Middling pairs versus aggressive opponents

[Guy McSucker]

Howdy,

The following situation gives me the heebie jeebies.

An aggressive player opens. I defend the BB. I flop a pair, either because I have one in my hand or because I hit the flop.

Let's say the flop is something like Q74 with two hearts, and maybe I have 66 or 78 or something.

I check-raise and he threebets. I know from experience that he'll do that with unpaired hands: AK especially, but other big-card hands too. He'll also do it with hands that have me crushed.

What's a good line from here on?

Guy.

[skilled]

i hate this spot too. i think my standard way of playing it would be to call the three bet. from there:

If the turn is safe aka no a k, no heart, sometimes I'll check call turn, check call the river if its also safe. if the river brings a low heart, i'd probably call as well.

If the turn brings a heart, i'd fold.

any improvement in terms of hitting trips or two pair and i'm check raising the turn, regardless of whether there is a heart involved or not.

I am guessing that what i just wrote is horrible play because I feel really uncomfortable in that situation as well. I'd be interested to see what other people do.

[wackjob]

I mix it up a lot, especially since I play the same group of LAG's a lot. Sometimes I will c/r the flop, sometimes, c/r the turn, and sometimes just call down and let them keeping firing with a worse hand.

I also ALWAYS 3bet PP's in a blind war preflop against these guys because my hand is plenty well disguised due to the fact I'm 3betting most decent A's & broadway hands. There is no magical way to play an average hand OOP against an aggro player. Worst case, you c/r the flop usually & call down to a 3-bet, and if the turn & river both come scary scary, then you fold, other wise call. If you are playing the same LAG's time and again, start mixing it up alot, raising different places with different hands and making strange donks.