Home game hand (posted for a friend). AKs and a flush draw

[Cornell Fiji]

I was playing in a $20-$40 buyin .25/.50 game at my fraternity house last night. This was a friendly game amongst brothers but since I am a far superior player to the other guys in the game I want to help coach them in exchange for my sitting at the table.

The hero in this hand is a winning 1/2nl (100 max) player at Turning Stone and he understands most of the fundementals of the game.

The villain is me. The hero reads me as being a thinking, loose, aggressive, very tricky player who is capable of bluff raises to take players out of their comfort zone. The villain has played with blinds the size of their buyin.

Effective stacks are $90 in this hand.

7 handed.

Hero has A/images/graemlins/diamond.gifK/images/graemlins/diamond.gif

UTG limps (can have any 2) Hero raises to $3 (fairly standard) in MP and I call on the button. Blinds and UTG all fold. Hero knows I can have pretty much any two cards here although I would have probably repopped him with a group one hand.

Flop 7/images/graemlins/diamond.gif 4/images/graemlins/diamond.gif 2/images/graemlins/spade.gif

Villain says "I have a piece of that".
Hero bets $5, Villain calls and talks about how the flop hit him.

Turn (17.25) 8/images/graemlins/club.gif
Hero bets $10, Villain says "I have a little piece, I have to call" and calls.

River (37.25) 5/images/graemlins/club.gif
Hero bets $15

Thoughts on all streets are appreciated.

I have told him what I thought of his play but I would like to show him this thread so he can see what other good players think about his line.

Thanks for your help,
Steve

[gir]

I bet the flop, check the turn, check fold the river.

[orange]

I bet flop for sure, 3-betting AI if raised.

Turn is a nice spot to c/r sometimes vs. a thinking player, though it depends how he views you and how good of a player hero is. Double barreling is fine obviously to prevent the check behind/cut implied odds/etc.

River is probably a check, especially vs. a thinking player who will call down lighter. thinking player vs. thinking player, he'll definitely call lighter than usual. The combos of 6 that hero has in his hand is relatively small given the action thus far. If he did decide to bet I would bet a bit larger on the river.

[bozzer]

It seems from the flop texture and villain's comments that villain may well have a drawing hand - diamonds or 56 most likely.

I like the bet, and its on the flop. It seems to me that the turn and river bets are halfhearted attempts to continue the aggression and not get bluffed.

Personally I would usually check on the turn. Firstly, it's a bad card because it may improve your opp's hand, and it's not a /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. This may seem too straightforward, but it's important to remember your OOP and you missed. You made a good cbet semi-bluff, but you got unlucky on the turn card. If you check, you don't necessarily have to give up the hand, but you get to see what your opp does.

It is a tough spot, and I don't disagree with betting, but when you bet with air into a clever aggressive player out of position, you are playing the game he wants you to play.

I would only rarely bet the river, and if I did it would be at least 2/3 pot.

[Vyse]

[ QUOTE ]

I like the bet, and its on the flop. It seems to me that the turn and river bets are halfhearted attempts to continue the aggression and not get bluffed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, this sums up the hand. Your bets are see through if villain has been playing with you for as long as we are led to believe. check/fold starting on turn

[jmc999]

Ok, so $6 in the pot on the flop -- $5 to pretty much take it down - reasonable.

I'm gonna guess the $10 turn bet is a blocking bet -- Hero is OOP against an agg opponent who might bet him off the hand otherwise.

I don't like the river bet -- most reasonable holdings just made 2 pair or a straight, any one pair hand is getting 3:1 to call. 53 is probably the only hand you'll get to fold.

[drugged]

Hero needs to think about why he's betting the turn and river and then he'll realize he shouldn't be.

[Cornell Fiji]

I fired off a lot of questions here. Some of them are obviously leading in the wrong direction, I will give my own thoughts later. Feel free to answer these questions directly or just use them to further your analysis

It seems pretty unanimous that the river bet is a huge spew. Even though the hero fired 4 barrels a good villain will be able to call down with the best hand very often. Especially because most hands that would call the turn have hit this board pretty hard (unless villain has a busted flush draw.) Since the villain is a good poker player we can assume that he is not laying down a hand (other than A2s?) that the hero beats on the river. Villain is never calling with AQ here so there is no reason to bet on the end.

The flop bet is also fairly standard. Hero has an awkward stack for a check raise against an aggro tricky opponent so a bet is best here. If raised on the flop (say to $18 straight) against the described villain would you advocate a reraise here? A push is a pretty large overbet but a smaller reraise pot commits the hero for the turn. Does that mean that a call of the hypothetical raise might be correct?

But what about the turn? If the hero checks he has to assume that the villain will bet close to the size of the pot with pretty much anything. Does that mean that the check-raise is the best line to represent 56 or a set? What does a check-call represent other than a flush draw (that will not get paid on the river)? Check-fold is surely out of the question, is it not?

What does anyone think about betting out on the turn if the hero intends to push if he is raised? Is this a spew or does it represent an overpair/set really well? If the plan was to bet-3bet then the $10 size of the bet is pretty good isn't it? What does anyone think about the $10 turn bet as a blocking bet?

Thanks for your help,
Steve

[Check_The_Nuts]

turn looks good, I think a check raise is the best bluff to do on the river, more so than a bet/3bet, which is more expensive and wouldn't collect anything from a (very unlikely) busted draw from villian.

[Leviathan101]

I like turn block. River... I give up. He's got a hand, he called two streets through (even if hte turn was weak) and probably didn't miss completely. It's entirely possible he'll check behind a busted draw, as the bet bet c/c line is pretty standard for a good hand like JJ here. I think I C/F river.