Comm 40: Straight draw vs Roy Cooke

[ShawnHoo]

Good 40 game at Commerce. Roy is directly to my left. He seems solid but not exceptionally nitty for a Vegas guy. Very pleasant to the fish at the table, including me. He's probably the best player in our game right this minute.

6 handed, folded to me in the CO with QcJs, I open, Roy 3-bets right behind me, blinds fold, I call.

Flop: KsTc6s

Check, bet, call.

Turn: 8h

I check, he bets, I call. As I called, I paused as I was cutting out the second stack of 4 chips, so it may have looked to him like I was considering raising.

River: Ac

I bet.

Interested in hearing about my passive line and the river donk.

[ProfessorBen]

Tell me more about Roy.

Depending on his opinion of you and whether or not he's a showdown monkey, I don't mind a turn C/R semi-bluff if you think he's willing to fold a T or JJ/99/77 here. If he is committed to showdown with the top of those hands, I like the passive line.

I love the river donk because it looks like a bare ace or a hand that's WA/WB, like AJ/AQ or Kxs. Your line looks susipcious enough that he will call many hands that he might check behind or b/f with(JJ/Kx/Tx/99/77) and that he will raise with AA/KK/TT/88/66 or AK/AT/A8s, allowing us to take him to the third floor of ValueCorp.

nh sir.

[jkamowitz]

Note: I have only read his book and never played with him.

Regardless, I don't think you'll be able to bet-3-bet this river. However, Roy is clearly not an idiot and I don't think you'll get him to bet JJ/QQ/99 here. Still, I check -raise this river all day.

[andyfox]

"Good 40 game at Commerce. Roy is directly to my left."

Perfect so far. And nothing wrong with how you played the hand. You're out of position against a tough, thinking player, I prefer playing it A-B-C. I'd have bet the river too, hopefully he made aces up or has a set.

[ShawnHoo]

Ben,

"Tell me more about Roy."

Seems to only play good starting hands and play them well. Doesn't tilt. Not as laggy as some of the better players here seem to be. I'd expect him to have better than a medium pair here, despite the fact that he was on the button.

I had played with him a couple of days ago for 3-4 hours and I hadn't really gotten out of line.

[The DaveR]

Fine. I think there are times where you can try to move him off a hand on that flop but you didn't give any info to make me think now is the time.

EDIT: Oops, didn't see the spade draw. Def not the time.

[Vehn]

wow there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I would expect him to have a made hand on the turn and the ace doesn't hit most of his made hands. def not a spot to go for a river checkraise.

[Befolder]

If Roy knows you might be stealing w/ a wide range from the CO, his 3 betting range would also be lower than a standard 3 bet.

This being said, I think a river lead bet is correct because he could very well have far less than a premium hand and will certainly check behind w/ less than some Kx hand if he doesn't think you're a call monkey.

[ProfessorBen]

[ QUOTE ]
Ben,

"Tell me more about Roy."

Seems to only play good starting hands and play them well. Doesn't tilt. Not as laggy as some of the better players here seem to be. I'd expect him to have better than a medium pair here, despite the fact that he was on the button.

I had played with him a couple of days ago for 3-4 hours and I hadn't really gotten out of line.

[/ QUOTE ]

This strengthens your river play. Another way to look at this hand is that you only lose value against hands that he will b/c but not raise, or 3-b/c but not 4bet himself. The latter group includes 88 and maybe TT or AK but this is really difficult to tell.

The former group includes his weaker 2pairs such as KT/A6/A8(all of which should be discounted given your read) which may b/c but not raise, because he thinks you may fold weaker holdings(AQ?/AJ/A9-). Against all other hands you get max value by taking this line.

[bdaddy]

perfect...sometimes the simplest answer is the right answer. Like Andy said, I think ABC is the best way to play this hand vs his range on this board.