Turn-raised when I bet bottom-pair...

[EscapePlan9]

The past couple days I started playing short-handed, and now I don't think I want to return to full ring. It's so easy to find the fishies at 6-max tables and some of them think "he raised and capped the turn, maybe if I re-raise his raise on the river he'll fold..." I love playing against those players.

Villain is loose and moderately aggressive.

Party Poker 0.50/1 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
UTG calls, 4 folds, Hero checks.

Flop: (2.50 SB) , , (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks.

Turn: (1.25 BB) (2 players)
Hero bets, UTG raises, Hero calls.

River: (5.25 BB) (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets, Hero raises, UTG calls.

Final Pot: 9.25 BB

In retrospect, I'm thinking I could have taken a shot at the flop with my lowly bottom pair (and overcard). I was intending on check-raising and then leading the turn. I'm becoming quite fond of making liberal use of the check-raise when heads-up and in the BB.

I didn't buy his raise on the turn. He checked the flop when he had an easy situation to take the pot from me, so I figure he has something terrible and not even worth betting. The pot was really small on the turn so I know I had to be correct more than 25% of the time, yet I still called. I couldn't help but think he had nothing.

While I was playing the hand, one of my apartment neighbors (who also is into poker) came over and watched me tear up these 6-max games. He said "what, you're calling that turn?" and I explained to him "Yeah, I'm not buying it. He checked the flop and now raises the turn. He probably thinks I'm taking a stab with nothing."

The river was wonderful. I'm thinking I should have led the river since I believed my read to be correct (and thinking he would check behind and give up his bluff). Thankfully he was laggy enough to continue bluffing the river.

Like I said... I know the pot was incredibly small on the turn and it's not worth fighting over. But his betting pattern just didn't make sense to me and I felt obligated to call down.