call a large bet and play the board?

[Temp Hutter]

Early in the WSOP ME I was faced with a decision to call a large bet to potentially split the pot since I am playing the board. Would you call this bet or let it go?

I have KK and raise a standard amount and get reraised by the button. I call. Heads up we see a 865 rainbow flop. I check raise after a pot sized bet by the button. Button calls. Turn comes 7 and we both check. River comes 4 and now the board has a straight. I check and the button bets about half the pot which is now a large pot with half of my chips in it. The only thing I can hope for is a split. The only hand the button can have that worries me is 99 and that seems unlikely after I raised so much on the flop. Do you call 13K to try and win back the 15K you have invested in the pot? Losing will sink me back below average, but not cripple me.

[uclabruinz]

Yes, I call.

[Todd Terry]

In what position were you when you made your preflop raise? If early, I think 99 is unlikely due to the preflop button reraise. If you were prepared to call this bet, which I think you probably should (a bigger bet would be a much tougher decision), you probably should have bet the river to put this difficult decision on him. If I'm Villian and someone checks the river to me, I bet every time.

[Temp Hutter]

[ QUOTE ]
In what position were you when you made your preflop raise?

[/ QUOTE ]
The button was three to my left.

[ QUOTE ]
If I'm Villian and someone checks the river to me, I bet every time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought we were probably chopping the pot, but I wanted to get to showdown as cheaply as possible so I checked. If I lead on the river and get raised I am hating life.

[Todd Terry]

[ QUOTE ]
If I'm Villian and someone checks the river to me, I bet every time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought we were probably chopping the pot, but I wanted to get to showdown as cheaply as possible so I checked. If I lead on the river and get raised I am hating life.

[/ QUOTE ]

If we assume that if you bet out Villian will not raise on a bluff (which I think is an extremely safe assumption -- you're hating life but you know you're beat) and will bet if checked to (also a safe assumption, but less certain), then betting out dominates checking because you will lose the same amount (or less, since you control the bet size) if you're beat, while you give yourself a chance to win the whole pot. I also think the preflop, flop and turn action are perfectly consistent with you having 99 from Villian's perspective, making a river bet less likely to be called for a chop, and much less likely to be raised by a bluff.

[Todd Terry]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
In what position were you when you made your preflop raise?

[/ QUOTE ]
The button was three to my left.


[/ QUOTE ]

Given all the previous action, I think his range is any overpair, I don't think he would have folded 99 to your flop raise, but I don't think we can distinguish between 99, TT, JJ, QQ or AA here. 99 is 20% of his range, your pot odds for a split are much better than that, call.