This guy raises to $15 quite a bit. Thats a bigger than normal raise. Its not that he raises alot, but when he does raise, it seems to be $15 quite a bit. I suspect its something like 99-QQ or AK, AQ because Ive seen him make more normal $8 or $10 raises with AA and KK.


Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (8 handed)

CO ($393.25)
Button ($201.65)
SB ($237.4)
BB ($135.11)
Hero ($203.4)
UTG+1 ($388.75)
MP1 ($202.2)
MP2 ($231.3)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with , . SB posts a blind of $1.
Hero calls $2, UTG+1 raises to $15, 6 folds, Hero calls $13.

I decide to lead out. If he raises Ill probably dump it becasue I cant see him raising 99 or AK. He knows Im solid, but I rarely lead out with a bet of this size w/o a set. . TT, AA and KK beat me.


Flop: ($33) , , (2 players)
Hero bets $25, UTG+1 calls $25.

I have no idea what to make of his flat call. TT?

Turn: ($83) (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $25, Hero calls $25.

River: ($133) (2 players)

I almost pushed in when the ace fell. I cant believe he has AK or AA. I checkend out and checked.
Comments?

AA, KK, or JJ. Or maybe the other two Queens. I would call a reasonable size bet here, probably fold to all-in. You say he makes this raise a lot, but how many hands does he tend to play? I could see AT if he is loose, but he would probably raise your flop bet with that. Sucks to be out of position on this hand.

The only other play I might have made was to bet or check-raise the turn. That card can't help his hand, so if you thought you were ahead before, you are still ahead. You will get a lot more information than just calling his relatively small bet there.

Did he push on the river?

Maybe you are right and that he does this with the low range of medium pairs, like 8-8 or 9-9. On the flop he smooth calls because he doesn't think you'd limp with an overpair and he might be ahead. On the turn your check confirms to him that you were on two big cards so he bets but you call.

Did you ever see him showdown A-K/A-Q/A-J before? You could use that previous information to know if he is the kind of player who might call down when he wiffs hoping to catch.

[edit] Why didn't you lead out the turn? If he plays a set (10-10 here) conventionally he would smooth call the flop with position and pop you back on the turn. If you lead and he raises you know what is going on--he is on a higher pair or a set. By check-calling you haven't given yourself any further information before the river so you are probably forced to call any reasonable sized bet because you have a strong hand that isn't necessarily outrun by the A on the river and you can't put him on a hand, let alone one that beats you.

I would definitely bet the turn, no overcards or good draws. You are afraid of TT but that's a really narrow hand to put him on, and AA/KK, which you said you didn't think he had. Betting out gives you information. Check-raise would, but much more expensively.
If it gets to the river I would probably check-call a reasonable bet given the A, just in case he had AK and was calling you down thinking you were trying to take the pot with an AQ. Not sure if that happens often enough at this limit.

He had the other 2 Queens and checked behind me on the river.

I probably would have played it the same way Ice.

I don't move in or bet the river...because i've seen too many stations playing AK like that.

why don't you raise your queens preflop, because you are UTG ?

I do sometimes, but Ive also had good luck limping and taking a good chunk of money from things like AJ on a Jxx flop.