2nd pair in blind battle

[schwza]

25+2 on empire. no reads.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (10 handed) converter

UTG+1 (t2122)
UTG+2 (t2400)
MP1 (t1450)
MP2 (t995)
MP3 (t1515)
CO (t705)
Button (t815)
SB (t798)
Hero (t1625)
UTG (t1205)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">8 folds</font>, SB completes, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t100</font>, SB calls t70.

Flop: (t200) 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
SB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: (t200) 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
SB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t125</font>, SB calls t125.

River: (t450) 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
SB checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: t450

[zoobird]

Any reason you didn't bet on the flop?

[U235]

I think PF, flop, and turn are all good.

I think you are worth another value bet on the river (maybe 150 or so). I don't think any hand that makes two pair on the river would limp and call your PF raise. It probably won't matter, as I think it likely that SB will fold to just about any bet; there are a lot of draws out there by the turn, it seems likely that SB has one of those.

Still, I think you'll get called enough to show a slight edge against when he has something like A3, 22, or something else weird.

[Che]

Seems pretty standard.

Sometimes bet flop, check turn (to induce river bluff), but either line is fine if no reads.

Later,
Che

[schwza]

i thought about going for a thin river vbet. would that be too aggressive?

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
Any reason you didn't bet on the flop?

[/ QUOTE ]

i would usually bet there if i had a good hand or no hand, but with a medium hand i'm happy to take a free card. giving a possible 6-outer sucks, but i can keep the pot small and induce bluffs this way. my plan would be to call reasonable bets on the turn and river.

[zoobird]

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you (and I'm a MUCH less experienced player), but my thinking here is that with everyone else folding around to you and the SB, nothing either of you did preflop really gives any indication what kind of hand either of you has. Most likely his check on the flop indicated that the flop missed him, and your pair is probably the best hand at this point...so by checking, aren't you giving a free card rather than getting one?

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
aren't you giving a free card rather than getting one?

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, that's a fair point, but i think it's largely semantic.

[ QUOTE ]
Most likely his check on the flop indicated that the flop missed him

[/ QUOTE ]

i would expect him to check whether he hit or missed here.

one reason i don't like a flop bet is that a c/r makes me vomit. i'm not going to be sure whether he's c/r'ing because he thinks i'm continuation betting with air or because he has a better hand. checking keeps the pot small so i can call down little bets rather than face big decisions.

the check also induces bluffs and makes him likely to call my little value bets with marginal hands because they're small and i look kinda weak.

edit to say: i don't think a bet is bad there, though. i think checking is a little better, but betting is fine.

[zoobird]

My point about 'giving a free card rather than getting it' was that it seems more likely that the card will allow him to catch up to your best hand than vv.

I agree that he would likely check whether or not the flop hit him. But based on the lack of information that I think the preflop action provided, there are a lot more hands that it misses than hits.

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
My point about 'giving a free card rather than getting it' was that it seems more likely that the card will allow him to catch up to your best hand than vv.

[/ QUOTE ]

and i agree with you.

it's an unfortunate downside to the line i'm suggesting, but that doesn't make the line as a whole wrong.