Live 40/80 I got 3-bet with a small boat...

[Garland]

Location: Bay 101 in San Jose, CA
Stakes: $40/$80
Players: 9-handed. Fairly decent game loose aggressive game. *** of 5

Principal Player:
BB – Loose passive pudgy guy. I don’t know if he’s Samoan or what, but he’s a gambler with tons of money. He likes playing Pai Gow in the middle of the poker game. He’s a very honest guy, leads out with top pair, monsters, etc. Shows cards even if he’s not paid off. Pays off a lot. Will check-call all draws and never bluffs. Very easy to see where he’s at most of the time.

Preflop action: (1.5 small bets, 9 players) Folds to me in MP, and I raise with T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], BB calls.

Flop action: (4.5 small bets, 2 players): A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. BB checks, I bet, BB calls. I’m basically done with this hand until…

Turn action: (3.25 big bets, 2 players): T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. BB checks, I bet, BB calls.

River action: (5.25 big bets, 2 players) : Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] BB bets, I raise, BB 3-bets, I ???

Results to come.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Garland

[Moneyball16]

You say he leads out with top pair and monsters so if he had you beat on the river wouldn't he have told you by now?

[n.s.]

hmm... this is tricky. If he's as honest and straightforward as you say he is, then you have to be ahead because he should have led or c/r with 2 pair on the flop or turn. However, he's also passive, so when he 3-bets on this board, he really should have a boat (especially with the possible straight out there).

I guess one way to reconcile those two is if he's the paranoid (and not too bright) type, and checked two pair because he was afraid you had a straight already.

If the cap is 4 bets, I'd probably just go ahead and cap it because you don't have to worry about being 5-bet. If he'll virtually never 5-bet without the near-nuts (QQ and AA), then I also like a 4-bet (I'm still not folding to the 5-bet, but it won't happen very often).

My general policy is when in doubt against a bad player with a very big (but non-nut) hand, I err on the side of giving more action.

[Moneyball16]

Also based on your read I would have bet a blank on the turn getting value out of 9x and straight draws.

[private joker]

First three streets are standard, and the river is a pretty obvious call. 4-betting is a spew (the only hand he'll cry-call with is KJ, but he can't have that because he'd have raised the turn given the read; so he's going to have Q9 or QT any time he puts more money into the pot), and folding is silly.

[Garland]

[ QUOTE ]
If the cap is 4 bets, I'd probably just go ahead and cap it because you don't have to worry about being 5-bet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heads up--no cap. So there is concern about a 5-bet if I 4-bet.

Garland

[ssmallz]

Q9 doesn't smell right and QT is just so unlikely. AQ woulda put in action before the flop or on the flop and unless he's slowplaying AA the only hand that makes sense for him is QK or QJ. I think you can go for here but in the heat of battle I just call and hate myself for it when he shows me a worse hand.

[Garland]

Results:

I called the 3-bet and was shown KJo. He said he didn't want to "chase me away" on the turn. Tricky devil.

Thoughts:

Probably not terribly interesting. My thoughts were along the lines of if I 4-bet, I'm gonna have to puke and fold to a 5-bet. And yes, it would have been the first time I ever done that. If he puts in a 5th bet, I'm going against a better boat like, always against him.

And in response to one of the comments: He'd never 3-bet with AQ pre-flop. Way too passive for that.

Garland