Live 5/10 hand vs good player

[sweetjazz]

(This is crossposted from small stakes forum, as I am told it belongs here.) Blinds are 5/10. I have about $750 at this time I think, and villain has me covered.

I am new to NL and trying to learn how to play well. A player who seems good so far is 3 off the button and raises to 30. (I later found out he was a 2+2er.) I call in the SB with 7 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].

Flop is 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. I check, he bets 50 and I call. (My thinking: I am hoping to stack him if he has an overpair, and I'd like to give him a chance to make a pair if he has overcards. I don't think my call is very scary here, since I could easily be calling with a single pair or a straight draw.)

Turn is the 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. I bet 100 and he calls. (My thinking: This is a bad card for me, because he will now check behind any hand without a 9 for fear of facing a check raise. So now I have to lead out and expect him to call with his pocket pairs. I may even get a call from AK/AQ to try to look me up if I am making a move at the pot and see if I am willing to fire another barrel, though I didn't think this was particularly likely.)

River is the 6 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. I bet 250, obviously intending to call if he puts me all-in. (My thinking: I don't think an overpair can fold here, and this is the hand I expect him to have based on the action so far. If he happens to have A9 or T8 or 66 or 33, hopefully he pushes. If he happens to have 99 or 97 or 96, it just wasn't my day.)

[ArturiusX]

The problem with waiting for the turn is that cards can come that will scare him off hands that he's willing to felt. Its also very transperant what you're doing, so unless you're up against someone stupid, probably not the best line.

I'd call.

[Kirkrrr]

Looks good, and I think your analysis through the whole hand is right on.

Kirk

[SA125]

The thing about NL is that image and reads play way more of a role than in limit because of the bet sizes. In limit, no matter the reads, meta game, etc, it's never more than 1 bet h/u.

So your lines of thinking in this hand go along with how your opponent thinks you'd play a draw, if you thought he missed with AK and were making a move on him and, of course, how you'd play a set or PP.

You should mix checking, betting 1/2-3/4 of the pot and firing out a pot sized bet with a draw, 2P, set or air, just to define the randomness of your action. Then fast playing is more likely to be paid off because of your unpredictablility.

That's a big difference than from just being a wild lag to get action when you have a hand.

[amoeba]

I think you played this hand very well.

[sweetjazz]

A couple of questions:

Is my flop bet too small? In hindsight, betting $150 is probably better. That will make it possible for me to bet a much larger chunk of my stack on the river. The hands that will call $100 (which would be a 9 or an overpair) will probably call $150, no?

Given that I did not yet have an aggressive image, is check/raising too strong? I think I understand the general principle that there is a lot of value to check/raising both strong hands and strong draws. However, I didn't have a very aggressive image and this board is not very draw heavy. My intention was for my check/call flop line was to reassess the turn and very possibly bet out as if I was trying to see if my one pair hand was any good; hopefully, that is seen as weak and gets raised. The 9 on the turn changed things in that I was no longer representing weakness on the turn but rather strength, so I didn't want to scare away overpairs. However, $100 still might be too small of a bet.

The one strong hand I had before was 7c 4c on a flop of 6c 5c 3s. In that hand I led out into a preflop raiser and eventually showed the hand down. I had not yet had a chance to lead out on the flop in a pot that had been raised preflop. For this reason, leading out felt bad to me. In general, do you think given this (brief!) history that another player is likely to assume that my flop bets all tend to mean the same thing (in this case, a strong hand)?

Also, is check/raising the river a viable option? Is it likely someone won't be able to resist trying to make a small 1/2 pot size value bet with a big pair and then feel the need to call the all-in given the pretty good pot odds they will be getting?

[The Big Easy]

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I think you played this hand very well.

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