Pocket J's on AA board

[gman339]

What should my line be here? I thought the initial c/r was just a bluff. I intentionally min raised to attempt to make it look like I was trying to build the pot. Obviously, it didn't scare him. After that though....and with the spade hitting....I have to get away obviously. I can't fold to the initial reraise right? Should I just smooth call there?

Full Tilt Poker, $0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
http://www.legopoker.com/hh

BB: $7.90
UTG: $53
UTG+1: $10.75
UTG+2: $46.30
Hero (MP1): $55.40
MP2: $66
CO: $30.35
BTN: $52.90
SB: $100.30

Pre-Flop: Jd Jh dealt to Hero (MP1)
3 folds, Hero raises to $2, 3 folds, SB calls $1.75, BB folds

Flop: ($4.50) 7s Ac As (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3, SB raises to $6, Hero raises to $9, SB raises to $12, Hero calls $3

Turn: ($28.50) Ks (2 Players)
SB bets $12, Hero folds

Results: $28.50 Pot ($1.40 Rake)
SB mucked and WON $27.10 (+$13.10 NET)

[TheMayor]

Check/minraise is so hard to read for me. Some people do it with the nuts, many people do it just because they don't believe your c-bet. Against high AF players i will sometimes 3bet this flop with JJ, but i think you should make it at least $14. If he doesn't give up then you know he has Ax or 77. Just folding here is fine too depending on his stats or how you've seen him play before, calling 3$ to win 12$ is not a good price to chase your 2 outter and you probably aren't going to get to a cheap showdown.

When he 4bet minraises i think you can be pretty sure he's got you beat. But at this point the pot has 25 and you only have to call 3 more...not a good price to draw to a boat, but with implied odds if you can take another 10$ bet off him on the turn/river it's ok to call this 3$.

[rachkane]

Ugh, this line is horrible. It looks like NL10.

Flop: Either call or raise to ~20. Min-betting here is too transparent.

Note: You don't want to build a pot here. SB indicates some strength, so opt for keeping the pot on the smaller side. Your hand isn't a monster anymore.

[ElectricWaffles]

I think i'd prefer to raise the flop, a decent amount though, not a min raise as all that does is inflate that pot and gives him odds to draw (if that's what he's doing).

The purpose of my raise would be to prevent myself being bluffed and losing the pot, also if he raises I'll be willing to lay my hand down, because he'd have shown a lot of strength.

Only my opinion (corrections welcome!)

Edit: What I should say, is I'd like to raise the flop enough to stop him bluffing, but not so much that he'll auto fold a worse hand or a draw. Though on this sort of board i'm not sure how much that would be... Maybe raise it to $15?

[gman339]

Yeah, as soon as I did the min raise I thought "how stupid". I figured he was just bluffing and 3betting (even the min) would end the hand. When it didn't I got myself in a bad situation and probably should have folded to his 4bet because at that point I have to believe he has the A.

[ranka]

Calling is worsest option because after calling you still don't know where you are. Villain minraise mean real hand (building pot) or he don't believe your CBET and testing your hand. After calling villain may shoot second barrel/check-raise in both cases (bluff/nuts). So if you call, villain bets, what you are doing now? If villain checks, what you are doing now? You hand is good? I don't know. Turn decision is much more harder after calling and now pot is much more larger.

Just raise it up to avoid these harder decisions on later streets. I would make 15$, fold to raise.

[mce86]

It makes no sense raising it three more bucks...why would this scare him. He raised preflop, then check raises you after the flop. Then makes a small bet on the turn when a terrible card falls. Maybe he is hoping you raise it again. Id call the original cr for 3 more bucks, but then I have to drop the hand on the turn.

[Effen]

3-bet flop to $12 (same price you paid but infinitely scarier to a guy without an Ace) and shut down.

[gman339]

[ QUOTE ]
It makes no sense raising it three more bucks...why would this scare him. He raised preflop, then check raises you after the flop. Then makes a small bet on the turn when a terrible card falls. Maybe he is hoping you raise it again. Id call the original cr for 3 more bucks, but then I have to drop the hand on the turn.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed...this is how I should have played it.

[AceHigh]

My experience with min. c/r are that they are the real deal. They aren't trying to scare you out they are trying to build a big pot. So I would fold on the flop.