I agree with zucc
almost completely on this one. I hope this hand gets some responses because I think the river is a great topic.
I raise this preflop all day long under the "pot equity" theory that has been discussed ad nauseum in the past on this forum and even PFO, let's not rehash that
. I also raise AJ here.
As played, I like the flop check and turn bet.
Rive rI think you bet as well except if you are against a player who can bluff-raise here, there are very few at these levels so I wouldn't worry about it here. I have won several pots at 8-16 live tables bluff-raising this river against players who can fold.
An argument can be made to just check the river. That argument would be "no one ever folds here, and you hate to get raised" but I think that you do have some fold equity online as people are often not paying attention and multitabling and such and will fold. The fact that there is a flush out there muddies the issue as a bad player may be mis-playing a flush here. I think overall, betting and folding to a raise is the best line.
In live play I think it is probably a mistake to bet this except against rocks who you absolutely know will not bluff-raise. People playing live, while they may be too loose-passive, are generally paying attention to the board and will call 100% of the time here with any hand, so you are just paying more rake (and some will even bitch at you for increasing the rake on the hand). There is just no payoff to betting headsup here in a live game the majority of the time.
This river is actually a great subject to discuss. I think it is one situation I play differently online than live. But I would like to hear some thoughts on this as I am not concrete on the best plays here.
, Q
.
(4 players)
