Playing 2/4 on Check N Raise last night. These players are unique in that they're all loose aggressive, which is a style that consistently gives me trouble. 8 LAP's and me. I'll post the situations and my thoughts first, and results at the end.

Hand 1 : I have on the button. Early MP raises one limper, I three bet, the limper folds and EMP caps. The flop is and EMP bets into me, I raise and he calls.

My thoughts : This guy was slightly more solid than the rest of the table and I've played with him a lot the past week. I gave him credit for a good hand based on his pre flop play, Kings or Queens, with AKs a distant third option. This seems like a pretty good flop, save for the queen.

The turn is the and he check-calls again.

My thoughts : Feeling good. This guy wasn't a check-call kind of guy, so I was a little worried he was going to check raise the turn with a set of queens. When he flat calls again, I'm feeling better. At this point I'm reasonably sure he has kings and knows that I have aces.

The river was the . He checks and I check right behind.

My thoughts : Worst card in the deck. I felt like I was ahead thru the turn and that a King or Jack on the river would kill my hand. When it hits, I certainly can't put a bet in and I would have had a hard time calling had he bet. I was quite happy with the free showdown.

Hand 2 : I'm in MP with and raise one limper. I get called by the button, both blinds, and the limper. The flop comes . Checked to me, I bet and only the button calls. The turn is the , I bet and the button raises. I called.

My thoughts : Pretty standard play to the turn I think. My first thought was that I just ran into two pair or a set, either flopped and waiting for the turn to pop me, or just made on the turn. On a normal table, with somewhat reasonable players, I might fold here as a turn raise is rarely somebody goofing around, but this guy was a real peice of work and with the pot size from all the pre flop callers, I thought I needed to check call this one down.

The river paired the board with and I checked and called his bet.

Hand 3 : I'm in the BB with . Probably the worst player on CNR limps in EP, one other limper, and the SB completes and I check to see an . SB checks, I check, the worst player in the world bets, and it folds back to me. I raise and he just calls. The turn is . I bet and he raises me. I called.

My thoughts : I think the flop check raise is mandatory. I'd consider folding to a reasonable player, but not this guy. Yes the worst player in the world could have an ace, but more likely he has nothing, maybe an eight. The turn raise is bothersome. I was still fairly confident that he didn't have an ace, so the question was really what chance did he just hit the ten. The river was a low brick and I check-called again.


Results :

Hand 1 : Not surprisingly I lost the showdown, but not to kings, to Jacks. I really don't think I could have lost less on this hand, at least not while trying to maximize my wins. He didn't quite have the hand I thought he did, but what can you do? Maybe I'm a little tight, but I'm not a fan of his pre-flop cap. He has to know I'm reasonable and that there's no hand I'd three bet with that he's dominating. At best he's 50-50 with AKs, but more likely dominated by an over pair. His flop play, in my opinion is very poor though once we get to the turn, it has to play out the way it did, once he picked up an open ender.

Hand 2 : This one really made me scratch my head and wonder why I'm not dominating this site. I won a nice pot when he showed for bottom pair and a flush DRAW picked up on the turn. BTW, had I three bet the turn, I'm positive he would have capped it.

Hand 3 : This one was a doozy too. I won this hand also when my astute opponenet showed J-8o. Some may wonder why i didn't three bet the turn if I thought I was ahead, the problem with three betting, is that if he's awful and has a 10, he'll never fold it. He may raise me again, which is bad, or he may call me down. The play has no fold equity and I'm just throwing money away. If he doesn't have a 10 or an ace and is just making a play, by check calling I save myself bets for when I'm beat, while still getting a bet in when he feels like bluffing.


Seriously, the play at Check N Raise is killing me. If the bonus wasn't so good, I'd withdraw my money. Besides all the loose aggressive play, these turn raises and check-raises with bottom pair or some draw have got me baffled. I may have become gun shy, only because of hands like those above, where I'm probably ahead but don't know. How would you guys combat this kind of play? Maybe I'm old school, but I'm just used to a world where when somebody raises/check-raises you on the turn, you're beat 90% of the time and can safely fold. Ah, I miss those days.

Thanks in advance,

Drade

Against these types of players, with medium strength hands, you have to bet/raise less often and check/call more often. I think you played these fine, although in hand 3 I would have considered reraising, and dropping if he capped. Your CR looks like you're testing for the ace, so there's a good chance his turn raise is a similar test. If he calls your reraise, check/call the river, since he'll almost certainly bet if checked to, but will raise you if he has the ace.