Small Pair -

[vhuntd]

Live 3-6 game. I'm in hijack with black 4 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. Friend of my is on my right. He's normally pretty TAG but is a little off of his game as he hasn't played in awhile and is playing a bit too aggressively both pre and post flop due to some tilt as he's down.
Folds to him. He raises. His range at this point, given that's will be something like A9-AK, 88-AA, KT-KQ, QJ. I wouldn't put him on too much looser than that range.
CO is a solid player, Button is very loose preflop but won't be calling very many 3-bet hands cold. Blinds are very tight.
I 3-bet with 44. All fold and we take the flop.
A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] T [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

He checks. I bet. and he calls w/out too much thought.

Turn: 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

He checks.
My action?
Some reads at this point. If he had an ace, I'm pretty certain that he'd craise the flop but not 100%.
If he flopped a draw or two-pair or better, I think that he'd wait till the turn to check raise me. Even if he didn't hit his draw - I think that's he craise me to try and get me to lay down JJ-KK as I've been playing pretty conservatively today.
So if he checkraises the turn, I'd put him on two pair or better, or a big draw.
I also don't think that he's laying down any hand that beats me at this point to a turn bet seeing as he's pretty sure that the river would go check check unless I had a strong hand.
He's probably also willing at this point to lead out the river on a lot of river cards regardless of what he has (think diamond, face card, board pairing).

Given those thoughts. What's the turn line?
Bet - if so fold to raise?
Check - call a river bet? - If so what river cards?
Check - check through on river?

I think I give up money in spots like this even if i don't get myself into them too often.

[BadBigBabar]

easy fold preflop to avoid getting into these spots [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
given your play i'd betfold the turn and if called check behind on the river

[swifttarrow]

Well, given the range you've said for the villain, he's not laying down ace x, he might lay down 88-AA, excluding the 8's, 10's, and aces (but less likely given that he's tilting), he might lay down k 10 (again, less likely since he's tilting), and he more likely would lay down kj and kq (but yet again, tilting; my guess is he'll call). That looks like nearly 100% check the turn to me.


Plus, the fact that he's capable of leading out on the river when unimproved means the biggest mistake you made in this hand is preflop: I think you should fold preflop. 3 betting small pp's works especially well against tight opponents who see the 3 bet as 1010+ and fold JJ on a Axx board, where you can usually bet the flop and turn and win the pot. Given preflop play, you're forced to bet the flop, and now that he's called, the only reason for putting in a bet is fold equity and also for value when your opponent has jq, jk, or qk. We have 0 fold equity given opponent's image, and decreased value since our opponent might bluff us out on the river. I think you'd make more money by checking the turn, and letting your opponent bluff the river. J, Q, or K comes and it's insta fold on the river, diamond or no diamond.

[Hyperrrprank]

Preflop is terrible. Just fold here. There isn't enough money in the pot to want to isolate a good, tricky player like the one you describe with a marginal hand like 44. There is no good decision on the turn or river, you've set yourself up to lose a lot when behind, win very little when you come out ahead, and ocassionally get bluffed off the best hand by a draw.

[Luhroy]

IMHO: I would've folded pre-flop. I don't like cold calling here, or even just calling because you don't have the odds to justify it. 3-betting seems overaggressive and reckless. If you miss your set, you've wasted those bets.

[vhuntd]

Yeah. Preflop is v. bad. This is normally an auto fold for me, but I was tilting myself, and I got wrapped up in the idea that I should three bet because I was ahead of most of his preflop range. Didn't stop to think that about the possibility of getting myself into this mess.