Top pair and all that it blooooooooooooooooooooows in this game.......

[Cell40k]

Because I hear this comes up alot... it boils down to really knowing your player, and in the internet world you can never know anyone good enough to decide this. You raise preflop, get one caller, and flop top pair top kicker. You are first to act, you bet 2/3 the pot and are called. The turn brings a blank, and you suspect your opponent either has a draw or has a lock on the hand. Some people advocate checking the turn here with just a one pair hand for pot control. let's assume you do this. The river brings a blank (after he checks behind), and you fire another 2/3 pot bet, only to be raised.

WHOOPS....you don't know whether he had that lock from the flop, or if he's just assuming you're weak since you checked the turn and is making a big bluff....either way your chances of making a mistake are pretty high.

And you could also give him the free card that beats you by checking the turn.....so what else can you do, other than just fire incrementally larger bets the whole way?

I hate this game b/c of this situation alone -_-

[Pussy Galore]

in the internet world u can surly know your player.get pahud

[Vkk]

Depends...

The situation you described looks for ex. like a beginning player slowplaying a set or something. You should check the board aswell, if he called you with a draw than you have to consider if that turn/river card could've made his draw. If that's so, fold for sure. If that's not... Well, tptk has always been, and will always be, a problematic situation. You should fold here. Remember that, let's say you hold AK and an A on flop, other beginning players might aswell played Arag and hit two pair or something... Offcourse this is prety hypothetical, just some random thoughts that say: fold!

[RyverRat]

This would be player dependant. As mentioned above PAHud alongside Pokertracker would give you an instant picture of tight/loose/passive/aggressive / aggression by streets + notes on the player i.e. do they fire when missed draws, do they never bluff etc..

This is also the power of playing in position...

To me without history this is a fold.

[Papi Shasho]

LOL, show me a clip anywhere of someone folding TPTK (high pair of course, not like top pair being 6 or something) on a non-dangerous board.

EDIT: and being RIGHT.

[Rek]

Who said this game was easy? You have an incomplete set of information and the art is to try and determine what your opponent has and bet appropriately. You can't be correct all the time and TPTK is still only a pair not the nuts.

Pot control is an art but there are no magic tricks to ensure you will always be right. I can't really say from your example what is correct. You really need to post hands where you have been caught out so we can see all information necessary to give a proper response to a particular set of circumstances.

[ATM]

I came up on this situation the other day with ace queen in a 6 max $0.05/$0.10 game. I raised on the button with
A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
SB flat called and BB flat called Both had around $10 I had $15.50. Flop comes
A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
SB checks, BB checks, I bet $0.80, SB flat calls, BB folds
Turn comes 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
SB checks I bet $1.50, SB re raises to $3
I didnt know what to do here so I just flat called and then he bet $2 on a blank river and I called again. SB shows a set of jacks. I figured the guy for a pretty big hand because he hadnt played in the last 30-40 mins. I seem to overplay TPTK as well which is a pretty big leak. Anyone got any thoughts on how to stop overplaying this kind of hand?

[Rek]

[ QUOTE ]
I came up on this situation the other day with ace queen in a 6 max $0.05/$0.10 game. I raised on the button with
A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
SB flat called and BB flat called Both had around $10 I had $15.50. Flop comes
A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
SB checks, BB checks, I bet $0.80, SB flat calls, BB folds
Turn comes 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
SB checks I bet $1.50, SB re raises to $3
I didnt know what to do here so I just flat called and then he bet $2 on a blank river and I called again. SB shows a set of jacks. I figured the guy for a pretty big hand because he hadnt played in the last 30-40 mins. I seem to overplay TPTK as well which is a pretty big leak. Anyone got any thoughts on how to stop overplaying this kind of hand?

[/ QUOTE ]
You don’t say what your initial raise on the button was but I assume 3 or 4 times BB. Assuming 4xBB then your continuation bet was fine and I think your turn bet was ok. However, once you had been check raised alarm bells should ring. I am thinking 2 pair or trips. At this stage I am going on reads now and may lay down the aces but it is not clear cut and your play is not bad here.

Sometimes you are just going to lose a stack of chips and there is not a great deal you can do about it. IMHO you played ok but the C/R was the telling moment and the time to lay down if you were going to.

[hihimichelle]

Its interesting, through PT, people always talk about aggression being a winning strategy and you should fire on most streets. This hand is the prime example and perhaps calling and checking is a better option to control the pot size. AQ though you'd expect to be good and your having to bet to defend against the flush draw.

See, going by the aggression factor you've played this hand fine. Up until the turn. Usually, if i'm raised and they are a regular player, i put them on a monster like a set and fold. A check/raise is time to get out of this hand. I remember devilfish saying "never overplay AQ" AK on this board and u've been cold decked. Also AJ is a possibility.

Because my PT aggression rating is passive and i get low scores on turn, river of around 1.00. I've been increasing my aggression and my BB/100 has been going downhill. I might continue to play high pair with check/call tactic on turn/river.

Like urself, i played a pot before with AJ on the button and i got one caller. The flop was AJ9 so i obviously think i've got the best hand. I bet at the pot, he calls, then i fire again and he calls. Then on the river i would usually check with AJ two pair after two big bets. But i fired again and he turns over a set of 99s.

Its just people have said to me, my aggression on the river is too weak and i need to bet for value. Well, its dubious unless you've hit a monster. Most of the time HU you have top pair and kicker at the SD.

[2hi4me2cu]

Aggression is more valuable at higher stakes, playing against people who actually understand poker fundementals.

Aggression is overrated at lower stakes where the donks will call you with any 2 cards, any sniff of a flush draw.

I actually went all in on a bluff last night with ace high, my opponent called me with J high and lost.

This is what we're up against at low stakes poker, this is why im finding it a bit of a grind, fine when im hitting hands im cleaning up but when your card dead low stakes poker can be so fustrating.