BTW, I hope it is okay to post live games here too.

The venue is the Aladdin poker room, at the $100 buyin NL with $1/$2 blinds.

I am UTG+1 with [Kd]. The UTG player, who seems to be solid and who has about $120, makes it $7 to go. I have about $90. The players behind me are of the looser type who I know have no problems calling $7 with less than premium hands but will respect me if I reraise. I decide to make it $15 straight to try to get the pot heads-up in this situation. Is this a good play?

Everyone else folds and the UTG raiser smooth-calls when it is his turn. The pot is $30. The flop comes [Js][Ts]. The UTG player checks it without much hesitation. I lead out and bet $25 from my remaining $65. Is this a good bet here with all the possible draws?

The UTG player now check-raises me the minimum to $50. AA, AQ, and JJ are ahead of me here. KK is unlikely statistically and he is too solid to be raising UTG with TT or JT. We could also have the same hand. The regular going rate for a raise at the table had been $12, so his initial $7 bet seemed strange to me.

What do other players consider/do here? I think it's obvious that a call is out of the question (meaning the only two options are all-in/fold because I'm putting all but $15 of my stack in if I call). But it seems more likely to me that this player would make this play only when I am beat.

They must be playing NL everywhere in Vegas now.. Last time I was there, there were no smaller games like this. It was $2/$5 blinds with a $200 MIN buy in...no max...so it was pretty tough to play with only a few hundred. I raised to $25 and got 5 callers.

Anyway back to the hand....I hardly ever reraise with AK for just this reason. You get too much of your stack in preflop and then when you bet the flop you are close to pot committed already. I understand you reasoning to do it here though, but I still dont think I would have reraised.

Every game is different (especially live vs online) so its really hard for me to say what I wouldve done. I think I wouldve bet the flop harder, but once he check raises I think you have to fold. I dont like that board and the action so far at all.

I agree with Ice that I don't like to reraise with AK in this spot, especially with the stacks being so shallow. If I am going to reraise AK in this spot, however (which I usually wouldn't) I would raise a lot more, maybe to 25 dollars or so. As it is, you're pretty much guaranteeing a call by raising so little, and your raise defines your hand while doing nothing to define his. Again, I like calling here, as I prefer to play AK as a drawing hand. On to the rest of the hand . . .

I don't know why you think he's "too solid" to raise UTG with JT or TT. At many live, small buy in casino games, I've seen people raise under the gun with many hands, including these. One of the easiest ways to make money in these games is to mix things up and raise with a hand you're "not supposed to be raising with." You have a pretty good idea what people are calling you with, and if you hit a good flop you can break them. That being said, I can't see anything that you're really that far ahead of here. Also ahead of you are , by the way . . .

I really like checking behind here on the flop. You give yourself a chance to improve a hand that, quite frankly, likely needs improving, and protect yourself from being moved off a draw to the nut straight. A free card isn't dangerous here because you're either way ahead or way behind. You also get to control the pot size, which you want to do with a hand that can't withstand much pressure.

I hope it worked out . . .

Eric

Gishaclaus, what is your basic plan on the turn/river if you check behind your opponent here? There are still two betting rounds to go.

I agree with Iceman that you've gotta fold on a flop this textured when you get check-raised.

iceman, yes, there are low buyin no limit games all over the strip nowadays. Harrah's has a $120 max $1/$2 NL, then the Excalibur, Aladdin, and Bally's all have $100 max $1/$2 games. Some of these games are actually fairly tough, but this is not prime tourist season in Vegas either so that could have a lot to do with it.

I normally smooth call with AK as well in this spot, but the problem with this raise is that it's undersized. If this action gets around the table, this is going to be a 4-5 player pot, which would be equally as large as the heads-up pot, potentially larger, and with much less chance of my AK winning, unless I were to flop Broadway. That is why I chose to reraise in this situation at this table.

The more I think about it, the more I like Gish's idea of checking behind and seeing if I can get my opponent to act on the turn. If he has the flush draw he probably already has either [Ks] or [Qs] in which case I am already in a load of trouble. If he has a two pair, a set or Broadway he is going to bet the turn pretty hard with the spade draw out there and my willingness to take a free card. If he has [Qs] then it's his birthday anyway. If he puts out a feeler bet I can call and maybe get a free showdown if he has AK as well as that board has to be just as frightening to him with an opponent who is willing to smooth call.

I decide to make the laydown and asked my opponent if he would have the courteousy to show me, I flipped up my AK and he showed his AK for the guaranteed chop. I can't decide if his play was borderline brilliant or incredibly risky. By reraising there I've put myself on 3-4 hands, I realize, but the only hands I am likely to lay down there are QQ and AK. I think AA would have been a hard laydown in that pot, especially if I had the .

Am I the only one here who has a hard time understanding how a raise to 3.5x the BB is undersized? Sure making it $8 to go might be more preferable but if you are open raising by making it $10 to go aren't you investing as much as 10% of your stack in a $100 max game? It is hard enough playing with the shallow stacks $1/$2 blinds are giving you without making your opening raises ginormous.

Mathematically, you are correct in saying that the $7 raise is not undersized. However, table texture and check denominations had already dictated that the going rate for a real raise was $12 at that table.

When I played there on Wednesday night I had tried to set the standard to be $8 and it worked out fine as the crowd was better/more knowledgeable.