TPTK v. TAG

[Stonewalled]

Villain and I know each other very well (we're friends and play in a home game together, but this is the first time we've played online hands against each other), and respect each other. He's a 2+2 TAG (probably 19/16/3). He does not bluff very often, but is capable of doing so.

His image of me is probably as a slightly loose, and pretty aggressive player. I'm generally 25/18/3, and that probably about fits my image in Villain's mind.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

SB ($29.65)
BB ($28.95)
UTG ($23.65)
MP ($15.55)
CO ($9.50)
Hero ($27.95)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $1</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises to $2</font>, Hero calls $1.

Flop: ($4.10) Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">BB bets $2.5</font>, Hero calls $2.50.

Turn: ($9.10) T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">BB bets $7</font>, Hero ???

What's the plan for the rest of the hand if you continue?

[traz]

Any idea what his pf minraise means?

I probably just call down

[John Bontus]

You get no info if you call.
I'd raise to 6-7 on the flop, if he calls there and bets the turn I'd fold.

[Stonewalled]

[ QUOTE ]
Any idea what his pf minraise means?

I probably just call down

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I don't. I've never seen him do it before. It confused the hell out of me.

[Stonewalled]

I called the turn. River was the 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. Villain bets $15 on the river, and I call. Villain has KK, and I lose.

I think the river call was bad, and here are my thoughts (would love some comments about them):

Against this TAG, 2 options are fine.

(1) raise the flop, and done with the hand. If he calls or pushes, I'm almost certainly beat by AA/KK, sets, b/c there are no realistic draws. I like this option the best as the default play, but the next option I think is also fine to mix up play. Only possible change is that I might bet the turn sometimes to get a free showdown on the river, but I'd only do this if I had recently showed down a big hand after raising the flop and betting the turn. That said, using the raise flop/bet turn tactic to get to showdown is arguably the least exploitable overall. (So, I'm really saying I'm not sure which is best most of the time.)

(2) call the flop, call the turn, but don't call the river. The reason to call the flop would particularly be to induce a turn bet and river check from Villain in the event he has nothing. The reasoning is that while he is unlikely to call a flop raise with nada, he may bet the turn again (particularly if Villain has reason to think I float fairly often ... and this particular Villain might think so). So, this might be a way to extract max value. Further, Villain is unlikely to bet the river with nothing, so I can safely call the turn bet and not pay off the river bet (b/c his hand is defined most of the time as AA/KK, set if he also bet the river).

Against a post-flop LAG, I think calling down is fine. Against TAG, however, I think it is bad most of the time. (Although -- and isn't poker great -- now I can call him down for stacks with big hand in the future ... or so the theory goes.)

[MrWooster]

I like the thinking above, but I still think you should raise flop, it is much cheaper. I would raise flop to $8 and fold to more action. Calling the flop and the turn costs you $9.5 and you still don't have any more info about the hand.