaction to my bets (i.e. HOW they call). so, it's tough to say....

For example, if you can tell it's a stretch for him to call your flop bet (i.e. if he has KT or something, and doesn't look thrilled about calling), then calls the turn with a "I'll call him down" approach, I'd check the river.

At Commerce, at least, this method works well up to about 20-40. At 30-60 and 40-80, you need to find out those who love to throw in the hollywood and reverse tells. They usually don't mix up their tells that much, so they are usually just as reliable.

With no such tells, the hand in question is entirely player dependent. Will he call down with any pair, and always put heat on you with top pair? If so, you have an easy river bet. If he plays tight post flop, I think a check on the river is called for.

Since you call him loose aggressive, I think you can safely assume he doesn't have a J, a T, or a pocket pair bigger than 6. As such, the only hands you need to be worried about are KQ, K9, Q9 and maybe Q8. I think I bet, and if he doesn't checkraise bluff ever, have an easy fold to a checkraise.

Josh

[Penguin]

On average I check the river. I can't think of too many hands that even a fish will call with here that I have beat.

[Nightmare]

he's got a 5 or a 6, nice river bet

[andyfox]

Hard to figure him for a jack, seems you would have heard from him on the flop or turn. Hard to figure him for a ten, what hand with a ten in it would he have called the flop with? Hard to figure him for a queen, he'd probably bet the river.

But 9-8 is not impossible: gut shot on the flop, open-ended on the turn. While he might have called you down on the flop and turn with 7-6 or A-5 or 4-4 or somesuch, figuring you for two big cards over a jack, now two big cards give you at least top pair. I think I'd check the river here.

[Rick Nebiolo]

mike,

if he is LAG and a fish as you state the chances he calls with an ace high or worse pair is slightly greater than the chances he calls with a pair better than your pair. i like the river bet by a little but i like the fact that you are willing to make thin value bets even more.

~ Rick

[D.J.]

I'd say go ahead and bet and hope he doesn't call you b/c if he calls you, I can't see him having a worse hand. Plus w/ the Q hitting the river, he might fold a better hand thinking you got there w/ AK, AQ, KQ I think that alone is enough reason to bet, besides, by checking you're giving him a chance to showdown a better hand that he might have otherwise folded, hope you won.

-D.J.

[Tommy Angelo]

"the river is a ..."

I don't care. Because if

"he checks"

I'm betting.

Very ni han.

Tommy

[Tyler Durden]

I don't think you want to attempt a steal raise with A6o.

[jen]

I'd check. I don't think there are many hands here that he could call a river bet with that you can beat.