100-200 Commerce hand

[Brian R]

Last week at Commerce in the 100-200 game. Very early into my session which appears at the time to be only so so. I've prob. been dealt 8 hands and folded them all. Dealt QQ in the Cutoff and open. The Button who I have never played with before acts like he is going to fold then pulls his cards back and 3 bets. I have seen moves like this many times and decide to ignore this tell or fake tell. I make it 4 bets villan calls and the action is HU. Flop is K 6 8 rainbow. I bet he raises. I call (???). My thought process was that I have the best hand and I was going to check raise the turn or river. I also thought that he'd smooth call a strong hand with a K only to raise me later. Turn comes another blank and I decide I have the best hand and don't want to give him a free card. I bet. He raises me. After some thought I think and muck. Comments? How bad did I mess this hand up or did I play it ok? 3 bet turn or ck/call turn down and pay off river. After some more play with this guy I realize I should have prob 3 bet.

Brian R.

[exalted]

Its unlikely that he is raising you on the flop for a free card on the turn on such a drawless board - therefore I don't think you should worry about giving free cards, especially since you may be putting extra bets with the worst hand. If anything, you want to see showdown as cheaply as possible.

I think this is a clear fold, especially with your line (which I think is fine) - you cap preflop showing that you do have a premium hand - villian isn't going to raise you on two streets when you're telling him you have AK.

If you really felt this guy was a bluffer, you could check call check call on the turn and river and allow him to keep attacking with a worse hand. However, I think in this hand he has at least AK.

[Westley878]

Once youre raised on this flop, your holding loses a lot of value. However since you dont know this opponent that well, I still think you have too strong of a hand to fold. Becuz you are in a marginal situation against an opponent you dont know very well you should just get to the showdown as cheaply as possible, after being raised on the flop, just check and call all the way. By playing the hand this way you can never get outplayed off the best hand. This concept is very important when you are against an unknown.

I would also like to say that given that this is a CO vs Button, steal/resteal situation, not only will the button be 3 betting with a wide range of hands here, he will also not necessarily be that intimidated by your 4 bet since he still knows your range will be wider than normal in this spot. Becuz of all this, the chance that the button is raising this flop with a hand you can still beat is higher than normal, which is why I would check-call this one down.

[Ryno]

Your turn line feels like you want to be done with the hand. There are no draws given either of your ranges so it doesn't look like a made hand stop-n-go.

I would get to the showdown on this board.

[Steve Giufre]

No reason to go nuts here. Just call it down. If you really feel like you are ahead call the turn and lead the river. He is gonna bet all smaller pairs again on the turn anyway. If he is trying to rob you thats great too, your hand is really well protected if you're ahead so I dont think you have to jam it early. Pretty typical way ahead way behind type of spot. Id be more likely to lead the river if you got a half way scary card, or if you feel like he is the type to wimp out with top pair a lot of the time and just call.

[Tommy Angelo]

"The Button who I have never played with before acts like he is going to fold then pulls his cards back and 3 bets."

I would immediately start playing the river. Meanwhile, I would call his preflop reraise, then checkcall the flop, then checkcall the turn, then check the river, ready.

[andyfox]

I wouldn't have been too worried about give a free card. If you're ahead, he's likely drawing pretty thin.

Perchance was he an older white guy, greyish hair, thin, with a two-day stubble?

[Paluka]

Your turn bet seems to shout "I'm going to bet this and fold to a raise". So he raised you. Your line works better online I think.

[haakee]

Yes, I'd do the same here. You don't need to be too worried about free cards because if he's behind he's unlikely to have very many outs. His most likely hands that you can beat are something like AJ/AT or a pocket pair, either of which has just 2-3 outs.

[mike l.]

after betting the turn i would feel like i had maybe wasted a portion of a bet, but i would showdown anyway. folding QQ on a K86x board in this sort of lp steal situation is a significant error. how you get to showdown doesnt matter nearly as much.