Last night I played in a $110 buy-in live tourney. The tourney started with 34 people and was down to maybe 28 by the time this hand took place. It was still relatively early and I had about T11,000 in chips after we started with T10,000. Blinds are 300/600. I post my BB and look down to find [3c]. Table is overall very tight-aggressive with quite a lot of blind stealing going on preflop. LP player limps and it's folded to me. We are headsup.

(2 players) Flop: [4c][5c] (Pot: T1,500)

I check. He bets 1000. I call.

Turn: (Pot: T3,500)

I check. He bets 1000 again. I call.

River: (Pot: T5,500)

I fire out 3000. He looks to raise me, and after a while decides to muck.

I do not think I maximized this hand, although I am still trying to figure out a better way to play it. My opponent was decent but generally a bit loose-aggressive. I played one hand against him previously where he raised my flop bet with K9 on a flop of J-T-9. I had Q9 and he took it down after checking down turn and river. If that hand told me anything about him, it was that he wasn't afraid to bluff and semibluff and was capable of mixing up his plays.

I think my check-call on the flop is pretty standard. I could lead out here, but if he has anything at all, I know he will raise me. His limp preflop was a bit unorthodox, but I thought he could easily have a hand like 66 or 77, and I didn't want to commit myself too much on the flop. Hence, I decided I would check and call a reasonable bet, but not too much. When the turn brought the Jack, I again checked. Why? Because if I lead out, I am betting a big scare card, which could easily get him to fold. I expected him to bet more, but when he only bet 1000, I sensed weakness and figured I would just call, since the check-raise would seem like I was protecting a good hand from a fourth club hitting, which I did not want him to think. I had already decided that if a fourth club hit, I would check and let him bluff at it. Instead, the Q came, and I thought it was a good card to throw out a medium sized bet, making it look like a bluff. From his point of view, it is tough to see how the Queen could have made my hand. Since my play represented a draw up til the turn, it is very likely that I could have played a 6 on the flop for the outside straight draw and then caught a flush draw as well. He knows I am likely not betting that river unless I have something very good or nothing. By his reaction, he was very close to raising me. I only had about 5k left though, so he probably saw me as too pot-commited and decided to fold. After the hand, people starting putting me on 7-6, which I thought was a bit interesting. I asked him if he would have bet if I checked, and he said he would have for sure. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but can I risk checking the river, knowing full well that he could check it right back? He also said he would have probably raised me if I had bet less, thus leaving me with more chips and less pot-commited.

What's my best play on each street? In retrospect, I would go check-call, bet (small) , and bet bigger on the river. Comments?

By the way, I ended up winning the thing for a cool $1550. Not a bad night's work, I gotta say.

I like the way you played it, except perhaps the river...like you said, perhaps a 1500 or 2000 chip bet on the river...makes you look a bit weaker inducing a call or raise...i don't like checking the river again, he'd been too afraid of that flush and sensed a trap and checked himself.

personally, I hate trying to check raise the river in most cases. A lot of people will check the river behind you if their hand isn't that strong. I agree with Bill that a smaller bet on the river might have gotten some more action but I would have played it like you did.

Unless you know your opponent is an overly aggressive player that will keep betting with a flush draw out there, then I would check but I would have to be pretty sure of a bet. Otherwise, I would bet small enough that he would be compelled to call with any type of hand. You could try a big overbet of the pot representing a broken draw hoping he would call. Just my opinion from limited experience.

I like the way you played it although I might have been tempted to put in a small re-raise on the turn, after you had checked to him and called on the flop. If he is playing loose aggressive as you say, in that spot he may have called another 1000, and this may have tempted him to make a move on the river, which would be more likely, with the pot a bit larger.

Having made this move, and clearly assuming it is called, I would be putting in a small-ish raise, (a weak lead) by betting 2K on the river into the pot of by now 6500 and hoping he puts me on a weak steal, and calls.

Hey Mad,

Very nice work on winning the whole thing. Personally, I take a slightly different tack on this hand and probably check-raise that flop. You're putting down a big marker saying "I have a big hand and it will cost you your stack to take this to the river". If he has a medium-high pair, unless he is very loose, he's not likely to be calling that. If he has anything other than a set (which seems slightly unlikely) then you're a favourite to take this hand down anyway (against an overpair, for instance, you win nearly 60% of the time). So I think this is a nice way to apply some major pressure and vastly increase your chances of taking it down without having to call a pot-sized raise on the turn (which could leave you relatively short of chips). It also lets you get away from the hand on the flop if he moves back at you. With 2500 in the pot I'd probably raise him another 2000 on the flop. This is likely to be less than it'd cost you to see the hand to a showdown in any case and may well give you significant fold equity. The only black mark on the copybook of this play would be his loose-aggressive image; however, that strikes me as suggesting that you're unlikely to be getting free cards at any point here so the best way to take this hand down is to establish an aggressive stance on the flop.

Once you check-called, I think you played the rest of the hand pretty nicely. A smaller bet on the river might have worked, but I reckon you made it look nicely like you might be bluffing and having seen him play that bottom pair previously, it seems more than likely you'll be called or raised. I really think he didn't have much of a hand here and you'll find it hard to prize much moreout of him on turn or river, given that the Jc is likely not only an ugly flush card for him but quite probably an overcard to his holding too. In a live game, if you make that bet on the river, I'd go for a quick, assertive move as it'll look a little suspicious (how can that Q really have hit your hand?).

Monk
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