2 5/10 hands: A river bluff shove and a 2nd pair oop against a TAG

[Soul Rebel]

I haven't been at 5/10 NL for a few months (variety of reasons), but I'm back now and want to stay there. Anyway, here are two hands that I'm conflicted about. I have opinions on each, but I'll share them later.

Hand 1:
I have $1100 to start with on the button, I cover villain, but not by much. I have been here about 45 minutes, but was tight and quiet for the first 30 minutes due to loose players and bad cards. Lately I have been opening up a lot a more and taking down some pots uncontested.

2 limpers to me on the button, I raise to $50 with
4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. The sb reraises to $140, and the BB calls, all others fold, I call. The sb is a solid 15/11/4 guy who has not fought back at me yet. The bb sucks and is something like 50/10/1.5. I dont have enough hands on the BB for the WTSD to be meaningful.

3 to the flop: K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

SB insta checks, BB insta checks, I think for a 5 count and check.

Turn ($440): 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
sb insta checks, bb insta checks, I think for a couple seconds and bet $280. SB folds, BB calls.

River ($1000): 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
BB checks quickly, I push for about $800, the BB has about $650 left.


Hand 2: Same table, but 15 minutes later. SB from previous hand is still on my left this hand, and is the villain. I have started lagging it up, and I have mostly been getting some respect, but my guess is that this guy is starting to notice and get irritated. Preflop, he is still tight and mostly just folding to my raises, but its definitely possible that he is starting to adjust, although I haven't caught him making a move yet. When he's in a hand postflop, he is aggressive and plays position well. We have not gone to showdown in a hand between us yet. I start with $1500, he has $1000.

I raise AQo (no [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]) utg to $40. Only villain calls.

Flop: Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

I lead for $80 into the $95 pot, he calls.

Turn: K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

I check and call for $120.

River ($495), 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

I check, he bets $380, I....??


Thanks for the help guys.

[luckychewy]

hand 1 i guess is ok, if i bet turn im pushing riv, but i prefer to just check it down, bad spot to bluff imo.

hand 2 fold, u dont make money by making hero calls vs 15/11's w/o history.

[younghov17]

i dont like the bluff in hand 1 since presumable that guy only calls a reraise with big cards. and hes unlikely to fold if hes as bad as u say

hand 2 id have folded turn. since that king puts u behind a lot of his likely calling hands and hes almost never checking behind on river.

[aceswild83]

hand 1: not sure i like it. you're commited to betting twice since the board is so drawy. that flop probably hit one of them even though they showed weakness. and what are you repping that checks behind flop and then bets turn and river? i guess the tight guy could have JJ, AQ or something that he will fold though and the other guy could have a pp but i don't think you will show a profit bluffing in this spot.

hand 2 just c/f turn , the K hit alot of his possible hands and he's probably checking behind some of the stuff you beat.

[Soul Rebel]

Thanks for the input all, I agree that hand 2 is pretty horrible, at the time I was thinking that since I had stepped up the lagginess, that this guy was looking to mess with me. The problem obv. is that there is virtually no way to show this down cheaply, and its a terrible spot. Folding the turn clearly seems to be the best option.

Hand 1 is a play I make very rarely, but it felt right here for a couple reasons. Before going I on I definitely think that it is close, but +EV. So here's why I moved at it: The flop texture is horrible for almost any holding that I can put these guys on. Even KK can not be too excited about it. AJ for the flopped straight seems remote both for the SB reraise and the BB's coldcall, though it is not impossible for the BB.

My point is that aside from the flopped royal, every possible hand in these guys' range has to be concerned with A) being outflopped, B) protecting it against every draw, and C)hopefully getting to showdown relatively cheaply. Basically, every possible preflop holding creates a somewhat marginal, and very vulnerable hand with this board. The best of these holdings (being KK, QQ, and AJ with the A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]), could possibly check the flop, but they are definitely not going to check a blank turn card. They should want action at this point and they can't count on me to bet, cause I haven't done much so far.

So after he checks the turn, the tight SB reraiser seems to have given up on the hand, and it looks possible that the BB has too. So I fired, and the SB folds and the BB thinks and calls. His turn call and quick river check make him seem weak enough that he can't handle much more pressure. I think he had something like AQ or JJ, or the A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], but more importantly, any hand that is not good enough to bet the turn (and from I had seen, BB bets a set and 2 pair on the turn), I don't think can call it all off when the river blanks.

Anyway this was my thought process, comments?