99 w/ Ace on flop

[Lethe]

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This kind of a toughie, Lethe, but I think if I were in your situation, I would be suspicious.

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I definitely was suspicious. If there was one player at the table I felt might try and take a shot at me it was him. When he c/r'd me, my gut was screaming at me to either 3bet him or call down. I've been running kind of bad lately though so my head convinced me that the better play was to just call and fold the turn UI.

So that's what I did. As he is stacking his chips, I say "nice hand" to which he doesn't really respond or look at me. I then say "I mean, nice bluff." He smiles, and then flips over his cards which were still kind of sitting in front of him to show me 33.

Looking back on it, I'm pretty sure he just would have bet into me if he had an ace. I really need to learn to listen to my gut sometimes. I'm probably just being results oriented though.

[mikeca]

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As he is stacking his chips, I say "nice hand" to which he doesn't really respond or look at me. I then say "I mean, nice bluff." He smiles, and then flips over his cards which were still kind of sitting in front of him to show me 33.

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If you had AK to AT in this spot, would you have folded the turn? Would you have folded the river if he bet into you with those hands after he check raised the flop?

It would seem to me that this would be an elaborate and expensive bluff requiring 2.5 BB, if you just called him down.

Was there something about the way you bet the flop that he may have picked up on that tipped him off you didn’t have an A?

I have seen very aggressive young players who were running over the table because of a few good hands in a row try this sort of thing, and instamuck when called on the river. Last week or the week before a 30ish Asian player tried a river check raise bluff on me. There I had TPTK and figured he had probably made 2 pair or something on the river, but called anyway because I hadn’t been at the table long and I wanted to see what he had played. He instamucked as soon as I called his raise.

[Lethe]

I was seated in seat 10 right next to the dealer, and the other 2 players involved in the hand were on the other end of the table. I was leaning forward watching each of them intently when the action was on them. This is something I always do regardless of whether I have AA, 99, or 72o, as I'm trying to get some kind of visual cue as to how they feel about their holding and what they may have.

After the hand, he told me that he had noticed me watching them intently and paying no attention to him (he was seated two to my right) which made him believe that I was worried about the ace. He figured that I would fold if he raised - apparently he was right.

This may be a physical tell I have, but as I said I do this regardless of my holding. Perhaps I should start just staring at the board or something, I don't know. I got pwned anyways :P

[chesspain]

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Anyways call the flop CR and fold turn UI.

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Since OP has a hand that is drawing to two outs if he is behind, the only reason I could see for calling the flop and then folding the turn UI is to keep others from bluff checkraising me. However, this assumes that the villain won't yet bet again on the turn without at least TP, which I think is a dangerous assumption, especially if he thinks I am waiting for a turn bet to see if he is serious.

FWIW, in this situation, against a rather loose and aggressive thinking player who has taken to calling me a rock, I would likely call the flop checkraise and then raise the turn (for a free showdown), which I might similarly do here HU with a big ace. Doing this w/99:

1) Puts significant pressure on him to fold when he has six or more outs against me (e.g. KTs, QJs, etc.), and charges him double if he is on a draw (76).

2) Could get him to fold a hand like TT/JJ.

3) Allows me to get away from my hand if I am reraised on the turn or he calls the turn c/r and then donks the river, since it would take huge balls for him to show this much strength on this board, given his perception of me.

4) Will give him pause before trying this flop checkraise again in the future against me.

[Lanzalot]

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Looking back on it, I'm pretty sure he just would have bet into me if he had an ace. I really need to learn to listen to my gut sometimes. I'm probably just being results oriented though.

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This was sort of what I was thinking in my first reply, even if I may have not expressed it very clearly. The play I make with an ace in the Villain's shoes (like if I called pre-flop with a small suited ace)is to bet and test you for a bigger one like AK or AQ. That way I know if I'm playing three outs and can safely fold if you raise. You might slowplay one pair when it's heads-up before the flop, but probably not when your raise has a chance to shut out the other players and create some dead money. Even if he doesn't utilize this play, if he has an ace in his hand he has to know there are only two left in the deck and surmise that it's at least somewhat more likely that you have KK or QQ. If he's only seen you show down KK, he may not think you would even raise with AK or AQ, making it more likely that he thinks you don't have him beat. If he has an ace here he doesn't have to worry about an overcard beating him, yeah, but he has to be concerned a little bit that the other three are going to get free cards if you check it through.

[Aces McGee]

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The play I make with an ace in the Villain's shoes (like if I called pre-flop with a small suited ace)is to bet and test you for a bigger one like AK or AQ. That way I know if I'm playing three outs and can safely fold if you raise.

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You've got to be very, very careful doing this.

-McGee