Marginal Hand, Big Pot

[rtucker5]

Party 6 max NL $1/$2 blinds. I had about $180 to start the hand and my opponent had me covered. My opponent is an any 2 kind of player that is hitting everything and has over $600 on the table. He is very loose and fairly aggressive. I have seen him make big bets and show bluffs as well as play some pretty bad hands for big money.

Folded to me in the CO and I open for $6 with 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. The button and both blinds call. The SB is the main opponent.

The flop comes down A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Checked to me and I bet $15. SB is the only caller. He could have literally anything at this point.

Turn is the 10 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

SB bets $20. I decide to test him out and raise to $65 total. He calls.

River is the 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] making my flush.

I have about $95 left and the SB bets enough to set me in. I call.

How good/bad did I play this? Did I give too much action? Did I win the pot?

[Richie Rich]

Given the loose/aggressive nature of your opponent, I would have gone all-in on the river. You can't sit around and wait for the nuts against these opponents...especially if they've been bluffing & advertising to build a big stack.

If you lost in this case, then so be it. But in the larger scheme of things, the more often you make these bets/calls against LAGs, the better off you'll be.

[fsuplayer]

I like the way you played the hand for the most part, but I think you may be beat.
On the turn, he leads into you for a 1/3pot smallish bet. I have usually found that this means a flush draw or TPWK and they are trying to get to the river cheaply. This being said, he played this hand exactly like a flush draw, which you may or may not be able to beat. He could as easily have 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]3 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] as he could K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]10 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].

The K10 makes sense bc he picked up a pair on the turn, wanted to see the river cheap and lead out for that small $20 bet.


In the end, although you may be beat here with a higher flush, he could just as easily be bluffing TPWK and hoping you wont call.

FWIW: I call this bet pretty much every time on Party.

Hope it worked out for you, I think you played it well, although the raise on the turn is very risky, although you said you had a pretty good read on him, so go with your read. I say risky bc if he reraises you all in, you cant call without making a mistake, but you have a hand that really wants to see the river and it is hard to let go of.

FsuPlayer

[rtucker5]

I only question my play of the hand on the turn. I think the preflop raise is fine because I don't make a habit of doing it and if I show the hand down I may get action later when I have a big hand. I got a very favorable flop for my hand so I think the flop play was good. I'm not sure the turn raise was good or not. I was feeling pretty sick when he called, that's for sure. Based on this player's tendencies I think the river call is mandatory. He bet a scare card. I have to have a pretty big hand to call his river bet so it's a good spot to bluff. I agree with fsuplayer in that my turn raise is risky because I can't call a re-raise. I was hoping to take the pot down on the turn.

[schwza]

As you said, I think the only questionable spot was the turn. I think the raise is a bad play. The type of player you're describing - one who doesn't make many laydowns - is especially unlikely to bet and then fold to a raise. I think a reasonable read is that the player hit the ten for one pair, bet small and then called just because s/he had already put $ into the pot this round.

Flat calling the turn also has the advantage that if you hit your hand (2 pr, trips, or flush) he's likely to bet and you can raise all-in. I think if you raise the turn, it's more likely that he'll check/fold the river (but not so likely that a bluff would be profitable).

If you miss, you can get out more cheaply, and you don't risk a 3-bet (and this fishy player may 3-bet a hand as weak as QJ) that would prevent you from seeing the river card.

My two cents...

[rtucker5]

My opponent had J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]6 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and made a bigger flush on the river. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]