AK - trips on turn & check raised

[Chxdgt]

Just sat down, no reads

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool (http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php) from FlopTurnRiver.com (http://www.flopturnriver.com) (Format: 2+2 Forums)

CO ($3)
Hero ($10.86)
SB ($5.88)
BB ($6.75)
UTG ($5.07)
MP ($6)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A/images/graemlins/spade.gif, K/images/graemlins/heart.gif. CO posts a blind of $0.05. MP posts a blind of $0.05.
UTG calls $0.05, MP (poster) checks, CO (poster) checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $0.25</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, BB calls $0.20, UTG calls $0.20, MP folds, CO folds.

Flop: ($0.87) A/images/graemlins/club.gif, 9/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 2/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
BB checks, UTG checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets $0.65</font>, BB folds, UTG calls $0.65.

Turn: ($2.17) A/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
UTG checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets $0.5</font>, <font color="#CC3333">UTG raises to $1</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero...? </font>

[jpc001]

firstly, consider raising a little more PF. I think the general rule of thumb is 4x BB plus 1BB for each limper, which makes it around.. $.35? can't do math right now.

Flop bet looks fine, turn definitely bet more- around 2/3rd pot, so $1.90-2, and pooosh after he minraises you. The only hands that beat you here are 99 and 22, A9 and A2. Reads would be goot, but there's no way you can fold this here, chances are he's holding a weaker ace- and he'll probably call with any weaker ace.

[raistlinx]

It was a perfect flop for him to slowplay a set but that's a little nittish at this level. He only has about $3 left and the pot is over that right now even before your play, I'm not getting away from this hand.

Two thoughts on this: (1) If you think he has a flush draw you have to get his money in now even at the risk of him folding. (2) if you think he has a weaker A then you can let him lead into you on the river and then give him the bad news.

[JadeRedstone]

call or push depend what you think will get all the money in by the end!

[whoisthedrizzle]

I don't think calling and getting it all in on the river is that bad an idea, this is a worse ace alot of the time, more than enough to make up for the times has has you beat.

[Jouster777]

Call.

You are not folding so you can focus on hands you beat. This is a FD almost never with the dry flop call and the A/images/graemlins/heart.gif now on the board. The minraise could be a monster but more likely it is a probe saying...do you have a higher A? Tell him no and let him hang himself on the river.

[Pokey]

I'd like to comment on one of the responses to this thread:

whoisthedrizzle said:

[ QUOTE ]

I don't think calling and getting it all in on the river is that bad an idea, this is a worse ace alot of the time, more than enough to make up for the times has has you beat.


[/ QUOTE ]

Let me say that:

1. I agree that this will frequently be a worse ace.
2. Nonetheless, this is not the time to slowplay.

First thing's first:

Raise more preflop. You've got tons of dead money in the pot and you'd like to charge people for continuing with junk. I'd make it somewhere between $0.30 and $0.40, depending on table conditions, with the intent of seeing a flop heads-up. Without any reads, I'm thinking I'd err on the side of a smaller bet with my speculative hand, so I'd probably raise to $0.30, but if 4xBB + 1/limper didn't get the job done, I'd up my default bet until it worked.

On this flop I like a slightly larger bet: you've hit TPTK and you've got two lookey-loos; I'd probably bet about $0.80 or $0.90 to really punish my opponents for playing their crap hands: on a dry board, the only callers are going to be weaker aces, underpairs, and monsters, and I'd like to charge those weaker aces and underpairs an obscene amount of money to keep fighting, especially if I have not yet established a tight table image.

On the turn, I'm going to three-bet all-in. Why?

1. Potential is a dangerous thing. If our opponent has a draw (flush is the most likely draw, but even an inside straight draw to the wheel is possible) we'd like to charge him on the turn, rather than wait until the river: at the river his hand is either a monster or a dud, and if we try to wait we'll pay off his monsters and win nothing extra from his duds. Get the money in on the turn while he's got some fleeting hope and your hand is way, Way, WAY ahead.

2. We should only care about the situations that result in different outcomes depending on our behavior. Weaker aces will pay you off in either case, so we can ignore them. That's right, I said IGNORE them, because they don't matter in our decision-making process. Assuming he's got AQ or A7 or something, he's putting all his money in on the turn if we push and he's putting all his money in on the river if we wait. Given that the outcome will be IDENTICAL in either case, they don't make a difference for our decision-making process. The same is true for A9, A2, 99, and 22 -- they simply don't matter because the river outcome will be the same regardless of whether we push the turn or push the river. Which potential holdings of our opponent would make a difference? Only draws and air. If our opponent is on a draw and we push the turn, we get his stack 3/4ths of the time and lose our stack 1/4th of the time. If our opponent is on the draw and we wait for the river, we win nothing more 3/4ths of the time and lose our stack 1/4th of the time. That's a good reason to push the turn. If our opponent has air, pushing the turn wins us nothing more and waiting for the river has a potential for breaking off a desperation bluff. I find this a rather unlikely situation, but inasmuch as it's a possibility it's a reason to wait. All told, I think pushing wins us more far more often than waiting improves our outcome.

[Jouster777]

I think the key here is balancing the risk of a FD or GSSD vs. the risk of folding a weaker A or TT/JJ.

While a weaker A "never" folds (read: its unlikely) a FD "never" makes it to the turn (read: its unlikely). I think unlikely #1 is sufficiently likely relative to unlikely #2 that a call is a reasonable play here (though I haven't done the calculations).

[Chxdgt]

Thanks to everyone who replied... the result of this hand was a bit too traumatic for me to take an unbiased look after the fact. To summarize... I shoved, villian calls and shows A2... but I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes.

This thread gives me plenty to think about... in general, there doesn't seem to be much point in trying to get cute at these limits... looks like I was going to lose some $$ with this hand in any case (although maybe raising more PF would have folded A2?) but hopefully I can learn from it. Thanks again /images/graemlins/smile.gif