400: What a Sweet Ending

[CalledDownLight]

Was this river always an A? If it was then the river is fine, but for some reason I thought it was a blank when it was originally posted.

[soah]

the river hasn't changed since it was first posted...

[VegasRunner]

[ QUOTE ]
I wouldn't check behind here because IMHO the value of betting the flop is greater than the deception it adds for later streets and to camouflage the fact that you sometimes check behind with AK. This flop is just to good for you, he could raise you here with a lot of pocket pairs or even air (you could also say I would bet here because of the fact I will C-bet a lot of hands here which would be air which villain knows of course). Besides any ace will slow down the action and villain is unlikely to give you a raise on the turn if you bet there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.

I think the reason we favor the bet on the flop here is because we are strong believers in the c-bet.

If I put in the last raise preflop and I only get one caller in a full ring game, I'm putting in a c-bet 90% of the time if I have position. My opponents are aware of this, but most of time, they fold anyway if they miss the flop because they have no reason to believe that their crappy hand is any better than my crappy hand.

I have to bet here to 1) keep up my aggressive image and 2) get value on the flop when I ACTUALLY do have cards for a change.

Here's my ideal line:

I would bet the flop and then check the turn to disguise the strength of my hand and to control the size of the pot. My check on the turn would hopefully induce any pocket pair (and possibly worse holdings) to fire out on the river when a blank falls.

This is purely speculation, but based on the speed with which the villian played this hand (cold call preflop, checks the flop, AND checks his boat on the river) I don't think he would have check-raised the flop. I think he enjoys slowplaying a little too much and I think he's waiting for the turn to fire, so even if I end up making a crying calling on the river (unlikely), my line would only cost the hero one more bet againist the villian's (highly unlikely) AA.