2/4 Am I just walking into these check-raises?

[BenA]

Having trouble with PT hand histories, so had to input these manually, but I was still able to look up their stats (which I had at the table in Poker Ace). Go figure.

I find myself in this situation constantly, having a decent hand HU with position in a small pot and getting c/r on turn. Its a super standard line at my tables, and I just want some opinions and thoughts about how to proceed against people you have few reads on.

Hand 1: Villain is 13/4/4.6 over 68 hands, so that doesn't help much. But I have seen him a couple of times get really agressive on the bigger streets. Unfortunately those hands didn't get to showdown. I have seen a couple of hands he turned over when calling down, and they were stupid, J7o and K4s against a raise.

Hero is dealt K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] UTG+1

1 fold, Villain calls, Hero raises, all fold to Villain who calls.

To to flop (5 SB)

Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]3 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Villain checks, Hero bets, Villain calls.

Turn (3.5 BB) J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

Villain checks, Hero bets, Villain Raises, hero...

In this hand I'm perceiving that there is very little I could be ahead of. He might be putting a play on me with a FD or OESD, but I'm chopping with KQ, losing to AQ, QJ, and any sets. I would have expected him to raise PF with many things that beat me, but still, can I call down? And the turn bet was correct, right?

Hand 2. Villain is 33/14/.74 over 50, so again not totally useful except maybe he's loose. I've seen him cap a river with bottom 2 pair on a 4 flush board (and win...), but otherwise, not a whole lot else.

Hero is dealt A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] in MP3.

4 folds. Villain raises, Hero 3-bets, all fold to Villain who calls.

Flop (7 SB) 8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]5 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

Villain checks, Hero bets, Villain calls.

Turn (4.5 BB) J [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Villain checks, Hero bets, Villain raises, Hero...

In this hand, I feel its correct to call down since there is a better chance I am ahead.

I would appreciate thoughts on these hands, as well as this general situation. They are usually representing 2 pair or a set when they do this, so how often do we give them credit?

[JJH3984]

[ QUOTE ]


But I have seen him a couple of times get really agressive on the bigger streets. Unfortunately those hands didn't get to showdown. I have seen a couple of hands he turned over when calling down, and they were stupid, J7o and K4s against a raise.

He might be putting a play on me with a FD or OESD, I would have expected him to raise PF with many things that beat me. Ect

[/ QUOTE ]

This all argues for a calldown. He plays dominated hands, and he has shown a lot of aggression on big streets. I'd call down. The turn bet is correct.
[ QUOTE ]

Hand 2. I've seen him cap a river with bottom 2 pair on a 4 flush board.


[/ QUOTE ]

Call down.

[BenA]

[ QUOTE ]
Call down.

[/ QUOTE ]

Would this be the same line against an unknown? Since a turn c/r is a pretty strong move, is it pretty standard to call down with TPGK (or TK) in small pots HU if the board isn't too ridiculous? Its amazing how long I've played poker, and I still am no closer to answering this question for myself.

[GMan42]

I think the calldown is standard for both hands; you'd need to see an AF of like .25 over a big sample before you can assume you're toast, and not just running into some FPS from turned flush draws, weaker top pair that thinks you're full of crap, etc. And as you know, you frequently have a lot of outs against some of the raggier 2-pair hands.

[BenA]

You have no idea how much better I feel after you guys say this. I called down both hands, and won one of them (won't say which). It wasn't the results, just that this happens on a daily basis, and I often feel like an idiot calling down. Thanks for the responses.

[bernie]

If you're really not sure, call it down. Obviously you don't think you have enough info, which makes it more of a call. Especially HU. See what they're doing it with so you can better assess it next time they try it. It's not a huge leak to do this once in awhile and look someone up. Sometimes you have to spend some chips to learn a bit about your opponents. Remember to make a note of those that will try and be tricky on the turn.(note that that likely won't show up on any stats)

One by-product of calling is that they can then think you're harder to bluff. Especially if they lose a couple hands trying this. If they win, they may keep doing it as winning tends to reinforce their play to them. Even if they were behind and caught the river to beat you.

b

[SeaEagle]

Both of these hands are easy call downs. You have an excellent heads up hand. You only need to win about 1/4 of the time to break even. Both turns bring a bunch of draws for people to get fancy with.

I don't think you have enough hands for your stats to mean anything (9 and 17 VPIP hands, respectively) and you basically have unknowns. Folding TPGK on a draw-heavy board against unknowns is a -EV play.

[invictus33]

What are the feelings on a turn 3-bet in the first hand? When I'm against someone that I know is overly agressive and shows down with crap at least some of the time then I'm more inclided to pop these guys with another raise, especially when you're in that good of shape and HU. I started making that type of play more often recently and I'm getting more of these guys to drop their hands there or they end up calling me down and showing me top pair w/ weak kicker or second pair. In this spot (against a stupid LAG) I find that I'm winning much more money with this play. +EV!

[SeaEagle]

Both of these hands are 3-bettable in the right circumstances. But I don't think you can peg either of these players as someone who's likely to be betting with a weak hand (I'd need a lot better read than is given here).

On both of these hands, I expect hero to be winning less than the 60% he needs to 3-bet, but more than the 25-28% needed to call down.