PLO8 $2: Flopped boat, scary river

[Heron]

Sorry for the low limit but I'm a miser and I'm still learning. The hand is simple and played itself but I'm not sure about what's the right play on the river.

I sit in the BB with K976 rainbow, 5 limpers, SB folds

Flop: KK9 (rainbow, one spade)

I bet the pot and get one caller.

Turn: 5s

I bet the pot and get called again.

River: As

My stack is approximately twice the pot, my opponent's stack is a little bit smaller (1.5 pot).

Knowing that many at this level will find it difficult to fold an underfull, a flush or even trips, initially I wanted to bet the pot again, but then I opted for a check / call instead, for following reasons:

1. I save half of my stack when I'm beat. It's quite possible that the A made him a better full house. To call my flop bet in his shoes I would need a K and at least two bycards bigger than 9, but then I would fold the turn unimproved. The typical player at this level is more optimistic though.

2. I might be bet into by a losing hand.

Well, when my opponent checked behind and mucked his loser I felt like a fool, but this morning while riding to work by train I liked my line. Now, again I'm not so sure. What do you guys think?

[neverforgetlol]

bet, you are being way too scared.

[franknagaijr]

I agree with your play. You could have potted and he would certainly have folded. You could have tried a suck bet, but a suck bet could have three results:

1) He calls with a loser (good)
2) He mucks (same situation)
3) He repots and puts you to a tough decision.

Note that if the suck bet encourages him to bluff you, the suck bet is a losing play if you intend to fold to any repot.

You got about as much money as you could have out of the situation.

[franknagaijr]

[ QUOTE ]
bet, you are being way too scared.

[/ QUOTE ]

What would the caller have called down with that he could have called a river bet with? Would he call with a naked king here? Would he call with an underpair here?

I think you might get a call from K5, but I can't see any other hand calling here, but I could see a repot from any AK. By virtue of voluntarily being in the pot, villain is that much more likely to have the ace. At these stakes, we could even be facing a moran with a pair of aces who just luckboxed the river.

[Omaha8sPoker]

This hand would all depend on how crazy the player is that you are playing against...Would he take a check on the river as a sign of weakness and fire with an inferior K or a flush?? If so I would check to induce a bluff...I wouldn't go crazy and bet pot here because you are only gonna raised by an AK, BUT if you bet like 1/2 the pot you might get a player with a weak K to look you up...

[franknagaijr]

BTW - Nobody had anything to say about this? Seems like the same situation.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...age=1&vc=1

[I dunno]

[ QUOTE ]
bet, you are being way too scared.

[/ QUOTE ]

As always, your input is valued.

Next time, just type the following. It will save you time.

"One liner with no thought process which calls the OP some variant of weak-tight."

[I dunno]

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry for the low limit but I'm a miser and I'm still learning. The hand is simple and played itself but I'm not sure about what's the right play on the river.

I sit in the BB with K976 rainbow, 5 limpers, SB folds

Flop: KK9 (rainbow, one spade)

I bet the pot and get one caller.

Turn: 5s

I bet the pot and get called again.

River: As

My stack is approximately twice the pot, my opponent's stack is a little bit smaller (1.5 pot).

Knowing that many at this level will find it difficult to fold an underfull, a flush or even trips, initially I wanted to bet the pot again, but then I opted for a check / call instead, for following reasons:

1. I save half of my stack when I'm beat. It's quite possible that the A made him a better full house. To call my flop bet in his shoes I would need a K and at least two bycards bigger than 9, but then I would fold the turn unimproved. The typical player at this level is more optimistic though.

2. I might be bet into by a losing hand.

Well, when my opponent checked behind and mucked his loser I felt like a fool, but this morning while riding to work by train I liked my line. Now, again I'm not so sure. What do you guys think?

[/ QUOTE ]

I know this won't be that helpful, but it really depends on the opponent. If he's a calling station then I would bet out about half the pot and fold to a raise. If he's on the weaktight side, like the type that always has a king on the flop and turn but never calls, bets or raises without the nuts on the river then I check fold to a decent sized bet most of the time. You have to pay attention though, because some really tight passive players try steal on the river more than their share of pots.

If my opponent is bluff happy I'll either check call or sometimes make a weak lead to induce a bluff if the flow of the game suggests he will. There aren't many occasions when I do this, and it's usually shorthanded.

If your opponent is pretty solid and makes it past the turn, the ace will fill him up a lot, assuming you have a tight image. If thats the case then I will either bet fold or check fold most of the time.

Edit: If this is a table where the max buyin is two dollars, ignore everything I said and bet, maybe check call.

[neverforgetlol]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
bet, you are being way too scared.

[/ QUOTE ]

As always, your input is valued.

Next time, just type the following. It will save you time.

"One liner with no thought process which calls the OP some variant of weak-tight."

[/ QUOTE ]

this is such a clear bet at this level it's not even funny.

[Kuso]

assuming this is a $2 max buy-in table:

- as a general rule, you want to bet your made hands since villains will call with a WIDE range.

- sometimes you might want to check to induce a bluff if you get some idiot (often a nlhe player) who thinks he can push you off your hand. "always" or "never" is a bit rough... just vary your play a bit. at these stakes, i'd actually consider check-raising since an aggro player with an underfull will pretty much never fold, and they'll have an underfull quite often.

- against the tightest nit on the planet, you may consider check-calling. that being said, the tightest nit on the planet wouldn't be in the hand unless he had something like AAK9, so the mistake would be earlier in the hand if you had this read. fwiw, i've come across maybe 5 players (who play or played regularly) like this over the past few years.

- as a general rule, players at lower levels make their biggest errors by calling too much, so betting is usually your friend here. as you move up, you'll find that there's a transition to the point that many players make their biggest errors by being too aggressive -- you trap these people (it's not necessarily as simple as it sounds).

anyway, my default play is to bet out (reasons stated above).

hope this helps.