A hand

[Schneids]

I think he has a hand such as QhJh or something often enough that you need to call the river, given that he probably views you as tight enough to fold some non ace pairs. His line just doesn't _feel_ like the way he should plausibly play an ace.

I assume you were going to check behind on the river?

I'm pretty sure I raise the turn too because I generally take the "pauses, ponders, bets" thing live as meaning he doesn't like his hand that much, but doesn't know what to do with it.

I like the post, glad to see you outside of Sports/OOT/NVG again.

[James282]

[ QUOTE ]
I think he has a hand such as QhJh or something often enough that you need to call the river, given that he probably views you as tight enough to fold some non ace pairs. His line just doesn't _feel_ like the way he should plausibly play an ace.

I assume you were going to check behind on the river?

I'm pretty sure I raise the turn too because I generally take the "pauses, ponders, bets" thing live as meaning he doesn't like his hand that much, but doesn't know what to do with it.

I like the post, glad to see you outside of Sports/OOT/NVG again.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like this analysis a lot.
-James

[Jeff W]

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I'm pretty sure I raise the turn too because I generally take the "pauses, ponders, bets" thing live as meaning he doesn't like his hand that much, but doesn't know what to do with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know anything about live play. In an online game, I'd calldown after the turn bet.

[Clarkmeister]

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His line just doesn't _feel_ like the way he should plausibly play an ace.


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This is what I was thinking at the table. His hand "should" be an ace the way he played it, but it just didn't feel like how he'd play an ace against me. Hence, my call. But at the same time, it sure didn't feel like he could reasonably expect me to fold *anything* to his river bet in that pot, which made me feel retarded for calling.

As for the turn, I think your observation is a good one. Another reason I raised is that I don't like to "encourage them to think I play weakly" as someone suggested in another thread. There are times for that, yes, but given that I 3-bet him quite a bit preflop and that ace high boards are so easy for people to take shots at, I just felt that this was a bad spot to do anything other than try and punish him in case he was taking a shot. So I'm going with the sometimes lame metagame excuse as another reason I popped the turn.

[rigoletto]

[ QUOTE ]
I think he has a hand such as QhJh or something often enough that you need to call the river, given that he probably views you as tight enough to fold some non ace pairs. His line just doesn't _feel_ like the way he should plausibly play an ace.

I assume you were going to check behind on the river?

I'm pretty sure I raise the turn too because I generally take the "pauses, ponders, bets" thing live as meaning he doesn't like his hand that much, but doesn't know what to do with it.

I like the post, glad to see you outside of Sports/OOT/NVG again.

[/ QUOTE ]

I often play on these 'feelings' too. Lately I've been more dilligent in trying to identify what my gut is telling me. In this case I believe it comes down to villain trying to hard to fold hero in the cheapest possible way.

I often see you make these kind of comments and I whish your excellent poker mind would spell it our for the benefit of the rest of us - please!

[Emperor]

This guy missed his flush draw, and you played it perfectly.

[HiatusOver]

I would normally just call the turn here and usually call the river unless I picked up a strong reason to believe my hand is no good somewhere between my turn call and his river bet.

Were u going to value bet this river? Thats the main reason I could see why raising the turn would be better.

[DpR]

I think that if the guy is erratic/tricky/wierd enough to donk the river after the previous action with something worse then a mid-weak ace, then I think it is best to just call down rather than rasie the turn.

I make sure that I note the guys that like to donk most every street whenther they have a hand or not. Then I can be sure not to use a free s.d. play on them.

I can't be sure given the description whether or not you have a good river call here. IMO, a player that is just aggresive does not bet this river with a hand you beat. It needs to be one of those erratic players that make many 'out of tempo' bets.

Persoanlly, I would only take his line with an ace I was unsure of.

[Clarkmeister]

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Were u going to value bet this river? Thats the main reason I could see why raising the turn would be better.

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I wasn't going to bet the river, but now that you mention it, I think that may be a mistake. Good idea.

[mc123]

given your description and the action you definently gotta cal this river.

A lot of players like to check-call and donk the turn with an ace when they aren't closing the action preflop and out of position.

Given your description of the villain I can see him playing an ace this way but I can also see him playing a JQh,QK, or even TJh the same way.

Call the turn and re-evaluate on the river but most likely I'm showdown-bound in this spot and cheaply as possible.